Published in the year 1973, “Sula” is a novel written by Nobel Prize winning American author, Toni Morrison. It speaks about a black community in Ohio known as “The Bottom” which is situated high up in the hills, above the community of white people called “Medallion”. It was situated in the hills because, many years ago, a white man had given this piece of land to his slave by tricking him into believing that it was nearer to heaven. Little did he realize that an entire community of black people would evolve on the same piece of land which he had gifted to his slave ages ago.
Nel and Sula, two young girls living in The Bottom, come from families that are completely unlike each other. However, in spite of one’s family being very conventional and the other’s being very liberal, they become extremely attached to each other. Their friendship is thick and fast, but faces a huge dent because of an accident in which they were involved.
After finishing high school, Nel marries a man named Jude and assumes the role of a wife and a responsible mother. Sula, on the other hand, follows a completely different path in life and disregard all sorts of social norms. She has numerous affairs with men, some of them white, in a period of ten years when she lives away from the community. When she returns, people look at her from a bad point of view, mainly because of her relationships with white men. She seduces Jude and draws him away from Nel, completely breaking of friendly ties with her. This break in friendship is restored up to a point when Sula is about to die in the year 1940.
The story of “Sula” is so touching that it is sure to have a lot of influence on the readers’ minds. Within the story, the community people do not realize that while they hate Sula, they unite against her. This helps in maintaining peace and harmony in the community. However, when Sula passes away, this harmony snaps and life resumes the way it used to exist before.
