Introduction
The theme of friendship is central to Toni Morrison’s novel Sula. The writer exposes two sides of such a relationship – uplifting and supportive on the one hand and complicated and painful on the other. As girls, Sula and Nel structure their own rules and outline the size of their friendship; along, they are simply outside what the community perceives as acceptable behavior. Indeed, Nel and Sula develop a strong sisterhood in their childhood that allows them a powerful friendship, and this relationship gives them the opportunity to grow as if they find in each other a complimentary self. However, Nel and Sula build a rare form of bonding that allows them to grow and develop identities because they love each other with uncritical acceptance and shared curiosity of adolescent adoration.
Main body
The characters of Sula and Nel are a confirmation of a theory that opposites attract. Two girls with entirely different personalities intrigue and complement each other in the unhealthiest way. Sula and Nel make up a perfect bond that combines good and evil, which opens their eyes to certain life secrets and ideas that consequently make their friendship stronger. The companionship that formed in childhood helped Nel and Sula conquer life grievances and learn from them together, which made their bond stronger every time: “they themselves had difficulty distinguishing one’s thoughts from the others” (Morrison 83). Therefore, for both girls, friendship meant more than meaningless talks and fun sleepovers; it was the most precious thing they had in their lives.
Upbringing in two completely different households made an immense impact on the formation of the personality of each girl. Nel was raised by her mother, who intended to drive “her daughter’s imagination underground” (Morrison 22), as well as to be amicable and obedient. She was well behaved and could never go against her mother’s guidance. On the contrary, Sula grew up in an environment contrasting with her friend’s. A constant chaotic household, where everything is always loud and messy, has put a mark on the establishment of Sula’s character in adolescence. Moreover, the women she was upbrought by were tough, strong-willed, and overemotional. Such contrast in two households creates a shared fascination with each other’s homes. Such a finding illustrates how well the two girls balance one another and have a good influence by completing the perceptions and views that are formed at home that make the bond so crucial to both of them.
Morrison’s hidden message that reveals the role of life-long friendships in identity formation is lying on the surface. Following an example of Nel and Sula’s friendship, it is clear how the girls impacted each other throughout their friendship and how their personalities were developing based on their relationship. In adolescence, the bond was a blessing that allowed Nel and Sula to console the grievances and build their own identities: “They found relief in each other’s personality” (Morrison 55). The companionship formed in the early years allows Nel and Sula to explore womanhood together, deal with challenges and comfort each other. Therefore, life-long loyalties teach a person about commitment and essential life values, which later reflect on future personal relations.
Nel and Sula’s friendship has also helped young women get through injustice and fight against racism, discrimination, and inequality. In such a form, Morrison reflected on her own hardships with the tyranny in the world at the time. Numerous articles of the 1920s era openly ridiculed women’s urge for independence, stating that “in gaining their ‘rights’ women had given up their ‘privileges” (Boykin 18). Through the prism of friendship between African American girls, the writer demonstrates the unity of her culture and creates vivid images of strong women. Toni Morrison can be compared to an American novelist Gertrude Stein, as they were similarly described as “strong [women], capable of adventures but also of helping and healing, devoted to the community and to a communal effort” (Curnutt 76). A robust civil position, life experience, and personal beliefs were integrated into a novel, which explores the role of life-long companionship in women’s lives.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Sula is a complex novel that raises not only social topics like discrimination and patriarchy but also reflects them in the friendship of Nel and Sula. Throughout the book, a reader can observe the girls’ development into women. Nel and Sula fit in with each other in a way that they become inseparable. Such polar personalities of good and evil, at first sight, reveal how two completely opposite characters can perfectly complement and learn from one another.
Works Cited
Boykin, Mallory. “More Than Beautiful Little Fools: Fitzgerald’s Daisy, Cather’s Rosamond, and Postwar Images of American Women.” Willa Cather Newsletter & Review, vol. 58, no. 1, 2015, pp. 17–23.
Curnutt, Kirk. “The Battle over the Battlefield: Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, and How They Saw the War They Saw.” Critical Insights: LGBTQ Literature, edited by Robert C. Evans, Salem Press, 2015, pp. 74–91.
Morrison, Toni. Sula. 1973. Vintage, 1998.