Although Sula moves between many different characters‘ perspectives, it is almost entirely told from the
point of view of women living in the Bottom. Often, the men in the novel can‘t be ―pinned down‖ for long:
their jobs keep them away from home (Wiley Wright), or their desire for independence leads them to
abandon their families (Jude Greene, Boy, etc.). As a result, it‘s no surprise that Morrison offers many
insights into the lives of women and their role in their communities.
One quality that defines many of the women in Sula (Helene, Eva, Hannah, Nel, etc.) is motherhood. The
men in the novel are often less closely connected with their families than are their wives—sometimes, they
abandon their families altogether. Although many of the mothers in the novel leave their hometown in Ohio
for long periods of time (even Eva Peace, perhaps the most devoted mother in the book, leaves for eighteen
months), they‘re likely to come back to take care of their children, and often after they take one leave of
absence, they never take another one again. As a result of the heightened presence of mothers in the lives of
their children, the bond between a mother and child—and particularly a mother and her daughter—is
exceptionally strong.
Another important kind of feminine bond in Sula, arguably even more important than motherhood, is
friendship—the paramount example being the close friendship between Sula Peace and Nel Wright. And yet
there‘s always an implicit problem in the friendships between women and other women. Too often,
women—certainly the women of the Bottom—are taught that they must find a husband, or else always be
―incomplete.‖ We can see this dynamic at work when Sula and Nel, only twelve years old, go off to find
―beautiful boys‖—an episode of their lives that ultimately drives them apart and spoils their friendship.
Years later, Sula, convinced that she must find love and understanding through sex, sleeps with Nel‘s
husband, Jude Green, destroying Nel‘s marriage and ending their friendship for good. When women are
convinced that finding a man is their ultimate purpose in life, they will consider their friendships with other
women to be only of secondary importance—and as a result, female friendships face the danger of being
torn apart by competition for ―beautiful boys.
In a famous essay, the author Virginia Woolf praised Shakespeare‘s play Twelfth Night for being the first
work of Western literature in which two women are friends with one another, and don‘t compete for a man‘s
attention. It‘s worth thinking about how rare friendships between women are in literature—more often than
not, women‘s relationships are defined by a common goal: a husband. In Sula, Morrison shows how the
relationships between women hold families and entire communities together. And yet many female
friendships are ruined because society teaches women that their purpose in life is to compete for a husband
and make a new family.
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English