Sula

1920s–60s · May 2026

Overview

Toni Morrison’s Sula (1973) is the story of a unique friendship between two Black women, Sula Peace and Nel Wright, from the age of twelve into womanhood. The novel is set in the Bottom, a black community in the fictional town of Medallion, Ohio, in the years from 1919 to 1965.

Morrison’s inspiration for Sula was what she called the “different history” of Black women in America and how this history shapes their relationships with one another. In the novel, she explores what it means to be Black and female in America in the 20^th century, and what friendship is—and what it can be—between Black women.

Sula is also about, as are all of Morrison’s novels, the black community. The novel explores how the events that take place in America during the early- to mid-twentieth century ( WWI, the Great Migration, the Great Depression, WWII, the Civil Rights Movement) affect the black community; and how the black community, in turn, informs and influences the lives and experiences of its residents, particularly its women. In her explanation of the writing process for Sula, Morrison stated that her second novel “would be about people in a black community not just foregrounded but totally dominant.”

In terms of Sula’s narrative structure, the chapter titles are years, beginning with 1919 and ending with 1965, which gives the impression that the novel progresses chronologically. However, within that chronology, Morrison employs her strategy of weaving together the past and the present so that the chapter titles belie the narrative’s non-linearity. Overall, the narrative structure is circular. The novel begins with a Prologue that projects the destruction of the Bottom, then proceeds to relate the lives and the experiences of the people within the community, and, as it concludes, returns to the community’s destruction and the corresponding effects that living in the Bottom have ultimately had on its residents.

Sula is often labeled an experimental novel because it redefined narrative focus by foregrounding and centering Black female bonding as opposed to romantic love, which had never been the major focus of a novel before. The novel’s blending of several literary genres (historical fiction; coming of age; folklore; tragedy) makes it a layered and rich work of fiction.

Background Knowledge and Historical Contexts

The optional readings and videos below provide some historical context which may be useful when reading the novel.

Questions/Topics to Consider While Reading

Characters: How are Nel and Sula portrayed as characters? Why do you think Morrison names the novel after the character Sula? What is Shadrack’s role in the novel? How do characters’ actions define them? How are characters defined by the community?
The Role of Community: Why does Morrison begin the novel by describing the destruction of the Bottom? One of the major themes in the novel is that of the “pariah” or outcast. Which characters can be considered pariah and why? What is the role of the pariah in the community of the Bottom? How does the community define Sula after her return to the Bottom? What prompts this reaction from the community? What is ironic about their attitude toward her?
Friendship between Women: At the end of Sula, Nel says of Sula, “We was girls together.” What did it mean for Sula and Nel to be ‘girls together’ in the Bottom? What did they provide one another as young girls on a quest to “create themselves”? At what point does their relationship change (It’s not when Sula sleeps with Jude), and what changes in each woman ultimately destroy their relationship? discuss what Sula finally understands about herself and about her friendship with Nel; what Nel finally understands about herself and about her friendship with Sula; and what Morrison wants us, the readers, to finally understand about the women’s friendship, given the options available to them within their culture/community and mainstream society and given the choices both women made.
Themes of Motherhood and Family: How is motherhood portrayed in the novel? What is the significance and the consequence of Hannah’s comment that she doesn’t like Sula although she loves her? What are some possible reasons for Eva’s decision to kill Plum? How was the act both one of sacrifice and selfishness? How do her actions address the ambiguous blessings of a mother’s strong love for her children? What do you make of Eva’s explanation of her parenting to Hannah?
Symbolism: Discuss Sula’s birthmark as a symbol in the novel. Sula and Nel dig a hole and fill it with stems while playing together. How do you interpret this scene? Explain the significance of Natural Suicide Day. Discuss the role that nature plays in the novel. Discuss the symbolism of fire, water, and air in the novel. How does this symbolism contribute to the development and understanding of character and theme?
Morrison’s Writing Style: How would you characterize the language and dialogue in the novel? How does the supposed linearity of the novel affect your understanding of the story and the characters? Discuss how Morrison’s style contributes to the themes of the novel. Why does Morrison choose this particular way of telling the story? What does the way the story is told suggest about Morrison’s view of the major themes of the novel?
Key Scene: Sula asks Nel how Nel knows who was good to whom in their relationship. Discuss the larger significance of the questions about “good vs. evil” and “right vs. wrong” in the novel.
Connections with other Morrison Books:
- Exploration of Memory and the Past: How do the personal traumas the characters have experienced in the past affect their ability to live in the present?
- The Concept of Freedom: Discuss the different meanings of “freedom” portrayed in the novel. How do the individual characters define freedom?
- Naming/Identity: Discuss the significance of names and naming in the novel (Sula Peace, Nel Wright, Shadrack, the Deweys, Ajax).
- Biblical Allusions: Discuss the Christian overtones in Sula. How do the Biblical allusions add weight to the story and bring another perspective into the moral issues presented in the novel?

Additional Readings and Interviews

Book Club Discussion

Literary Cleveland’s free virtual book club discussion of Beloved takes place Sunday, May 31 at 7pm ET. Register to join for free.