Within Sula the novel displays several different complexities of womanhood. The main two that really appealed to me were– the lady and the tramp. This also ties in directly with the relationship of Nel and Sula. When examining the relationship between these two, it is imperative to examine the labels that they both represent individually. Sula is the promiscuous black woman that crept into the role of the tramp as a result of her attitude towards sex and womanhood: “To Sula, sex is disconnected from emotion, a disembodied act of the body that allows her to feel a sorrow unattainable through any other means.” Although this only displays the negative labels of black women that suggest that they are promiscuous by nature, and leads the reader…show more content… The “lady” who forgives her husband of all fault is another. Nel is the novel plays this role of the “lady”. She is everything that Sula was brought up to be but did not and would not become. “She is obedient to Jude and remains faithful and never goes against him in any way. In actuality, she casts her own identity to the shadows just to please her husband, meaning that she has no identity of her own and cannot be said to be living her life on her own terms as Sula is. The two girls have major differences, but the author ensures that they have one element in their lives that they have in common. Just like Sula's promiscuity is encouraged, so is Nel's role as the “lady”: “Under Helene's hand the girl became obedient and polite. Any enthusiasms that little Nel showed were calmed by the mother until she drove her daughter's imagination underground.” She was forced to give up her identity and only expressed her true self when she was with Sula. However, that sisterhood is negated by the moral character of the “lady”: “And Nel finds a scapegoat in Sula to absolve Jude of deliberate acts of moral evil, marital infidelity and familial desertion, which destroy their marriage. Nel abnegates Jude's potential for evil.” The “lady” overpowers the bond of sisterhood that they created. Although the label of “lady” is followed initially, until the process of self-realization occurs. The realization comes as Nel rejects the
