Outlaw Women

Terrell Johnson

Toni Morrison

Dr. Carter

2-24-20

Outlaw Women

                       

                                   After finishing Toni Morrison's book Sula, there can be much to compare and contrast from the world we live in today. With in the forward of the book near the end, Morrison talks about the "Outlaw woman" or a woman not bound by a man. Morrison raises the question if women are better off without men or will their lives be full of regret, misery, and disaster with out them. Sula is full of female characters that answer this question quite clearly.

                                   There are a few ways that Sula displays what Morrison spoke of in the forward of the book. First, we examine Granny Eva mother of Hannah whose father's name was Boyboy. Boyboy and Eva were together and ofcourse had Hannah together. Boyboy then leaves Eva with Hannah to start another life and leaves them behind. This causes Eva to hate Boyboy and even teach her daughter to hate her father for leaving them. This subtly shows that with out men, women can fall apart. Hannah would eventually have a daughter. Due to her mother's trauma, Hannah now has an outlook on men that is negative. This would be passed on to Hannah's daughter, Sula,to be the way she is later in the story. If Boyboy remained in Eva's life, then Sula may have gotten the attention she needed to be or feel normal.

                                    The next way Sula displays what Morrison spoke of is through Sula herself. As mentioned before, Sula is the way she is indirectly because of Boyboy's actions. Sula's lack of a strong positive male figure messed her up mentally. Sula would have male sexual partners but not really benefit from them emotionally. They were more to appease her own ego. She thought her self equal or even better than men. She also felt she did not need a man to feel complete or not lonely. By refusing to rely on men for anything in her life and choosing to bare everything by herself, it left her life in disaster. So much so that it even killed her. Nel encouraged her to find a man to help her find peace but Sula refused. 

                                   The final way Sula displays what Morrison spoke of is through Nel. Similar to Eva's situation, Nel's husband Jude ends up leaving her. Before he leaves, Nel and Jude were pretty happy and content with one another. Nel goes to say that Jude fills up spots with in her that were empty before. Nel found her peace with Jude. After Jude leaves however, she's full of regret. She tries dating other people but by then she was fifty five and not many were interested. At the end of the book she cries over Sula in what seems to be regret maybe realizing Sula had a point about being okay with loneliness. Or it was possible it was regret of losing Jude to someone else. The regret could also have been Jude himself. realizing that she could have continued to be with Sula instead of leaving her.In that case, then Nel proves to contradict Morrison's statement about women needing men to be stable.

                                  Morrison displays many female characters that would be better off with men to keep them stable. Sula also breaks this mold, showing the reader that it is possible to subvert this expectation. Women can find strength with in themselves or even other women with a strong bond of friendship. Women do not have to be bound by men to live out fulfilling lives.

Terrell Johnson

Toni Morrison

Dr. Carter

2-12-20

Sula Opening

    After reading the Forward in Toni Morrison's book Sula, it brings up an interesting conversation from a literary structure concept. Morrison wondered if it would have been more beneficial to start her story with her main focus of Sula or this other side character in the story. Some authors choose to write in an order that is not sequential or chronological order;deciding to tell their story in an odd order relying on flashbacks and flash forwards. In the end, Morrison decides to open her story describing the life of a WWII soldier and his trauma. What would be the reason to do such a thing and how would it benefit?

    One way this would be beneficial to her plot would be if the theme of the story matches the opening scene. It would make sense if Sula's story included trauma similar to the trauma of the soldier(Shadrack). Maybe Morrison then would show the array of different version of trauma in a physical, mental, and emotion prospective. The story would then come full circle in the end linking everything. Shadrack's mental health could mirror Sula's or other characters in the story.

    Another way this writing structure would help Morrison's story would be if Shadrack's trauma directly effects the plot. Maybe Shadrack's character is what influences the setting and society that the main character must live or suffer through. Maybe Sula's story literally and figuratively begins with Shadrack. To tell her story, it may be possible that Shadrack is needed and otherwise the plot would sees to exist. Shadrack's trauma could be the very reason for this story.

   Toni Morrison could have very well used a more sequential outline for her story to go but decided to subvert that expectation. This could be her way to express her form of art in a way not done before. She also could have done it for the sake of the theme to link back to the beginning of her story. I agree with this choice and style of writing. It allows one to question and theorize more about the structure of literature and if it should be a necessity to be followed one hundred percent of the time. There should be no structure to art.

Terrell Johnson

Toni Morrison

Dr. Carter

2-5-20

Green and White House

     At the beginning of The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison,  she writes he same passage three times; one after the other. As an reader, it may seem pretty odd to do that. There must be some underlining meaning that Morrison was trying to convey both from a literary standpoint as well as literal one. In Toni Morrison's essay Invisible Ink, it talks about how sometimes in literature  a message can be conveyed if one looks past the literal meaning and look beyond what the author is really trying to say. She goes to say, "As the text can not change, it follows that a successful relationship between text and reader can only come about through changes in the reader's projection."(348). How ever the reader interprets the reading is how it will be conveyed. The tree passages differ because the punctuation and spacing all decrease by the third passage into a jumbled mess. From a literal stand point, it looks as if the author just forgot to edit the passages correctly; however if one looks past that, it may have an even deeper meaning. Morrison's passages about the Green and White house show a happy family with mother, father , and children. The fact that the passages lose punctuation and end up jumbled up could foreshadow and reflect how this happy family will end up. The words may deceive the reader as the text reveals how the family will end up in confusion and disarray. 

    Morrison also wrote an essay called Academic Whispers where she describes the academic limitation that other put on black literature and art. She goes ti say, "There may come a time when universities have to fight for the privilege of intellectual freedom." (200). She could have had these different passages to express some form of intellectual freedom. Not only that but she was able to say so much with out saying anything at all. She conveyed a message using the physical text and underlining meaning instead of actually saying it through her words. These are different ways or reasons that Morrison could have utilized the three passages like she did.