Toni Morrison's Sula is a novel that has a theme about the nature of evil. The story follows the lives of two black female friends who present differing views on evil. On one hand, we have society's conventional view of evil represented by the character of Nel and also seen in the Bottom's disapproval of Sula. The other view of evil is seen through the character of Sula and through her actions, which conflict with traditional society. The friendship of Sula and Nel is how the author conveys her message about evil in the relationship. In the relationship the two different conceptions of evil mix and create an essentially neutral mixture. By looking at Nel's and Sula's friendship and the two different views of evil that they have, the author shows us the subjective and relative nature of evil and how friendship can overcome any evil. In the Bottom, the dominant view of evil is society's conception. Its guidelines for good and bad behavior can be seen through society's reaction to Sula. Her return to the Bottom after being gone for ten years is greeted with the same way one would greet a pest, a plague or an illness. The novel shows society's negative view of her when it describes how Sula arrived "accompanied by a plague of robins" (Morrison 89). Her time spent in the Bottom is grouped with other evils the "floods, white people, tuberculosis, famine and ignorance" (Morrison 90) and her stay in the town is called the "evil days"(89), because the town views Sula as an evil force. The reason the town saw her as evil is because of her sexual habits. Sula herself knows that the townspeople "despised her and ... framed their hatred as disgust for the easy way she lay with men"(122), because being faithful in a marriage is one of the town's most important principles. Even worse is the one "unforgivable thing", the accusation that "that Sula slept with white men"(112), offending the town's racial pride. Not only are the residents ...
