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International Vintage International Essay One of Morrisons stunning gifts is her skill in creating ethically unclear conditions for her audiences. In Sula, for one, the reader would be torn in analyzing the depth of character of Sula. Is Sula really the devil others profess her to be, a threat for the otherwise peaceful society? Or could it be that how a person views things as something bad or not depends on ones personal perspective? Sula lives her life without paying any heed to the norms which made the people of Bottom see her as a deviant person. By living her life an uncommon standard the people in their society decided to alienate or estrange her. Even though the society categorize Sula as nothing short of evil, believing that their lives would be a whole lot much better should Sula left, in reality, having Sula there to serve as the sole center of their bad lucks made them live happier lives than it would have been had Sula not lived in the area, thus making her some kind of a scapegoat in the process. In more way than the people in Bottom could imagine, Sulas presence brought more positive consequences than negative ones as they always like to claim. The communitys rationale for labeling Sula as evil is ridiculous. Their attitude only shows that their criticisms of Sula arose more from their need for a scapegoat or for someone to fall the blames into, and Sula happened to be that person. One instance of their preposterous claim could be found on the following quotation found in the book Sula did not look her age. (Morrison 115). Provided that it is true, that Sula did not age as much as the women living at Bottom did, I believe that is not proof enough to treat Sula as the devil incarnate. The people of bottom ignore the fact that most women living in their village only sleeps around (this include Sulas own mom, one of the most well-loved person living in town), and they make this as another of their basis for snubbing Sula. The womenfolk of Bottom detests Sula so much because Sula would lay their husbands once and then no more (Morrison 115), which the women took as some kind of an affront to their very being since they feel like Sula acts all mighty, snatching away their most valuable possession and then throwing it away as though it is nothing of importance. On the other hand, the men folk of the community spread gossips about Sula having had sexual intercourse with white men, which their community views as the lowest thing a woman of her own race could do. Although it is a fact that Sula sleeps with different men as though it is the most natural thing to do, this is more an indication of the way she was reared than of her own malice. If one stop to mull over the fact that Sula had no intimate knowledge of marriage, having lived in a house with women who thought all men available, and selected from among them with a care only for their tastes, (Morrison) and that townsfolk of Bottom have knowledge of Sulas own background and family, it is not really reasonable or just for the townsfolk to alienate Sula on the line of reasoning that she sleeps around with different guys, depending on who she wants to spend the night with. Should truth be told, the people of Bottom does not really care about treating Sula fairly, in that whether they are aware of it or not, they have been yearning for a lone object on which they could hold accountable for everything which would goes wrong, and Sula happened to be that one person they could hold accountable for everything wrong in this world because of her own deviant attitude and outlook in life. Sula, not caring about the way other people sees her and without paying any heed about how the people at Bottom uses hert as a scapegoat, provided positive consequences in the community, contrary to what the people living there loves to claim. In a way, Sulas presence brought considerable progress on the way people lives. Sulas presence brought fear and apprehension among the townsfolk and since they label Sula as the source of their troubles they saw the need to guard and love each other. Thus, contrary to their claim that Sulas presence brought them nothing but misery, in reality Sulas presence prompted them to be good and to love each other better. An example of this could be found among the womenfolk of Bottom, Sulas presence made them realize the value of their husbands making them love and cherish their husbands better than before Sulas return. Men living in Bottom are not really innocent when it comes to bedding other women and Sula is not the only woman they have bedded aside from their wives, yet among the women they have had Sula is the only one which prompted the women of bottom to have better attitude with their husbands. The women of bottom is also to blame for their husbands attitude because should truth be told, a man cherished by their wives is less likely to find another comfort from other women and Sulas arrival in town is like s trigger which prompts their women to realize this thing. Aula also made the townspeople better parents to their children as is the case with Teapots mom. Teapots mother, a drunkard, had not been paying much attention to her son which resulted to her son being hurt and although the doctor stated that the harm was caused by malnutrition, Teapots mother still saw fit to throw the blame to Sula, claiming that the latter hurt her son. After than incident, Teapots mom suddenly became a better mother, treating him with utmost concern and love proving once more that the menace of sulas presence is the absolute driving force for the community to change for the better. The people treated Sulas death as good news, though in reality, it really is a blow and the mass death tackled in the story symbolizes the great loss Sula really was for the Bottom. In fact, Sulas death caused the townsfolk to revert back to their old behavior, once more leaving the elderly to foster homes, the wives neglecting their husbands, Teapots mother abusing him again, and so on. This proves that Sulas absence made the townsfolk feel so hopeless bleak, and miserable. Sula is a motivation which prompted them to act better and like any good motivation, her loss, caused people to revert back to their old behavior. As strange as it may sound, the townsfolk actually needs Sula. Even Nel realized later that she made use of Sula as her own scapegoat, believing that the sorrow she felt was really from missing her husband Jude who had an affair with Sula, realizing too late that what she really missed is Sula, her friend, and not her husband. Being deviant could really make people alienate a person, as was the case with Sula. However, in Sulas case, the estrangement of Sula from the community saved the townsfolk from their own bad behaviors or conducts. Sula, actually caused the people at Bottom to live better lives, making them seek out each other to save themselves from the presence of evil (Sula) in the community. Sulas presence produced good results at the peoples lives at Bottom, in the same way that her death resulted to a loss of hope for the community. Works Cited Morrison, Toni. Acceptance Speech. Nobel Lecture. 7 Dec 1993 Morrison, Toni. Sula. New York: Vintage International Vintage International, 2004. Last Name of Student 5