A Feminist Reading Of Toni Morrison's Sula

Toni Morrison is a black woman writer, whose works are deeply concerned with the fate of the black people, especially the humiliated and multiple-oppressed black women. She subverts the literary stereotypes of black women and endows her female characters with intelligence, energy and rebellious spirit ready to search and explore their own world. By her unique black female perspective, vivid description and profound knowledge, Morrison creates a series of awakening black female characters in her fiction and gives vivid descriptions of their lives, their deeds and dreams, their fun and sorrows.Sula is Morrison's second novel which explores the painful experiences of black women's self-identity searching. In this novel, Morrison portrays several black women figures who resist traditional values and courageously seek their self-identity under the triple burdens of racism, sexism and classism. Three heroines, Eva, Sula and Nel are depicted in this novel. They take a path less traveled by the rest of the community people and set good examples for their women successors. Sula can be interpreted as a song for black women. Eva gives us a song of independence, Sula, a song of rebellion, and Nel, a song of epiphany. Through these songs, Toni Morrison let us know that a multitude of black women are not satisfied with their miserable reality and strive for their independence and identity. The analysis of these characters surely has practical and theoretical significance to the black literature study.This thesis is a tentative endeavor to examine these three women's experiences to analyze black women's self-actualization in harsh surroundings. To address this topic, black feminist approach is employed in this paper. In addition to the introduction and conclusion parts, this thesis is composed of four chapters.The introduction part introduces Toni Morrison and her second novel Sula as well as the current research in domestic and overseas countries. It also briefly introduces the black feminist theory and the significance of this thesis.Chapter One discusses the social surroundings and living conditions of black women. The place these women live in—"the Bottom", is an epitome of the whole black history which is full of oppression, prejudice and hatred towards black people. Under such unfavorable situations, black women have great difficulty in their identity seeking.Chapter Two mainly deals with Eva, a single mother who achieves her independence with great sacrifice. Eva Peace can be read as a challenge to the black mammy stereotype. Cornered by poverty, she decisively maims her leg under the train to get insurance for her children's survival.Chapter Three is devoted to the analysis of Sula, a willing pariah who uses her own way to explore her identity and create her own world. Sula is a typical example of black women's search for spiritual freedom. She seeks the same rights as man, doing things like a man. She rebels against her mother and grandmother, betrays her friend, and triggers her community with her unconventional behavior. In this way, she searches her spiritual freedom and sticks to it until the end of her life.Chapter Four elaborates on Nel, who carries on Sula's spirit further after a series of setbacks and a conventional life. Nel undergoes several stages in her life: from the childhood rebellion, to the marriage conventionality, then finally to her epiphany. The final epiphany of Nel let us see the hope of black women's identity searching.The thesis is expected to shed fresh light on the research of the novel and offer insights to black women's identity searching. Through the analysis, this thesis reaches the conclusion that there is still a long way for black women's identity-searching due to the harsh environments. Toni Morrison provides penetrating insights into the life of black women and shows us black women's strong will and unyielding spirit. By subverting the stereotyped black females and portraying their strength and virtue, Morrison encourages more black women to repossess their identity and presents us a true picture of black women.