Evil in Sula, Yellow Wallpaper, and Love Medicine

“l started out thinking that one can never really define good and evil. Sometimes good looks like evil; sometimes evil looks like good,” this quote by T. Morrison highlights the fact that evil is relative. Although evil can be, in many ways, self-defined, many characters in novels can be perceived as one thing while they are another. Written works such as, Sulk, Love Medicine, and The Yellow Wallpaper contain several examples of good vs. evil that take a closer look to deceiver.

First, in the novel Sulk, there are several characters that prove that looks can be achieving. For example, the character Sulk is perceived as a terrible person in the book. The people of the Bottom hate her for everything that she is, despite the fact that she followed the example of her mother. The story states, “The death of Sulk Peace was the best news fossils up in the Bottom had had since the promise of work at the tunnel”. They accuse her of things that, in their society, were deemed horrible and not moral. When Sulk attempts to help a child she is only further accused of wicked ways.

Sulk only does what she knows, and only hurts Nell because f her blindness to what their relationship has become. As well, Newel’s mother is seen as a good person in society. Helene attends church as does what is proper. The story states, “Helene Wright was an impressive woman, at least in Medallion she was”. However, in an attempt to be a good mother Helene pushes her opinions down Newel’s throat, leaving imagination away and replacing it with a sense of alienation. Helene wants people to see her as a wonderful woman, but her actions and motives seem only to follow selfishness and a need for importance.

Moreover, Jude does what is right by society. Jude attempts to work, he takes care of his family, he does everything he was meant to do. The story states, “Along with a few other young black men, Jude had gone down to the shack where they were hiring”. But Jude only married because he was settling, and when Sulk came around he didn’t have a quarrel with cheating on his wife with her best friend. He then leaves him family behind, leaving Nell to take care of the children. And, Eva is a character that can be interoperable as evil, but she only does what she does because she loves her children.

Eva kills her own son by lighting him on fire. The story states, “… Threw it onto the bed where the kerosene-soaked Plum lay in snug delight”. Even her daughter does not understand why Eva would do such a thing. But the truth of the matter is that Plum was slowly wasting away, Just the shell of the person he once was. His unhealthy habits and his inability to take care of himself after he was traumatized by the war brings Eva to the decision to end his suffering then and there. Secondly, in the novel Love Medicine there are several examples of evil and good reflections. For instance, the character Marie goes to the convent.

Though this can be seen only as a good and pure thing, it is revealed to the readers that Marie wants only the praise and glory she would find there. The story states, “And they never thought they have a girl from this reservation as a saint they have to kneel to. Maria’s reasons are not good, but rather they are wicked reasons that are identified as sins. Moreover, once Marie is within the convent it is revealed that she is not the only wolf in sheep’s clothing. The nun, Leopold sees the devil inside Marie. In an attempt to banish the devil from Marie, she physically harms the young girl.

The two both speak of love and both seem to have some degree of hate for the other. The story states, “She always did things this way, to teach you lessons”. Leopold then lies about Maria’s injuries to the other nuns to save herself. As well, Nectar is perceived as a strong individual by the community. Although Nectar keeps a high position in his community and is seen both as handsome and good, he only has such a great position because Marie made him. It was Maria’s work that made Nectar what he was. Even though he owes her a great deal he still cheats on her.

He turns away re love in favor of Lulu, committing adultery. He cares for Marie and understands he has obligations to her, but he loves Lulu. He states, “l do not compare her with Marie. I would not do that. But the way I ache for Lulu, suddenly, is terrible and sad,”. He puts his love first in several situations such as, when he planned to leave Marie. Lulu is also a seemingly wrongly accused character. Lulu has got a serious reputation as being a loose woman in the community. She even sleeps with married men because she does not seem to respect the value of marital ties.

However, Lulu is a errors of passion and love. The story states, “And so when they tell you that I was heartless, a shameless man-chaser, don’t forget this: I loved what I saw’. Lulu’s true nature is not that of evil, it is that of love. Although some can argue that her actions were questionable, it is within her intentions that the truth is found. Lastly, in the short story The Yellow Wallpaper, evil and good is a battle that continues through the story. For example, John attempts to take care of Jane by forcing her to bed rest and limiting her activity.

