Toni Morrison's Sula is a novel that has a theme about the nature of evil. The
story follows the lives of two black female friends who present differing views
on evil. On one hand, we have society's conventional view of evil represented
by the character of Nel and also seen in the Bottom's disapproval of Sula.
The other view of evil is seen through the character of Sula and through her
actions, which conflict with traditional society. The friendship of Sula and Nel
is how the author conveys her message about evil in the relationship. In the
relationship the two different conceptions of evil mix and create an essentially
neutral mixture. By looking at Nel's and Sula's friendship and the two
different views of evil that they have, the author shows us the subjective and
relative nature of evil and how friendship can overcome any evil. In the
Bottom, the dominant view of evil is society's conception. Its guidelines for
good and bad behavior can be seen through society's reaction to Sula. Her
return to the Bottom after being gone for ten years is greeted with the same
way one would greet a pest, a plague or an illness. The novel shows society's
negative view of her when it describes how Sula arrived "accompanied by a
plague of robins" (Morrison 89). Her time spent in the Bottom is grouped
with other evils the "floods, white people, tuberculosis, famine and ignorance"
(Morrison 90) and her stay in the town is called the "evil days"(89), because
the town views Sula as an evil force. The reason the town saw her as evil is
because of her sexual habits. Sula herself knows that the townspeople
"despised her and ... framed their hatred as disgust for the easy way she lay
with men"(122), because being faithful in a marriage is one of the town's most
important principles. Even worse is ...