Sula And Nel Relationship Essay

A mother’s love is known as loving and unconditional. Although their intentions are pure, sometimes the execution of being a role model doesn’t meet the child’s expectations. The relationships we have with our parents may have lasting impressions on how children view the world. In Tony Morrison’s novel Sula, the characters Sula and Nel have vastly different relationships with their mother. Nel was raised to be oppressed and not have any individualism because if she tried, she'd be interfered with by her mother. Whereas Sula Peace came from a home where she was neglected and was self-taught that the only way to get attention is to be overly expressive. The two characters envy each other and wish for what the other has, which makes it prevalent

She sees this as suffocation because of the strict rules and pressure that Helene (Nel’s mother) put on her to be seen as a “respectable woman”. As stated in the book, “Any enthusiasms that little Nel showed were calmed by the mother until she drove her daughter’s imagination underground”. All attempts at rebuttal conflicted with Helene’s ideals and were immediately shut down. In the article Visible Black Motherhood is a Revolution, Helene's actions can be made clear when it states, “The Black mother-child relationship is marked by the historicity of fear and precarity”. The mother-daughter dynamic is represented by Helene trying to teach Nel her idea of how the correct way to be seen appearance-wise. While trying to meet her mother’s expectations Nel is forced to suppress and oppress her thoughts and desires. This leads to the resentment she has for her mother compared to how Sula was a free-loading spirit who expresses any and everything on her mind although Nel may not realize it comes from a place of love and fear on Helene’s

Nel seems to have a more “stable” relationship with her mother based on respect and structure which can be beneficial but to a certain extent, suffocating. Helene tries to portray certain ideologies of Nel that prevent her from being able to become the person with her morals. Whereas Hannah to Sula her lack of discipline and structure results in Sula having a lack of respect for others. An article demonstrates the perfect representation of the relationship between the two characters “The friendship between Nel and Sula is formed not because they have similarities but because their opposite character traits complement each other”. Both Sula and Nel are very resilient women even though they are different they can learn a lot from one