Sula

Sula

• Genre: Fiction; historical
• Originally Published: 1973
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 1050L; college/adult
• Structure/Length: 2 parts; preface and 11 chapters; approx. 174 pages; approx. 5 hours, 46 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Taking place between 1919 and 1965, the story features best friends Sula Peace and Nel Wright who come of age in their close Black community in Ohio. The girls begin to follow different paths as they grow up; conflict ensues in the community when one betrays the other later in their lives.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Racism and racial conflict; violence, including wartime violence; poverty; abuse; violent deaths, including deaths of children; sexual content; profanity and racial slurs, including the n-word

Toni Morrison, Author

• Bio: 1931-2019; born in Ohio; attended Howard University and Cornell University; taught at Texas Southern University; became the first female Black fiction editor at Random House (1965); published first novel (The Bluest Eye) in 1970; earned Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (for Beloved; 1970) and Nobel Prize in Literature (1993); tapped to give the Jefferson Lecture, the highest honor awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (1996); awarded the National Book Foundation’s Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters (1996); received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2012); inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame (2020); known for honest and moving portrayals of Black history and experiences in her work
• Other Works: The Bluest Eye (1970); Beloved (1987); Paradise (1997); Love (2003)
• Award: Finalist, National Book Award for Fiction, 1975

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Friendships Between Women
• Black Womanhood and the Politics of Respectability
• Family, Community, and the Burden of Legacies

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the social and psychological contexts that influence the novel’s character development, especially with Sula and Nel.
• Study paired texts and other brief resources to make connections to the text’s themes of Friendships Between Women and Family, Community, and the Burden of Legacies.
• Propose and argue in favor of a holiday that commemorates something people need, building on the role that National Suicide Day serves for the people of Medallion.
• Analyze and evaluate plot, setting, character, and theme to draw conclusions and make inferences regarding women, family, community, and legacy.