The Fire Within Sula
Sula by Toni Morrison is a compelling novel about a unique, self-confident woman. As in many other books, each secondary character in the story serves as a vehicle to explain the main character. Hannah, Sula's mother, is dominated by the element of air; she is free spirited, frivolous and child-like. On the other hand, the element of fire is prevalent in Sula, who is impulsive, hot-tempered and passionate. Despite the differences between the two, Hannah's lifestyle intrigues and influences her daughter. The effect Hannah has on Sula is reflected in many of her daughter's perspectives and actions. As a result of the ubiquitous presence of fire within her, in contrast to her mother's blithe spirit, Sula carries all of Hannah's immorality and actions to a more extreme level. Both women have promiscuous tendencies, do not have close friendships with women, and become easily irritated by Eva. The difference is that Sula's fiery character leads her to act more cruelly than her mother.
Hannah's attitude towards men is peculiar, for she feels no possessiveness towards them, and enjoys having multiple lovers. The presence of air in Hannah is evident from her relations with the opposite sex. "Her flirting was, low and guileless...the smile-eyes, the turn of the head-all so welcoming, light and playful." (42). Hannah's sweet, guileless flirting presents her as an innocent woman, and her playful manner demonstrates her child-like ways. Her amiability and charisma are evident because "...Hannah rubbed no edges, made no demands, made the man feel as though he were complete and wonderful just as he was...he (the man) swooned in the Hannah-light simply because he was." (43). Hannah is len...
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...feeling no obligation to please anybody unless their pleasure pleased her." (118).
Sula is stronger than Hannah, and makes no attempts to conciliate the society's opinions towards herself. She follows her animal instincts, and lacks the sense of responsibility. Although Sula and Hannah are both shunned by society, Sula is even more of a pariah than her mother. While the people of the Bottom consider Hannah to be "sooty," (29), they decide that Sula is the devil. The intense hostility people feel about Sula directly relates to her impulsive, vengeful and hot-tempered character. Sula's life is a fun house mirror image of Hannah's-quite similar, but bent into a slightly different shape and tainted with malice.
Works Cited:
Morrison, Toni. Sula. New York: Knopf, 1974.
All people tell lies. However, everyone’s logic behind telling a lie is completely different and is viewed differently by everyone who is told a lie especially if the person has a form of autism.
Pruitt, Claude. "Circling Meaning in Toni Morrison's Sula.” African American Review 44.1/2 (2011): 115-129. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
Frankenstein on the other hand, abandons his creation when he sees it come to life. In their article “Non-Formal Education Within The Function of Responsible Parenting,” Dragana Bogavac and Milosavljević Tatjana Đukić claim that “parents should realize that it is important to understand and experience child education within a family as an essential experience” (32). Instead of taking care of his creation, Victor Frankenstein is horrified and he avoids the situation because the result was not what he expected. Sometimes when things do not turn out ideally how we wish, it is not okay to ignore reality and not take action because you will eventually have to deal with your own doing. Frankenstein however says that he was "unable to endure the aspect of the being I created, I rushed out of the room and continued a long time traversing my bedchamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep” (Shelley 6). The actions that Victor Frankenstein takes towards the creature is wrong because it is relatable to how a mother would abandon her child after giving birth. There is no prediction to be made as towards how the child may end up without the guidance and love from a
Throughout many of Toni Morrison?s novels, the plot is built around some conflict for her characters to overcome. Paradise, in particular, uses the relationships between women as a means of reaching this desired end. Paradise, a novel centered around the destruction of a convent and the women in it, supports this idea by showing how this building serves as a haven for dejected women (Smith). The bulk of the novel takes place during and after WWII and focuses on an all black town in Oklahoma. It is through the course of the novel that we see Morrison weave the bonds of women into the text as a means of healing the scars inflicted upon her characters in their respective societies.
Toni Morrison’s novel Sula is rich with paradox and contradiction from the name of a community on top of a hill called "Bottom" to a family full of discord named "Peace." There are no clear distinctions in the novel, and this is most apparent in the meaning of the relationship between the two main characters, Sula and Nel. Although they are characterized differently, they also have many similarities. Literary critics have interpreted the girls in several different ways: as lesbians (Smith 8), as the two halves of a single person (Coleman 145), and as representations of the dichotomy between good and evil (Bergenholtz 4 of 9). The ambiguity of these two characters allows for infinite speculation, but regardless of how the reader interprets the relationship their bond is undeniable. The most striking example of their connection occurs right before the accidental death of Chicken Little. In the passage preceding his death, Nel and Sula conduct an almost ceremonial commitment to one another that is sealed permanently when "the water darkened and closed quickly over the place where Chicken Little sank" (Morrison 61):
In the book Sula by Toni Morrison, Morrison’s ambiguous link between good, evil, and guilt, she is able to show that these terms are relative to each other and often occur mutually. In her comparison of good and evil, Sula states that "Being good to somebody is just like being mean to somebody. Risky. You don't get nothing for it" (145). Good and evil are being compared as if they are equal and that is how the book is structured. For instance, Eva's burning of Plum is a complex conjunction of motherly love and practicality and cannot be described as simply being a good act or a bad one. The killing of Chicken Little is a similarly ambiguous situation from which Sula and Nel's feelings are unclear. Lastly Sula, upon her death bed, questions what it means to be good and suggests that it what may be considered bad could in reality be good. Both in the syncopated style of Morrison's writing and the morally ambiguous portrayal of characters, cause the reader to question morals and think about them on a larger scale.