Although he is a high standing doctor ND her husband it is with Cane’s point of view that the reader discovers that the bed rest could be doing more harm than good. The bed rest does not allow Jane to function as a normal human being. The story states,” Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good”. It seems that, because John is a doctor, he must know what is best for Jane and that the treatment must be good. Perhaps John himself is not evil, but the result of his actions leave Jane in a state of no return.

If evil is defined by the opposite of good then his actions have evil results. As well, John takes away Cane’s ability to write. Cane’s loss of a creative outlet is something that she finds could be making things worse. The story states, “l think sometimes that if I were only well enough to write a little it would relieve the press of ideas and rest me”. Cane’s mental state wavers as the story continues. Her own free will is practically ripped from her, and her writing is left to be done in secret. And, John once again creates “evil” results as he keeps Jane away from other people.

The story states, “It is so scrounging not to have any advice and companionship about my work”. Despite her plea to be around others, John does not trust it. His actions lead Jane farther down her road to insanity and leave her with only her own thoughts of the wallpaper through the day. Moreover, the woman in the wallpaper can be completely perceived as evil at first glance. If the woman in the wallpaper, or the center of Cane’s insanity, takes away Cane’s ability to be a person, than she must be evil. Yet, it is only when Jane reaches the point of full insanity that Jane finds herself free.

Able to do what she wants, albeit a bit strange, Jane finds freedom completely. As the story states, “Vive got out at least,’ said l, ‘in spite of you and Jane. And Vive pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back”! As a symbol of woman’s suffrage, the lady in the wallpaper shows the reader how women, forced into the restraints society has put on them, must choose between insanity, and slavery. It is hard to pinpoint evil or give it a certain definition. Where are the lines drawn? Who determines what is right, necessary, and bad?

The ever pondered question that enders if people can be labeled good or evil, or if no one is strictly either, pounds through the mind of those that read. Written works such as, Sulk, Love Medicine, and The Yellow Wallpaper allow readers to see beyond what society may see in a person and look deeper into their actions and motives. Taking a step back from one’s own opinions, the reader can see the many point of views that leave certain actions, characters, and situations more clear on the moral side. If, like beauty, evil is in the eye of the beholder, there can never be a definite definition of the word.

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Choice and the Characters of Sula

Toni Morrison’s Sula explores the power of choice and its importance in the course of human existence. Regardless of the fact that the African-American characters of Sula are of an oppressed nature, they forever maintain the freedom of choice. This theme of choice provides insight into the acquirement and personification of identity. Sula and Nel, the primary characters of the novel, are utilized by Morrison to highlight how personal identity is established at our own accord.

For example, early on in the novel when Morrison is describing the childhood of Sula and Nel, both characters make the conscious decision to act according to their own ideas about the world: “In the safe harbor of each other’s company they could afford to abandon the ways of other people and concentrate on their own perceptions of things” (55). Nel eventually abandons this concept and assumes a role similar to her mother’s (that of respectable housewife,) but Sula remains this way throughout her life.

Because of Sula’s disregard of others’ opinions, she is eventually looked down upon by the townspeople of the Bottom. The actions of these two characters present the question of whether unabashed decision-making is liberating or condemning in terms of social acceptance. Another question Morrison presents is whether we can choose to acknowledge our past or not. At the beginning of the novel, Nel is traveling to her great-grandmother’s funeral with her mother, Helene. Once they arrive, they come into contact with Nel’s grandmother, Rochelle.

Rochelle is of Creole descent and makes a living by being an escort. Helene is quick to dismiss Rochelle: “’I don’t know,’ her mother said. ‘I don’t speak Creole. ’ She gazed at her daughter’s wet buttocks. ‘And neither do you’” (27). It is evident that Helene thinks that by refusing to speak the Creole language that she is also refusing to acknowledge Rochelle and, therefore, erasing her from her and her daughter’s past. With Helene and her behavior towards Rochelle, Morrison presents this question of whether or not we can choose which parts of our past are relevant to our current existence.

