Susan Neal Mayberry’s article “Something Other Than a Family Quarrel: The Beautiful Boys in Morrison’s Sula” explores Toni Morrison’s description of the male characters in her novel, as well as Sula’s own maleness. Mayberry’s thesis states that Sula “challenges us to reconsider how histories of tops and bottoms, ups and downs, within American social structures become convoluted into the ironic hierarchies and differences in African American society” (Mayberry 517). Sula is a novel that depicts the African American woman’s struggle for power in society, and Morrison utilizes the lack of male characters in the novel to emphasize this idea. Mayberry explains Morrison’s process here, somewhat muddily.
Mayberry’s article begins by explicitly stating that “Morrison’s is the ‘womanist’ insight that relationships between African American men and woman must be understood not only in terms of the intersections of gender…but also in terms of their participation in a larger, historically racist culture” (517). Throughout the article, the author lengthily explains the way in which African American women must fight for their freedom of individuality from men. She argues that African American men are torn down by white men, as well as African American women trying to be independent of their masculinity. She goes on to explain how the novel represents a certain “crisis in masculinity” (519). Mayberry uses examples of ways in which the black woman confronts everyone, men, and other women alike, to gain a sense of superiority. Mayberry, with the help of some 21 sources, states that the female characters, particularly Sula, “must address the men in their lives to accept the masculine in themselves” (520). An example of this can be seen in the way that the “Pease household is named for the women who love maleness for its own sake” (523).
Mayberry’s argument regarding the masculine aspects of the female characters, especially Sula’s, personality can be seen throughout the novel. In a comment made to Sula in Part Two of the novel it is stated that ‘“white men love [Sula]. They spend so much time worrying about [Sula’s] penis that they forget their own”’ (Morrison 103). Throughout the novel Sula’s sexuality is blurred. In the scene depicting Sula and Nel as young girls digging a hole in the grass, the reader can detect the sexual undertones of the situation. Morrison’s diction in this passage alludes to the sexual nature of the scene. The author uses words such as “undressed,” “bare,” “rhythmically,” “intense,” and “one” to portray the attraction between the two young girls and the bond they create with one another, with Sula acting as Nel’s male counterpart (58). Another example of Sula’s maleness occurs when she states that Nel’s dream had always been to fall in love with a man on a horse, and Sula saw herself riding that horse.
To an extent, I agree with Mayberry’s article. The article helps the reader to understand the way in which the lack of male characters in the novel allows Sula to take over this role. However, I believe that Mayberry’s article is quite dense and does not clearly support its claims. Mayberry boldly states at the beginning of her article that the novel deals with conflict between African American men and women in a historically racial culture; however, I didn’t get a good sense of the historical from reading the article. Overall, it’s a start at recognizing what Morrison does with Sula in her novel, but Mayberry draws from so many other authors and sources that it’s hard to discern which claims are actually hers and what she is merely quoting.
Works Cited
Mayberry, Susan Neal. “Something Other Than A Family Quarrel: The Beautiful Boys in Morrison’sSula.” African American Review 37.4 (2003): 517-533. MLA Bibliography. Web. 17 Nov 2013.
Morrison, Toni. Sula. New York: Vintage International, 1973. Print.
UT English Lit Major 