THEMES & MOTIFS
IN SULA
Family/parenthood
1. What is Morrison saying about
the topic?
-effect parents have on children
-how children react to their parents’ upbringing
-parents shape their children’s personalities/futures
-family life between 1920 - 1965 is not functioning
in the Bottom
angry parent = sad child
loving parent = happy child
a lonely child = a sad child
Throughout Morrison’s novel, we do not come across a
stereotypical family (father, mother, daughter and
son). The Suggs family is an exception, but they are
only a small background part of the novel, so we
could ignore them.
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
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‘After 5 years of a sad and disgruntled marriage
Boyboy took off’ Page 32
MALE FIGURES
-sole provider of the family
-Morrison inverses the role of the male
-males are reliant of female figures in Sula
-functioning male characters are barely
present
examples of missing male figures
-When Sula accidently murders Chicken Little and goes
to Shadrack for comfort.
‘He [Shadrack] nodded his head as though answering a
question, and said, in a pleasant conversational tone, a
tone of cooled butter, “Always.”’ (pg 62).
Shadrack is doing his best to comfort her, but obviously
this is not enough for Sula as she fled ‘…down the
steps and … collapsed in tears.’ (pg 62)
FEMALE FIGURES
-female characters are the glue that hold the
family together
-female characters are not as they appear (do
not always succeed in keeping their children
safe)
For example when Eva burns her son alive
because he is permanently damaged by war,
she feels that this is the right thing to do as
she doesn’t want to go back to taking care
of him.
Development of the theme
The theme of family does not develop
throughout the novel as the overall family
situations in the novel do not get worse nor
better. There is the exception of the Suggs
family, but not taking them in account overall
the treatment of the theme stays constant.
Effect of the parents
-As we said earlier, in this novel males aren’t
present in the upbringing of their children.
-For example, Sula is hurt because she barely
receives any attention. While Nell feels
smothered by her mother.
‘You love her like, like I love Sula. I just don’t like
her.’ Page 56
The novel explores the importance of the
presence or absence of family and
friends. Sula hurts greatly from the lack
of attention she receives from her
mother; in contrast, Nel feels somewhat
smothered by Helene and determines she
will not become like her. In truth, both
girls turn out just like their mothers
“
.”
http://thebestnotes.com/booknotes/Sula_Toni_Morrison/Sula_Study_Guide05.html
With this idea of nonfunctioning families Morrison
is portraying that society in the
village the novel is set - the
Bottom, isn’t functioning as
the father figure always leaves.
QuickTime™ and a
MPEG-4 Video decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
NOW IT’S YOUR TURN!
The winner will receive …
*DRUMROLL*
An all new chewed up second hand
kid couleur purple big france C.E.
felt tip!
Question 1
What is the theme we just presented?
Question 2
What is Morrison trying to evoke using
this theme?
Question 3
On page 142, who is not sick?
• http://thebestnotes.com/booknotes/Sula_To
ni_Morrison/Sula_Study_Guide05.html
• http://www.associatedcontent.com/articl
e/5419360/the_portrayal_of_men_in_to
ni_morrisons.html?cat=38