Toni Morrisons Sula - Female Struggle for Identity Essay -- Sula Ess

The Female Struggle for Identity in Sula The wise Sula by Toni Morrison exemplifies the new feminist literature described by Helene Cixous in The Laugh of the Medusa because of the final portrayal of the two primary(prenominal) characters Nel and Sula. However, it is clear throughout the reinvigorated that both Cixouss and gibibyte and Gubars descriptions of women characters are unmingled within this novel. The traditional submissive charr figure paradoxic eithery is limit against the new woman throughout the novel. It is unclear whether the reader should love or despise Sula for her independence until the very last scene. Although both the perspectives of Cixous and Gilbert/Gubar are evident within the text, ultimately it is the friendship of the two women that prevails and is deemed nearly important. This prevailing celebration of womanhood in all of its dualistic and dismal aspects is exactly what Cixous pushes women writers to attempt. First there is the presence of th e old stereotypical woman character, a woman split between the conventional and nontraditional roles of women. No differences are apparent initially between Morrisons Sula and any former(a) womens literature in the past. Women are depicted either as manageable servants to men, like Nel, or ball-busting feminist monsters like Sula. The hidden aspect of the novel lies underneath these stereotypical surface roles, in the incomprehensible and almost improper bond of the two women. In the final scene of Sula, Nel comes to the realization that the conceit inside her is due to the loss of Sula, not Jude (Morrison 174). Her friendship with Sula is all that matters. The development of a feminist reading from the perspective of Gilbert and Gubar... ... barely instead reunites the two womens spirits. We was girls together, Nel says, and it becomes clear the importance of this revelation to her. She cries circles and circles of sorrow for the lost(p) itme between herself and Sula (Morris on 174). Perhaps she also cries for a whole business relationship of lost women seperated by societal functioning and a world build my men. Works Cited Cixous, Helene. The Laugh of the Medusa. The fine Condition Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. Ed. David H. Richter. capital of Massachusetts Bedford Books, 1998. 1453- 66. Gilbert, Sarah M. and Gubar, Susan. From the Infection in the Sentence The Woman Writer and the Anxiety of Authorship. The Critical Condition Classic Texts andContemporary Trends. Ed. David H. Richter. Boston Bedford Books, 1998. 1361-74. Morrison, Toni. Sula. New York Plume Printing, 1982.