Incidents of violence in the book Sula by Toni Morrison

Essay by oesiCollege, Undergraduate March 2005

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"Sula" by Toni Morrison is a compelling novel about a self-confident woman called Sula. In this book, Sula shares an important relationship with Nel. In this relationship both girls share everything from perception, judgments, secrets and even crimes. In this book, Toni Morrison mentions a few scenes about violence that probably affected Sula's life and the characters around here.

The book Sula was written in a time when there was prejudice against blacks. In the book we hear about Helene's prejudice trip on the trains and other events of prejudice. The author also tells us that Sula's house is vibrant and active. The author calls Sula's house the peace house and the residents of the house are always arguing. Her house is "a household of throbbing disorder constantly awry with things, people, voices and the slamming of doors" (52). In the house there is a lack of emotional support and we hear scenes about how Hannah had multiple relationships with the men of Medallion.

The author also makes us aware of Eva's love towards her children but also mentions her cruelty towards the family. Morrison talks about Eva cruelty when she decides to burn Plum. Before Eva decided to burn Plum she was rocking him and they got into a verbal and physical battle. We are told when Plum was getting ready to leave that Eva " rolled a bit of newspaper into a tight stick about six inches long, lit it and threw it onto the bed where the kerosene-soaked Plum"(47). Eva watched in amazement while the flames engulfed him. In the book, we also hear about Nel and Sula battle with the boys. "These particular boys caught Nel once and pushed her from hand to hand until they grew tired of the...