Following the meeting between Nel and Rochelle, Morrison showcases that characters can choose not only to disregard their past, but also forces in the present that attempt to dictate an individual’s identity: “’I’m me. I’m not their daughter. I’m not Nel. I’m me. Me’… ‘Me,’ she murmured. And then, sinking deeper into the quilts, ‘I want… I want to be… wonderful… Oh, Jesus, make me wonderful’” (28). Nel realizes that she can make the choice about who she wants to be and about her own identity. She denies her identity being determined by her parents or her heritage.

Morrison also highlights how characters utilize the freedom of choice to deter their fears of the unknown future. For example, Shadrack makes the choice to control the uncontrollable after he experiences a mental breakdown during his time in the war: “It was not death or dying that frightened him, but the unexpectedness of both. In sorting it all out, he hit on the notion that if one day a year were devoted to it, everybody could get it out of the way and the rest of the year would be safe and free. In this manner he instituted National Suicide Day” (14).

Instead of letting his life be dictated by outside forces, he chooses the path his life will take by seeking power over what terrifies him the most. While every character in Sula makes a choice of some kind, there is one character who was seemingly denied the luxury of choice and that was Eva Peace: “The children needed her; she needed money, and needed to get on with her life. But the demands of feeding her children were so acute she had to postpone her anger for two years until she had both the time and energy for it” (32).

Eva’s choice was made by the circumstances of her life and the lives of her children. Later on in the novel, Eva denies Plum Peace, her son, the choice to redeem his wayward ways. She sets him on fire after she discovers he has a heroin addiction following the war. In contrast to Eva and her lack of choice in providing for her family by any means necessary, Nel’s husband Jude did possess the power of choice and chose to abandon his family following an affair with Sula: “’Every man I ever knew left his children. ’ ‘Some were taken. ’ ‘Wrong, Nellie.

The word is left’” (143). Morrison uses this conversation to highlight the stark contrast between Nel and Sula and their diverging beliefs in the freedom of choice. Sula maintains that Jude chose to leave his family while Nel argues that he had no choice in being taken away following his shame about the affair. Morrison also portrays how characters make choices based on personal perceptions: “But thinking Sula had an odd way of looking at things and that her wide smile took some of the sting away from that rattlesnake over her eye” (68).

Jude articulates the notion that we can choose how we see things and this can impact the way others see us. Many of the townsfolk of the Bottom perceive Sula as evil based on the appearance of her scar. Morrison’s detailed description of the various images people imagine the scar to be showcases how each individual has the personal power to choose how to view others. While one person may perceive the scar to be a treacherous snake, another perceived it to be a smudge of dirt or a butterfly wing.

It is in Sula that readers are presented with various notions regarding the power of freedom of choice. Sula poses the question of what earthly forces influence choice and it also showcases how the power of personal decisions dictate our lives and identities. With Nel and Sula, readers are provided apt character studies in the ramifications of choice. Morrison also presents the rationale behind what actions classify as “good” and “evil” when choosing our moral paths in life. Sula is portrayed as “evil” simply because she chooses her own path, regardless of social norms.

In contrast, Nel is considered “good” because of her ability to assume the role society casts her in, whether it be faithful wife or doting mother. In the end, we come to realize that Sula’s “careless choices” dictated the prosperity of the town and the behavior of the townsfolk. In her absence, the Bottom and the townspeople suffer from their careless choices that were previously held at bay because of Sula’s presence. Morrison presents the notion that we always possess the power of choice, but whether our choices will be viewed as good or evil is in the hands of others.

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The Presence and the Absence of Men: How Racist America Shapes Characters in Toni Morrison’s Sula

Considered to be one of the most widely celebrated Black American writers of our time, Toni Morrison has made an undeniable impact in the literary world over the last fifty years. Her simple portrayals and her honest depictions of everyday lives of ordinary Black people and their daily struggles in a racially-prejudiced world make her […]

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