In examining the two distinct characters of Nel (Wright) Greene and Sula Peace from Toni Morrison's Sula, a unique individual soul emerges from the two women. This soul takes into account good, bad, and gray area qualities. They gray area qualities are needed because, while Nel exhibits more of the stereotypical "good" qualities than Sula, the stereotypes of good and bad don't fit the definition completely. Nel and Sula combined create a type of ying and yang soul, each half including some of the other half. While at times the two women are polar opposites of one another in point of view, they arrive at their opinions with the help of the other. The two characters need each other in order to exist to the extent that they become "two throats and one eye" (Morrison 2167). A physical example of how connected the two girls are is seen when they line up head to head forming a straight, continuous, and complete line (2124).
The lack of support and affection protagonists, Sula Peace and Nel Wright, causes them to construct their lives on their own without a motherly figure. Toni Morrison’s novel, Sula, displays the development of Sula and Nel through childhood into adulthood. Before Sula and Nel enter the story, Morrison describes the history of the Peace and Wright family. The Peace family live abnormally to their town of Medallion, Ohio. Whereas the Wrights have a conventional life style, living up to society’s expectations.The importance of a healthy mother-daughter relationship is shown through the interactions of Eva and Hannah Peace, Hannah and Sula, and between Helene Wright and Nel. When Sula and Nel become friends they realize the improper parenting they
Presently many of us have learned that managers are primarily administrators who have learned to write business plans, utilize their resources and keep track of progress. We must learn that we are not limited by job title, and that means we can utilize our management skills in any position that we are in. We must also know that we can use our leadership skills in the same situations. On the other hand we have also learned that leaders are people who have an impact on those that surround them. The main difference that separates these two roles is that management is a function that must be utilized in any type of business, and leadership is the relationship that the leader has with his followers, which in turn can motivate and energize the organization.
Judy’s most notable adjustment is displayed after Christopher and she meet outside of her apartment. When Christopher goes to London to live with Judy, he does not alert her to his coming. When he arrives, it is a surprise to her. She goes to hug him, forgetting he does not like to be touched in that way. When he flinches away, she instead "held up her right hand and spread her fingers out in a fan" (Haddon 191). Judy displays an important example of adapting in this moment because in the heat of the moment, she wanted nothing more than to embrace him, but because of his reaction she immediately adjusts and does the hand touch. The hand touch is their family’s way of displaying love with minimal physical contact as Christopher does not like to be hugged. She has not seen or talked to Christopher in years but still remembers their old way of showing their love to each other. Along with Judy, Christopher’s father also demonstrates the importance of adapting for relationships when called
Browning inflicts emotion in the poem by demonstrating the use of language. Browning language demonstrates the children’s anticipation of death. Browning established in line 120-124 an attribute of the children’s thoughts if God were to hear their prayers:
Leonardo was born in a small town in Tuscany, Italy called Vinci on 15 April, 1452. Back then, not all people had surnames; only those who were rich and powerful deserved one. Therefore, when people today refer to him as “Leonardo da Vinci”, “da Vinci” actually means “from Vinci” in Italian. His talent for painting was recognized by his family and neighbors when he was still a boy, and he started his painting career at a very young age. At 14, he was sent to Florence by his father to learn from Verrocchio, who owned a leading workshop at the time. It is said that when he cooperated with Verrocchio on the Baptism of Christ, his skill was so much finer than his master’s that Verrocchio quit in the middle and never painted again for his whole life. 1
Corrosion is the damage of a metal because of chemical reactions between it and the surrounding environment.”1 The rate of that damage is determined by both the type of metal and the environmental conditions, and most specifically gasses that are in contact with the metal.1
Leadership and management are two fundamental concepts which are involved in the effective management of organizations. Leadership in my opinion is a complex concept, which includes association of human qualities and the result of their activities. To be a great leader means not only following own visions, but also work towards company’s goals.
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