Contemplating the Void: How Narrative Overcomes Anonymity in Toni Morrison’s Sula

An analysis of Toni Morrison’s novel Sula and her use of the classic etymological and narrative styles and tropes evident in the major epics of the Greek, Mesopotamian, and Indian regions of the world to recover the disenfranchised aspects of African-American cultural history that have traditionally been subsumed in modern times in discussions of the classic epics. Further, this paper examines the use of the character, Sula as a divine and heroic figure and the Bottom as a modern interpretation of the holy spot of redemption in the material world to invigorate the novel, and connect it to the cultural lineage that has resulted in this work from one point of view. Focusing on the novel and using Morrison’s own interpretations of the purpose of Sula and the style in which it was written this paper attempts also to address the criticisms that define this work as an ethnic and political text purposed specifically to overwrite the importance of previous epic texts in terms of defining the spiritual and collective view of the morays and faith of the African American identity.