rge into one. The sustainment of the two selves as one proves difficult and Morrison allows them to pursue different paths. Yet, the two women's separate journeys and individual searches for their own selves leads to nothing but despair and Sula's death. Nel's realization that they were only truly individuals when they were joined as one allows them to merge once again. Morrison portrays Sula and Nel as binary opposites at the beginning of the novel. In our first view of Nel she is as conventional and conforming as a young lady can be: under Helene's hand the girl became obedient and polite. Her mother calmed any enthusiasms that Nel showed until she drove her daughter's imagination underground. Nel is merely an extension of her mother with no autonomy of her own. Helene's hand i
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