Sula by Toni Morrison Themes Analysis Essay Example

As Toni Morrison once said, “Love is never any better than the lover.” The author of Sula uses the idea that love is worthless if it is not truly meant by who is giving the love. But love is different for everyone. Toni Morrison used her writing to show different themes, including love, race, and class. The main characters in the story, Sula and Nel, have different upbringings that influence the way they perceive love. The way people show, give, and receive love is based on factors such as race and class. These factors affected people in the early twentieth century as well as today. Although it is believed that love is a universal feeling and the same for everyone, love is something that is different for everyone because it is shaped by race and class, which can affect and be affected by parenting styles, community background, and economic status.

Race is one of the factors that differentiates love for everyone because of the discrimination in the early twentith century, and the roots that it planted for expectations of love. Love, or the idea of love in a marriage is different based on your race. The article “The Courtship Season; Love, Race, and Elite African American Women,” states that “Both miserable in their relationship for forty years, remained married. He said they did so for the good of the race” (“The Courtship Season: Love, Race, and Elite African American Women at the Turn of the Twentieth Century on JSTOR”).  In this quote, it explains how some African Americans were miserable, and hesitant to leave their relationship. This shows that what is supposed to be love and union in a marriage, is really unhappiness to gain the respect of white people. This shows that love is different based on factors like race because ingrained in marriage is the idea of love, but love is not present in the marriage. This article also states “Middle-class African Americans thought symbolic proper marriages would help the race to obtain social goals” (“The Courtship Season: Love, Race, and Elite African American Women at the Turn of the Twentieth Century on JSTOR”). The “proper marriage” that was the goal for African Americans might not have had any love in it, but to white people, it seemed correct. The idea of love was different for black people because they thought it would help the race to please the white people and obtain social goals, while many of the white people felt love as a pleasure and joy, and not a way to gain status. In contrast,   In Sula, the idea of a union between a black man and white woman would be looked down upon and deemed unacceptable. This shows that not just white people, but African Americans also had standards of who women can and cannot date, marry, or sleep with. “They insisted that all unions between white men and black women be rape” (Morrison 113).  *Conclusion Sentence*

Social and economic class is another factor that proves that love is different shaped and based on outside factors. In the video “Unequal Childhoods,” Annette Lareau talked about the two parenting styles, and how it can affect the children. She mentions how there are two parenting styles, which are working-class or poor, and middle-class. “All the families loved their children, but they had different ideas about how they should best raise their children” (“Unequal Childhoods”). Lareau said that there was never any doubt that both sets of parents loved their children, but they showed their love differently, further proving that love is different because of factors such as class.  In Sula, we see both of the parenting styles in Helene and Eva, which shaped the way that Sula and Nel loved. Helene, Nel’s mother, taught Nel how to be polite, and how she should act as a lady. Helene drove Nel’s imagination underground (Morrison 18). These examples correspond with the middle-class parenting style, which is one way Helene shows love towards Nel. This is because Helene taught Nel the skills that are valued in schools and jobs, and thought about Nel’s appearance. “Under Helene’s hand the girl became obedient and polite. Any enthusiasms that little Nel showed were calmed by the mother until she drove her daughter’s imagination underground” (Morrison 18). Eva is the opposite of Helene in the sense that she has a working-class parenting style. “But the demands of feeding her three children were so acute she had to postpone her anger for two years until she had both the time and the energy for it (Morrison 32). This quote explains how Eva didn’t even have the time or energy to be angry because she was looking after her children, which corresponds with the working-class parenting style. Eva’s daughter, Hannah, was reflecting on Eva’s parenting, when she asked her mother “I know you fed us and all. I was talkin’ ’bout something else. Like. Like. Playin’ with us. Did you ever, you know, play with us?” (Morrison 68). She says that Eva fed them, but was wondering if Eva ever just enjoyed time with her children. This again corresponds with the working class style. In the video, Lareau says that many of the children of working-class parents had much more free time, and usually played amongst themselves (“Unequal Childhoods”). These parenting styles affected Nel and Sula because of the love, or lack of love they received in their childhoods. Nel receiving love made it easier for her to love other people, such as Sula and her husband Jude. Sula, who did not receive much love from her grandmother or mother, grew up with a colder heart, putting her own desires before anyone else’s. 

Cultural differences may be the most seen differences on how love is viewed. In some cultures there are social norms about public display of affection and if it is acceptable or not. Japan is one of the countries that does not find it acceptable, which shows that love is expressed differently based on cultures (and where you live). “Touching is unwelcome during conversation, especially between two people of the opposite gender” (“Expressions of Love Displayed in Different Cultures”) . In France, it is said that classical dating and having privacy in relationships is the most romantic, which is the opposite of what Hannah and Sula did. "People do not speak a lot about their feeling of love with other people. It is something private” (“Expressions of Love Displayed in Different Cultures”). Many times Hannah and Sula would sleep with men before they even knew them, not knowing when they would see them again. “There were no places for private and spontaneous lovemaking, Hannah would take the man down into the cellar in the summer where it was cool” (Morrison 43).  This sexual act. to some is seen as out of order, and dirty. The way Hannah and Sula slept around was a result of Eva’s manlove as well as Hannah’s actions that Sula saw. Although the people of The Bottom thought what they’re doing is unacceptable , Hannah and Sula didn’t mind. While in America many cultures blend, there are expectations and norms for love and marriage based on different cultures.

Love is shaped by your personal feelings and connections. Some researchers say that love is a basic human emotion, which all people feel the same way (According to Kendra Cherry, MS, Verywell Mind). Because there are basic human emotions that we should all be able to feel, love is one that is shaped by factors such as personal understandings of love, and not shaped on race and class, and differentiates in expression. Love is something that we all do feel differently, but that does not mean that there are not factors that can help to shape it. As Sula grew up, she never saw anyone in her house in love, which most likely gave her a twisted view of what love is, and something that would be normally done in love, was casual. This is most likely why she never really thought of other people’s feelings, because she was never shown how to give or receive love. “ However, culture can significantly affect how individuals think about, experience, and display romantic love.” We all want to feel loved. It’s on our biology. But the way we view, and understand love is based on our race, class, and cultures. 

Although love is considered an emotion that we can all feel similarly, growing up in different classes, races, and cultures has affected many views, including the way one may understand love. As Sula displays, there is a divide between love in race. Although this story was set in the early 1900s when there was discrimination of African Americans, there are still different views on love across races, classes, and cultures. Because of the circumstances that these factors create, our idea of love is viewed and expressed differently. Has the way you were brought up in a certain race, class, or culture affected your views on who to love, when to show love, and how to love?