When Sula came back to her town after a ten-year absence, she was seen as a “devouring evil” (Morrison 9). Thus, deep inside, Sula wanted to be obedient like Nel, and Nel desired to be self-willed like Sula, but their surroundings forced them to become quite the opposite.Īt first sight, Sula is cruel, and Nel is kind, but both of them possess evil. Nel liked “Sula’s woolly house” more because Sula’s mother “never scolded or gave directions” (Morrison 34). Sula was more comfortable in Nel’s neat house where she could sit “for ten to twenty minutes at a time-still as dawn” (Morrison 34).
However, both girls seemed to be discontent with their surroundings. Sula’s mother, on the other hand, neglected any rules in the community and liked to attract men’s attention, which influenced Sula’s young mind (Alfaqir 68).
Nel was raised in strict obedience, and her mother “drove her daughter’s imagination underground” (Morrison 25). This crucial difference in their behaviors stems from their childhood. On the contrary, Nel lived a traditional life: she obeyed her mother, married, and raised her children, which makes her a positive character. Sula was disobedient, nonconformist, and indecent, and it makes it difficult for readers to identify with her (Abbas 121). Sula and Nel seem to have entirely different views on conformity with rules and societal norms. The analysis of these characters shows that they are quite similar, but their surroundings have led them to demonstrate different behaviors and attitudes to life. However, the girls are “two parts of one consciousness,” meaning that their differences complement each other and could have made an integrated personality (Alfaqir 67). At first sight, Nel seems to be a positive character, and Sula appears as a negative one.
0 kommentar(er)
