Defiance of Gender Norms and Traditional Morality: A Study of Toni Morrison’s Sula

Abstract

Gone are the days when African-American literature was considered marginalized and inferior. It has the tendency of creating marvellous writers like Toni Morrison. Morrison is a novelist par excellence. She works hard to aware black people of their freedom and rights. Sula is one of the best novels of Morrison. Accentuating the quest of the black female self within the white racist and black sexist American society, the novel questions the biased portraiture of African-American women in the discourse of whites and black males. Sula Peace breaks the traditional norms of her society and emerges as a new woman defying all gender norms. Coming out of her subservient status, Sula demands her dignity in the community she lives in and creates a new identity for herself. The paper aims at pointing out how Morrison creates a character in her novel that defies all gender roles and traditional morality and emerges as a trendsetter setting a new direction for the women of her community.