Rethinking motherhood and motherly love in Toni Morrison's Sula and Gloria Naylor's the women of Brewster place

Abstract

This article examines how the novels Sula, by Toni Morrison, and he Women of Brewster Place, by Gloria Naylor, deconstruct long-held controlling images of black women, particularly the matriarch. he characters Eva Peace in Sula and Mattie Michael in he Women of Brewster Place, among others, provide great illustrations of black women who have rejected many of the places and stereotypes reserved for them in society, consequently deconstructing controlling images white society has imposed on them. hese novels highlight black women's plural roles in society, thereby opening possibilities for a liberating experience of black womanhood.