"Sula" by Toni Morrison

This is another of those novels that probably gets over-analyzed by literary critics, college professors and literature students. I personally had to take a few days to ponder the book after I finished reading it before I could put my impressions into words. Without a doubt, like other Morrison's books, the novel tackles issues of racial, social and gender inequality and injustice. It also examines motherhood, marriage, what makes a family normal or dysfunctional, what things are accepted by the community and which ones make a person an outcast.

To me, "Sula" is first and foremost a story of friendship between Sula and Nel. Regardless of what happens in their lives (Sula and Nel are torn apart first by distance and then by a bitter betrayal and pain), in the end the only thing both of them grieve is their friendship. Friendship is the thing that lasted above all. It also occurred to me today that perhaps Sula is just an alter-ego of Nel. Nel is this perfect, good and likable (for the most part) person whose passions and wild proclivities are early tamed by her mother. Sula, on the other hand, is the ultimate anti-hero in the story. She challenges all norms, and is for all intents and purposes, considered to be a devil by the citizens of the Bottom. Their families are also complete opposites of each other. Perhaps Sula is that wild streak, that insatiable curiosity in each upright and good woman that yearns to burst out and challenge everything in life. In the end, this alter-ego hurts Nel, and then dies, but Nel still mourns its passing because she remembers growing up together. It was a part of her.... The reason I started thinking along these lines is because the novel is called "Sula" but a lot of pages in the story are dedicated to Nel and her family. So perhaps Morrison writes about the evil one in each of us... And which one is evil? Needless to say, I enjoyed the book tremendously, I am still enjoying over-analyzing it in my own way and I highly recommend it to all book-lovers.