Literature Companion: Sula

By History World

“Sula” by Toni Morrison was first published in 1973. It was the author’s second novel. The novel revolves around the life experiences of two black girls.

Unlike the experiences of the two black girls in her first novel “The Bluest Eye,” “Sula” also describes the experiences of the girls when they grow into adulthood. After the success of the first novel, she got inspired and desired to write a second novel about the people living in a black community.

The novel is set in the American South after the war. It was the time when there was continuing racial segregation that divided white and black populations. Not only that but also the First World War veterans such as Shadrack and Plum were also discriminated against because of their skin color.

Literature Companion: Sula
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Plot Overview
Chapter Three: Characters
Chapter Four: Complete Summary
Chapter Five: Critical Analysis

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: Feb 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310769160

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Literature Companion: Sula

Copyright

Literature Companion: Sula

History World

Copyright@2015 History World

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Chapter One: Introduction

Sula by Toni Morrison was first published in 1973. It was the author’s second novel. The novel revolves around the life experiences of two black girls.

Unlike the experiences of the two black girls in her first novel The Bluest Eye, Sula also describes the experiences of the girls when they grow into adulthood. After the success of the first novel, she got inspired and desired to write a second novel about the people living in a black community.

The novel is set in the American South after the war. It was the time when there was continuing racial segregation that divided white and black populations. Not only that but also the First World War veterans such as Shadrack and Plum were also discriminated against because of their skin color.

Neither Plum nor Shadrack gets the benefits which they deserved after coming back from the war. They are left to moan and keep remembering their trauma. Shadrack is hospitalized in a veteran’s hospital for recovery, but he is prematurely expelled from the hospital to adjust other patients.

It is said that Toni Morrison was worried while she was writing Sula. She was concerned because the novel mainly focused on a black community for a largely white readership. She wanted to address this issue. She created the Preface.

Sula was not economically successful because the sales were not high, but it was very well received by literary critics.

The book was nominated in 1975 for a National Book Award. It also won the Ohioana Book Award.

Most of the reviews were highly positive and it was widely discussed in several study circles in the United States and several other countries.

Chapter Two: Plot Overview

The story opens in a largely black neighborhood, the Bottom, in Ohio. As the story begins, a white farmer promises to give freedom and a piece of land to his slave if his slave does some very difficult chores for the farmer.

The slave completes the work and then he tells the famer to fulfill his promise. The farmer frees him but he does not want to give any land to his slave.

Eventually, the white farmer tells his slave that he is sorry because he has to give him valley land. Actually, he had hoped to give him bottom land. The bottom land is very rich and fertile. The slave thinks that valley land is bottom land.

Shadrack is one of the residents of the Bottom. He had fought in the First World War. When he returns from the war, he is a shattered man. He finds it extremely difficult to accept the complexities of the