Mother-daughter relationships - Essay Example

Mother-daughter relationships Introduction The setting of the Novel Sula by Toni Morris occurs between 1919 and 1965 with the central theme revolving around ambiguity. The issue examines and questions the terms “evil” and “good,” attempting to delve that the two resemble each other. In this context, the novel addresses the confusion arising from the mysteries of human conflict, relationships, and emotions. Ultimately, the story concludes that the social conventions are often inadequate to serve as a determination for living a personal life. The novel entices the reader to use the diametrically opposing terms of “evil” and good,” “wrong and right” to describe the characters and their acts. At the same time, it shows the necessity to desist from such terms. Further, contextualizing this novel, it tries to explore the various ways that people make meaning pursuant to their lives characterized by conflicts that originate from gender, race, and idiosyncratic viewpoints. However, Sula rejects the simple answers that demonstrate ambiguity, a terror of life, beauty, in both its horrors and triumphs. Nevertheless, Sula illustrates the varied relationships that exist between the family members showing their importance as a tool of the social construct (Pruitt 115). Therefore, the essay will examine, analyze, and elucidate the various relationships that take the center stage of this novel. Based on the novel, the black women do not have access to the male protection. Hence, the daughter and mother relationships are fundamental for them to receive the motherly skills meant for survival. In this case, the African American parents give protection to their daughters while teaching them to love themselves for whom they are in the patriarchal society. This depiction is eminent when the mothers strive to offer protection for the undetermined dangers through giving them a sense of their unique self-worth. Although, this feeling of security and self-worth often miss in the mother and daughter relationships in Sula. The situation indicates the historical experiences of the African American that impact differently on how men, women, and their children express affection, tenderness, support, and protection to one another. Thus, the novel tries to explain the importance of the mother’s role in the family toward the daughters. For instance, Helene tries to offer protection to her daughter Nel but her avenues fail to encourage the development of self-worth to Nel. Contrary, Helene, Nel’s mother has ever wished to be a mother, but the relationship existing between her and the daughter has complications. The problem accentuates because Helene had struggled with her relationship with the maternal mother as she was a prostitute. Moreover, Helene has feelings that her family is full of flaws and escapes her marriage and Wright takes her to the town of Medallion. Wright’s family enjoys the life in town due to the standards. The situation then makes Helene oppose totally her mother who is highly religious and conservative. Helene is jubilant when Nel is born, finds purpose and comfort that she ever hoped. Besides, Willey is always absent because of his work as a seaman but Helene does not seem to miss him. Nel becomes Helene’s priority and wants her to be a respectable person and decent woman in the future. Helene then makes a mistake of overly guarding Nel’s moves driving her imagination underground, and she does not find anything role in what she is doing. Fundamentally, Helene does not want to see her daughter stray from the society as the Creole family. Evidentially, Nel misses her grandmother who she sees once for a long time and cannot stop thinking of how she embraced her. Phillip (185) notes that when Nel visited her grandmother, she sat on the sofa listening to Helene but thinking about the smell and the tight hug of her grandmother. Later on, Nel resists her mother’s safeguard due to the failure to offer the sense of the unique self-worth (Morgenstern 8). Also, Helene seems not to like Nel’s nose, which she points out as she can improve it if she pulls it out hence demeaning her worth. As the Toni Morris depicts, Nel makes a promise that she cannot be the woman her mother wants her, rather she has the determination to explore and discover life outside her mother’s cage. On the other hand, Sula’s family has a problem with communication. The novel illustrates that mothers and daughters often fail to succeed in their communication. The situation comes up when Sula overhears her mother’s conversation about Hanna’s feelings and interprets it differently. According to Morrison, there is a big difference between liking and loving someone due to the relationships that exist among the people. For instance, Hannah seems to love Sula because she is her daughter but she does not like her. Also, Hannah, Eva’s daughter missed communication that affects their relationship with a mother and a daughter. Hannah questions her mother over the death of Plum showing that their relationship is not going along well. Hannah also feels that her and the siblings did not get sufficient love from their mother as children and questions her mother whether she had a love for them. The novel also expresses the point of harassment, where Nel harasses Chicken Little while Sula tries to protect her. Later, Sula Chicken falls into a river and