Racism and Sexism in Toni Morrisons Sula Essay -- Toni Morrison Sula

Racism and Sexism in Toni Morrisons genus genus Sula Racism and sexism atomic number 18 two themes that are genuine throughout the novel Sula, by Toni Morrison. The book is found around the black community of The Bottom, which itself was established on a racial act. Later the characters in this town become racist as well. This internalized racial discrimination that develops may well be a survival tactic developed by the people over years, which still exists even at the break off of the novel. The two main characters of this novel are Nel Wright and Sula Peace. They are both female characters and are often disadvantaged due to their gender. Nel and Sula are depicted as flesh out opposites that come together to almost complete one a nonher through their once balanced friendship. Nel is shown to be a good character because she plays a sociablely acceptable role as a woman, submissive wife and mother, while Sula conforms to no social stereotypes and lets almost nothing hold her back, thus she is viewed as evil by the people in her community. Both women are judged by how well they add together into the preconceived social conventions and stereotypes that exist in the Bottom. The social conventions that are pot up in this book play out in a small black community in Ohio called the Bottom. The community itself formed when a white slave owner tricked his nave black slave into accept hilly mountainous land that would be hard to farm and real troublesome instead of the actual bottom (fertile valley) land that he was promised. The slave was told when God looks down, its the bottom. Thats why we call it so. Its the bottom of heaven-best land there is (4), and on the basis of this lie a community was formed. Its almost as if the towns tough luck is passed down ... ... what happened as a turn in life and does not feel like she is the cause of Chicken Littles death. She mourns his death and then moves on. Sula has a feminist spirit and refuses t o melt into the typical mold of a woman. She discovered years before that she was neither white nor male, and that all exemption and triumph was forbidden to her (52). Because of this she decides to lead her life on her own terms. Sula encounters both racism and sexism and is placed in a situation in which she has no release for her wild spirit. She cannot live out in the being with the freedoms of a man, but doesnt want to live as a stereotypically shelter woman either. In attempting to break these boundaries she is hated by the town and viewed as an evil person by the community in which she lives. Works CitedMorrison, Toni. Sula. Plume. young York 1973.