Toni Morrison (Chloe Wofford: birth name)
Each of these stories is designed around an ideal of feminism. "Use" and "Ironing" tell the story from the perspective of the single mother, reminiscing on the ways they raised their daughters. "Sula" is able to convey the same relationships, but it is told with an unnamed narrative focus. In doing this, author Toni Morrison makes us feel like a citizen of the town of Medallion, Ohio. Bringing the focus outside the head of an individual gives the reader the ability to put the strong female characters described in a greater context. Through this context we understand even more greatly the complicated design of obstacles that each woman must overcome in their own way, and for their own reasons. From Sula's mother, Hannah, sleeping with many men to satisfy a bottomless craving for physical affection to her grandmother who killed her own addicted child, an unforgiving history is conveyed, never condemning but never flinching at the consequences that their female strength required. Morrison gives us the perspective of generations of pain that a singular narrator couldn't.
Tillie Olsen
Each of these stories has their own significant merit to contribute to the world of feminist writing. "Ironing" addresses a similar time period as "Sula", the early 1900's as represented by the lack of work during that time as well as the lack of sympathy for the woman who has to pick up the pieces when the father refuses to remain in a family under those circumstances. "Everyday Use" condenses the generational expanse between mother and daughter similarly seen in "Sula" to explore the differences in black culture as modern society evolved. "Sula" manages to address the reality of both these socialist and black feminisms (Barker, p. 282) without exploiting or caricaturing the gentle reality of the characters.
Alice Walker
What really sets "Sula" apart from the other feminist stories I've read recently is the imagery and setting. Our unnamed narrator says "...it is just as well" that Medallion is getting uprooted for a golf course "since it wasn't a town anyway: just a neighborhood where on quiet days people in valley houses could hear singing sometimes, banjo sometimes, and, if a valley man happened to have business up in those hills- collecting rent or insurance payments- he might see a dark woman in a flowered red dress doing a bit of cakewalk..." (Morrison, p. 4) It is clear from this one sentence that Medallion was indeed a town, and a town that was full of people, culture, sound, and life. In fact, the remainder of the book is spent contradicting that one very statement that it is "just as well". The number of individuals, the specific character of the shops and shop owners, quirky rituals such as 'Suicide Day', and relationships within Medallion that are described in the following pages makes as much of a town as any white Main street. Because of this painstakingly crafted world, "Sula" ceases to be merely a commentary on the woman's struggle, or even the black woman's struggle, instead becoming an elaborate portrait of an entire society of resistance.
I'm grateful to have a curriculum that serendipitously intersects all my readings to one crossroad. Because of "Ironing" and "Use", I feel that I can more competently approach the literary meaning of "Sula". I look forward to further explorations as I continue to delve into Toni Morrison's world.
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