drowns due to Sula’s fault. Sula acts while Nel is passive showing their consistency and unpredictability respectively. As a matter of fact, their complicity in Little’s death shakes their childhood friendship. Moreover, Hannah’s insecurity feelings about the love of her mother project a relationship with Sula though they do not possess the uniqueness of self-worth. For example, Sula finds her self-worth in the relationships with Nel while Hannah finds hers in the relationship with men. Therefore, the portrayal of mother/daughter relationship in Sula propose that the past experiences have a significant impact on the parental relations. As noted, the mothers fail to offer unique self-worth to their daughters since they are struggling with their memories of failed relationships. The key elements in Sula The elements that feature in Toni Morrison’s novel include the birds, flowers, fire, and water. The birds depict flight making sense of the where Sula and Cecile flee from their places within the novel. Additionally, the robins have an association with the spring, reasons of rebirth and growth. In spite of Sula’s destruction and pain, she brings about a renewed logic in the Bottom. As Toni Morrison notes, the flowers signify the smell that Sula recognizes we she meets Rochelle. The rose shape that Sula has a birthmark and the tattoo both serves as the foundational source of the epigraph in the novel. With these flowers, Rochelle intoxicates Nell and Sula, who in turn excite the many men in the neighborhood (Lillvis 452). In the case of fire, there are deaths of Plum and Hannah. The idea behind the fire is that of cleansing where the author says that the victims feel a sense of baptism or a kind of a blessing. When Hannah dies of fire, it seems like Sula receives a cleaning of a mother who is at the best indifferent and admits that she does not like her. Finally, the element of water has an association with the death of Chicken Little. The water represents the horrible drowning of Chicken that engulfs the little boy. The water agitates Sula for her responsibility for Chicken’s death. Toward the end of the novel, one of the townsmen slides and hits a piece of ice below, showing that he died of water. Effects of the unhealthy mother/daughter relationships The central characters in Toni Morrison’s novel have inadequate affection and support from their mothers causing adverse effects toward their self-esteem and look for the support in their childhood friendship. For instance, Nel has the determination to rebel her mother to try and find her identity. She wants to discover life beyond her mother, hence, looking for friendships with Sula. Similarly, when Sula lacks the sense of belonging from the family members, she too finds the sense of belonging to her friend Nel (Marie 725). They detect their strengths and weeks and forge to find a mutual balance between them. On the other hand, Jude and Nel break their marriage after Sula comes in between them, and Jude does sex with her. Afterward, Nel abandons Sula just as the rest of the Bottom community after she engages in a sexual relationship with Jude. The relationships in this context break up leading to a broken marriage between Jude and Nel. Due to the complexities that arise from the daughter and mother relationships during adulthood and teenage periods, they end up having complications in their later lives. For instance, Cecile and Sula decide to flee from their places of residence due to the complexions of their relationships (Trounstine 27). However, Nel tries to settle with her husband, Sula comes in and destroys their relationship with Jude depicting a broken marriage just as that of her mother who does not care about the husband. Also, Nel’s grandmother is was a prostitute, a case that shows a complicated lineage. Conclusion As indicated in the novel, the relationships that exist between the mother and their daughters significantly affect their lives. Unhealthy relationships often lead to sophisticated lives that end up in marriages breakages. For instance, Sula destroys the marriage of Nel and Jude. Also, due to the weak relation between Hannah and her mother, she finds it difficult to guide her daughter in the right direction leading to her rejection. Therefore, it is vital to examine and analyze these complex relationships depicted to help understand how the mothers should relate to their daughters. Works Cited Lillvis, Kristen. "Becoming Self and Mother: Posthuman Liminality in Toni Morrison's Sula." Critique 54.4 (2013): 452-464. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 June 2015. Marie, Nigro. “In search of self: Frustration and Denial in Toni Morrison’s Sula.” Journal of Black Studies, 28(6): 724-737. Web. 11 June 2015. Morgenstern, Naomi. "Maternal Love/Maternal Violence: Inventing Ethics In Toni Morrison’S Sula." Melus 39.1 (2014): 7-29. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 June 2015. Phillip, Novak. “Circles and circles of Sorrow”: In the Wake of Morrison’s Sula.” PMLA, 114 (2): 184-193. Web. 11 June 2015. Pruitt, Claude. "Circling Meaning in Toni Morrison's "Sula.” African American Review 44.1/2 (2011): 115-129. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 June 2015. Trounstine, Jean. "Changing Women's Lives through Literature." Women's Review Of Books 32.3 (2015): 27-29.Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 June 2015. Read More