Black Woman’s Development Of Self

Toni Morrison, as one of the most outstanding black female writers and the winner ofNobel Prize of Literature in1993, assumes significant role in Black Literature. As being blackand female at the same time, Morrison attaches special importance to black female experienceespecially to black female’s development of self. She creates impressive black characters whoinevitably lose the struggle against the double oppression of gender and race or whoinevitably lose the battle against the evil inside, for instance, Pecola Breedlove in The BluestEye, and Sula in Sula. Except for her concern of black female experience, she alsodemonstrates traditional black culture in her works. Morrison values extraordinarily thestrength of community and ancestor, as well as the role that black male plays in blackfemale’s development of self.Sula is the second published book of Toni Morrison. It is interpreted uniquely from thepoint of view of characterization of the protagonist and its plot by different scholars andcritics since its publication. This accounts to Morrison’s elaborate depiction of the commonblack females and her thought-provoking themes.This thesis probes into how black cultural elements affect black women’s developmentof self. This thesis paper comprises three chapters in the main body to analyze it. The firstchapter mainly introduces the author Toni Morrison and the novel Sula. The second chapterfocuses on the role that ancestors play in individual’s development of self. In this novel,ancestors of Sula Peace and Nel Wright impose on them distinctively different influenceswhich cause the two black female forming different attitudes towards family responsibility.The third chapter focuses on the role that male as the other half of self plays in individual’sdevelopment of self. Male partners of Sula disappoint her and prevent her from proceedingdevelopment of self. Though male partner of Nel also disappoints her, Nel survives throughfulfilling her responsibility of parentage. The fourth chapter focuses on the role of communityBottom which functions as one character. Nel Wright assimilates the community’s role andinfluence and survives, while Sula Peace violates the community norms and finally results in her death in her confrontation with the community. The fifth chapter is the conclusion part. Itemphasizes the idea that development of self should be confined within the context of blackcommunity, and only with the help of ancestor, black male and black community can onefulfill her development of self.