The greatest influence on a growing is her mother. In order to grasp the connection between Nel and Sula, one must examine who and what their mother’s where and what traits and beliefs they handed down to their daughters. Nel is as conventional and conforming as a young lady can be: “Under Helene's hand the girl became obedient and polite. Her mother calmed any enthus

iasms that Nel showed until she drove her daughter's imagination underground”. (p.18) In this passage Nel is merely an extension of her mother with no autonomy of her own. Helene's hand is the iron fist of authority from under which Nel cannot release herself. Morrison makes it clear that Nel is a calm and unimaginative girl who conforms completely to her mother's strict orders.

On the other hand, Sula becomes unsettled, disordered, and adventurous when Nel's imposition of orderliness and restraint is no longer apparent. Without Nel, Morrison makes clear, Sula no longer has a complete self: “She was completely free of ambition, with no affection for money, property or things, no greed, no desire to command attention or compliments - no ego. For that reason she felt no compulsion to verify herself - be consistent with herself”. (p.119) Sula then has frequent sex, becomes a pariah, and craves "for the other half of her equation." (p.121) Without each other, both women are incomplete souls.

Most works of contemporary American fiction involve one individual's search for self- identification in a stifling and unsympathetic world. In "Sula," Toni Morrison gives us two such individuals, Nel and Sula. Nel misses the oneness she felt with Sula, not the relationship she ever could recreate with Jude. Nel's recognition of this lost bond reunites the two women on a spiritual level and reconciles their lost self. The repetition and conjunction of the word "girl" allows Nel and Sula to become what they once were - one girl. Morrison says, "... if they had been one woman... they would have been a rather marvelous person”. (Toni Morrison) Thus, Morrison, creates two completely different women yet allows them to merge into one.

Nel was as wild and excited as Sula was. The water closing over Chicken Little's body represents the subtle merging of Nel and Sula. The turbulence each girl felt in her lives as opposite individuals is washed over peacefully by the contentment of being one. This is the point where the girls would cease rebelling against the influences of their mothers and would embrace the values they had each been taught. The girls would emotionally divide into good and evil halves, Nel being the conformist and more feminine based good Helene had wanted and Sula embracing the evil, Hannah and Eva's life long rebelliousness.

Nel's conscience here reveals the guilt she feels over this incident years later. Just because she did not throw Chicken Little into the river does not mean she is not at fault because, as Eva points out, "You watched". (p. 119) The lines of good and evil merge here as both girls are at fault for the accident. As the lines of good and evil merge, so do the individual selves of Sula and Nel. Nel, in the presence of Sula, can now affirm the individuality her mother had tried to suppress

Some topics in this essay:
Nel Sula, Chicken Little, Helene Sula’s, Nel Sula's, Chicken Little's, Nel Morrison, Contrary Nel, Online Gale, Morrison Morrison, Jude Nel's, nel sula, toni morrison, girl girl, chicken little, morrison makes, girl girl girl, toni morrison morrison, mother hannah, extension mother, helene's hand, morrison woman marvelous, sula sex, marvelous person” toni, person” toni morrison, sexual relations,