Sula
Eva, in Toni Morrison's "Sula" is a strong, determined black woman and single mother of three who recognized the necessity of creating a new life out of thin air. Along with her ability to rationalize her way out of anything, honesty, femininity, strength, and what can only be seen as an utter lack or regret blend to create an extremely colorful masterpiece of a woman whom society saw as being nothing more than "black". Throughout the novel, Eva's character makes readers feel uncomfortable with her hateful, greedy and unbecoming honesty because it is exactly those things that the readers so carefully tuck behind the facade of their "ideal" selves. She uses her unlikely sexuality not for her own advancement but instead for her own enjoyment, further establishing herself as a powerful character. Eva takes the unattractive, unspoken truths of what actually is normal and acts on them, causing readers to dislike her character initially and walk away from the book feeling better about themselves. Though Eva's presence in the book is not permanent, her impression most definitely is. Eva does one drastic thing after another to capture and keep the reader's a
ttention through the use of shock, disgust and disbelief. However, halfway redeeming herself, when she saw Hannah burning, Eva flung herself out of the window in an effort to put out the flames. Eva's character is easy to blame, easy to judge and in parts, easy to dislike. Second, she shockingly murdered her beloved son: "She rolled a bit of newspaper into a tight stick. Her body was a history of her life and a very descriptive one at that. She was brash, honest and hurtful most of the time. First and foremost, the reader is led to believe that she voluntarily lost her leg in order to ensure that she would be able to provide for herself and her family by way of the insurance money collected. If Eva does nothing else, she does allow the judgmental reader to walk away with a sense of comfort in themselves. However unlike so many women, she did this without prostituting herself. Completely unexpected, and as far as the reader could see, completely unwarranted, this cast a new light on what had previously been a woman who acted drastically out of necessity. She saw her body parts as exchangeable for the luxury of life's events turning out the way she wished. Everything a woman's body is seen as today - youth, beauty, power, sex, femininity - was fleeting and momentary in Eva's life, however the purpose of her body wasn't to be preserved; it was to get her where she wanted to go. She had a hole in her body, but it was that hole that allowed everything else to finally come in and fill her up.
Common topics in this essay:
Morrison's Sula,
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gentlemen callers,
eva's life,
eva's character,
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