A Study Of Toni Morrison’s Sula From The Perspective Of Queer Theory

As a Nobel Prize winner among the black female writers, Toni Morrison is veryconcerned with the career of the liberation of the marginal groups, aiming atachieving the freedom and equality of human beings. Compared with other writers,she is more concerned with the issues concerning the miserable life of the blackpeople and the social injustice prevailing in the Afro-American society. Shedistinguishes herself from the other traditional black writers with her unconventionaldepiction of the black males and females. With deliberative delineation, Morrisonexpresses the wish for the establishment of a harmonious world without prejudice andinjustice.Queer theory is a theoretical study of gender and sexuality. It challenges thetraditional thought through its denial of the binary opposition in terms of gender andsexuality. Under its framework, both the gender identity and sexuality are fluid andchangeable and more acceptance should be given to people irrespective of their sexualorientation. It deconstructs the hegemony of heterosexuality. With its criticism of thefetters that constrain people’s free development, Queer theory aims at achieving astate of harmony among all human beings.This thesis aims at analyzing the characters in Sula from the perspective of queertheory. Sula challenges the black conventions by rejecting marriage life and engagingin the disordered sexual relationships, breaking the hegemony of heterosexualitywhich queer theory has criticized all the time. Both the two intimate friends Sula andNel exhibit the transgender features in this novel. They refuse to be categorized aseither a male or female, striving to assert their own selfhood in the struggle. Althoughthe two sisters have diverged from their initial intimacy in their adulthood, they reacha state of harmony after Sula’s death as Nel realizes the importance of sisterly lovewhich can not be surpassed by marriage. The disillusionment of Nel at the end of thenovel and the strenuous struggle of the blacks for freedom towards racism dovetailwith the harmonious goal that queer theory has been striving for.