Tuğçe Bulut
Assoc. Prof. Barış Gümüşbaş
AKE 620
27 Feb. 2016
The Lost Identity in Sula
In Sula, Toni Morrison offers various characters which obtain different identities depending upon the society of which they are a part. Sula is the only character trying to oppose to the norms created by the same society. She feels free of labels, and she demands her own identity that is only for herself not for others. Therefore, Sula puts up walls in order to be free of fake norms of the society. This situation creates a basis for an uncommitted identity thanks to which Sula is able to walk on her road partially, at the very end she fails, though. She defends herself by creating a life which is really experimental. She does not feel responsibility for anyone,
…show more content…
Nel, who is brought up by a submissive mother, spends her life living in the borders of the society. However, she idolizes Sula because of her unconventionality. It is also clear that Nel has a fluid character which is shaped respectively by her mother, Sula and her husband. Being too much dependent on these characters, she loses the meaning of her life when she loses them. When Jude betrays Nel, and she blames Sula for what she has to cope with. She finds Sula responsible for a life without Jude. However, when she confronts with Eva, Nel acknowledges that she always escaped from all the negative aspects of life blaming Sula, but she was as guilty as her. As Eva propounds, “You. Sula. What’s the difference? You was there. You watched, didn’t you? Me, I never would’ve watched” (Morrison 168). Eventually, Nel finds out that Sula was the good one, as her last name “Peace” suggested. On the very last page of the novel, Nel looking at the sky, whispers to herself, “All that time, all that time, I thought I was missing Jude... we was girls together. O Lord, Sula, girl, girl, girlgirlgirl” (Morrison 174). Nel always believed it was her husband whom she missed, but truly, it was her childhood best friend whom she missed the