Sula is a novel which not only talks about friendship and the role friendship

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Discussion 1; Thesis

Sula is a novel which not only talks about friendship and the role friendship plays in the formation of character but also talks about other significant factors in the society. These include; the role families play in our lives among other themes and topics. Therefore Morrison invites us to look beyond the surface meaning of the novel for a better understanding of what the novel means so that we may be able to apply it to our daily lives and better our lives.

Discussion 2; Theme and story

In the novel Sula, Morrison talks of how friendship is important in character formation. This is clearly seen and displayed in the character of Nel and Sula as they grow with each other very close due to their friendship. Through the novel we are able to identify with both characters who are friends because they go through experiences and issues which people go through in their daily lives. They go through family disintegration, conflicts, excessive perfection, sexual pervasiveness, racism and they also experience male chauvinism. These experiences form who they become and how they behave in their day to day life with the outside world.

These two to some extent can be said to close doors to others and it seems like they find a joy in staying by themselves. This is an issue which most teenagers of today are facing and therefore Morrison helps us understand that it is possible for teenagers to keep to themselves and never talk about the issues they go through. This at times leads to devastating conditions and especially if it is a teenager who stays alone and does not want to open up to the world. This may lead to issues of suicide and other negative impacts like depression. The only thing that prevents this from happening is the friendship between the two girls and this is also a lesson about the value of friendship.

Mary and Susan

Susan was walking along the street where her best friend had been murdered. She could not control her anger for her murderer but unfortunately she did not know who it was. The only thing she could do was cry helplessly as she tried to comfort herself that the worst had not happened even though she knew very well losing her best friend hurt her so much. She felt like an arrow in her heart every time she remembered how they spent time together. As she wiped her tears and decided to accept the truth that it was more than three weeks and she could not continue crying and she had to let go, a stranger came along the victoria street. She looked dull and was angry. She was wearing like a rich kid but all that never reflected in her face expressions. She looked tired of living.

For once Susan forgot her grief and asked Mary in a soft low voice “hey! Are you okay?” she continued walking and Susan couldn’t withstand the thought that she could be going to commit suicide and therefore she followed her and kept trying to talk to her. At one point the Mary stopped and opened her t-shirt and right above her right breast there was a very bad scar, which was still healing. She began sobbing and explaining how her own brother in law tried to rape her for the second time.

She told her of how the first time it was painful to lose her virginity in rape. This she explained in tears and for Susan it was completely unbearable to listen to let alone thinking of such a thing happening. It was traumatic to think that such a thing could happen. The scar had been caused by the brother in law who tried to seduce her and it did not work, then after sometime when the other family members were not around he raped her after hurting her so badly just above the breast in a fight to access her most treasured part of her body.

At this point even though Susan was having her on grief she gave up her own problems and walk with Mary because she needed it most. This was the beginning of their friendship. From this day they became friends and even found themselves going to the same school after a year.

Even though their families were totally different they remained so close and never parted. Mary was a black lady and Susan was also black. Their friendship was so strong to the point Susan even got jealous that Mary had got a boyfriend and she decided that he will be their boyfriend and not Susan’s only. Even though mark was completely confused he later came to accept it that he could have sex with both and Mary was not offended. Even though this looked weird at first after sometime it became the norm and they lived by it.

The relationship made mark become a part of the group and shared a lot with the two even though his bond could never be the same as that of the both ladies. One day as they were going home from school Mary asked Susan; “why do I always feel like am at home with you?” Susan replied, “because it is true that you are home every time we are together, friends are the real home where we belong, after all our homes can never go with us every place we want to go. We are both black ladies and no one cares about us therefore we have to care about each other, build ourselves and come out strongly defying the norms which govern the society about ladies and about the blacks.” She said this with so much passion and anger that Mary just hugged her to ease the anger. She was angry that the world only saw them as insufficient.

At home even though Susan was close to her mother and her brother no one of them equaled Mary and she always wanted to spent time with her. Even though sometimes they did things they considered evil like they cheated a guy who wanted to date Mary that if he sent them money she would date him and once the money was sent they blocked him and used the money they still remained the same.

On the other hand Mary’s family loved but the mother was a perfectionist and was extremely orderly which Mary hated. She could arrange the house in such a manner that when they came home from school they did not feel comfortable touching anything because their mum would be mad at them for destroying what she had arranged so neatly. They also felt being too perfect is not the norm about life. Therefore their mother was irritating with her perfectionism, which she taught to her daughter. Susan always wanted to come to Mary’s place after they relocated after a year from the time the two girls met and this she always wanted because she always wanted to see the “perfect mum” as she used to call her. It was one of her favorite moments to visit Mary’s place since she always admired her and always wanted to be like her one day.

Mary never wanted that and she wanted to spent time at Susan’s place where the mother was not so perfect and this made her feel comfortable.

After the summer holidays after two years since the girls met mark met the two of them and he decided to open up about an issue he had been dealing with. Even though he was an activist for blacks live matter movement he never felt the belonging since he was half white and half black. His color mixture made him at times he seen as a white which he really hated. He explained to them how he was thinking of plastic surgery to be completely black since that is what he wanted. This came up after he was in a group of black boys and they excluded him because he seemed white. This hurt him so much and he decided that he must look like them.

These girls listened carefully and the only thing that Mary could say was, “you’re so sweet btw, your voice and your everything. You are perfect as you are”. The bell rang for class and they decided to continue sharing later that day. Because Mary hated her mother’s perfection they decided to meet at Susan’s place. They continued sharing and that was the night of the greatest revelations. Even though mark was a quiet person that night he was very loud and lively a thing which amazed the two ladies. Mary told of the way she wanted to commit suicide while Susan told of the loss she suffered of her then best friend before she found Mary.

The revelation about mark was what shook the two girls the most. That he had been struggling to stop being bisexual as he wanted to focus her attention on one gender and he liked ladies more. Even though he told them he had a gay friend he had to confess that he liked the two more and that the frequent sex had helped him adapt very easily into ladies.

After this they wanted to have sex and as they were removing their clothes Susan’s mother opened the door wide open without knocking. Works cited

Creme, Phyllis, and Celia Hunt. “Creative participation in the essay writing process.” Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 1.2 (2002): 145-166.

Nye, Louisa S., and Rosetta James. CliffsNotes on Morrison’s The Bluest Eye & Sula. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1999.