Norms And Environment Of Gender, Sex, And Love: Black Female Protagonists In Toni Morrison's Sula

Abstract

The present paper discusses the great African American woman novelist Toni Morrison and her novel Sula . This work is an expression of Morrison's concern for the degradation of women in society. It is about two female protagonists who have been born and brought up according to norms and an environment of gender, sex and love that shape their personalities. The female protagonists Sula and Nel represent two different opinions and attitudes toward gender roles, sex and love. Nel follows the conventional norms of society; while Sula throughout her life rejects the traditional notions of feminine ‘responsibility’ and refuses to see women as only wives and mothers. This paper also explains how these norms and environment of gender, sex and love destroy the relationship between not only men and women but also women themselves.