What is it that makes people different. Is it their beginning and how they are raised? Is it the time period they lived in? Or is it much more complicated than just a couple factors that determine how a someone “turns out” . This is exactly what comes to mind when you think about Pearl and Sula. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Pearl grew up in the 17th century in the Massachusetts colony while Sula was born in the early 1900’s in a small town in Ohio. In Sula by Toni Morrison, the community is essentially all black characters, while in The Scarlet Letter the population is almost all white. These are two very different cultures and ways of life, and yet despite the differences there are still ample similarities.
Both girls, Pearl and Sula, are born to a mother that is not well liked and is considered to be shameful. Pearl is a product of adultery, whose mother is forced to wear a letter A (for adulteress) as a way to shame her. Sula’s whole family is a little bit of a disgrace and shameful. Her Grandma returned to the bottom with a large sum of money that people believed she acquired from cutting her leg off and collecting the insurance money. Her Uncle left for the war and when he returned and lost his mind and did drugs until he was killed by his mother, Sula’s grandmother. Lastly, Sula’s mother also committed adultery, only she would sleep with many men. Both girls growing up were a little different than everyone else and were seen a little bit as outcasts. Sula found comfort in her best friend Nel, but other than that she didn’t really have any friends. Pearl, on the other hand, had even less she didn’t really have anyone other than her mother, and several townspeople said that as she grew up she was the child of “the black man” (a.k.a. The devil). One last similarity is they were both attractive/ beautiful children. Sula and Nel often would attract attention from the men who sat on their front stoops/ stairs alongside the road. Pearl was described as “So magnificent was the small figure, when thus arrayed, and such was the splendor of Pearl’s own proper beauty, shining through the gorgeous robes” (Hawthorne 93). Not only was she beautiful to the eyes, but she also had extravagant and beautiful clothes her mother made for her. Pearl’s clothes were the one thing that her mother took pride in, due to their fine stitching, and fabrics. Giving these similarities wouldn’t one think that both Pearl and Sula would follow similar patterns in life as well as have similar personalities given their early childhood life experiences.
We know that both Hawthorne and Morrison set both characters up in a similar fashion, but the two girls developed very differently throughout their respective stories. Firstly, they had very different personalities. Pearl, for example, is described as being wise beyond her years, having strong emotions, and being able to read people and understand how what people are really thinking. This comes from having to look out on everything, she understands that she is considered different than the others. This then makes her adapt and become more mature to understand what is really happening in the case where she know's that Dimmesdale really is her father long before the rest of the community knew. Having strong emotions is what keeps her somewhat a child as she will laugh wildly and then become quiet and somber moments later. This is consistent with more kids rather than adults who don't have great big mood fluctuations. Sula, on the other hand, was very mischievous, troublesome, unpredictable and later in life passionate. Sula and Nel always seemed to be up to something with her being the leader of the two the most prominent example came with chicken little “Sula picked him up by his hands and swung him outward then around and around ... When he slipped from her hands and sailed away out over the water they could still hear his bubbly laughter” (Morrison 60-61). Not only did Sula kill him, just before that she convinced him to climb a very tall dangerous tree. After she killed Chicken Little she then ran to Shadrack’s cabin to see if he saw anything, and broke in. As the girls grew up their different personalities lead to very different outcomes Pearl eventually recognized Dimmesdale as her father, which symbolically “made her human”. In doing so she was able to give Dimmesdale what he really wanted in life before he died. Sula responded to Nel’s marriage by running off to different cities and never wrote back to Nel or her family. One major difference between Hawthorne and Morrison is the period of life they focused on. Hawthorne tells readers how Pearl finished out in the end with little description, while Morrison has Sula return. In the end, it was Pearl who ended up living a normal life, Hawthorne tells us that she moved to Europe and married a rich man. Upon Sula’s return she was worse than ever before. She moved her grandma into a home out of spite, freely slept with any man she wanted, and was bitter. The Community even rallied together against her because they all collectively hated her. Sula eventually died alone and disliked by many.
Sula and Pearl were both given pretty similar back stories, coming from shameful families with shameful mothers. There was not really a father for both girls, and they had very little comfort in friends. Slight differences, however, lead to very different personalities. These differences most likely were caused due to the very different cultures and locations of the stories. Pearl was very mature at a young age, and eventually lead her to a normal life, in a far away land away from her mother's shame. Sula was very immature for her whole life and lead her to always be an outcast and even being hated by the community in which she grew up.The small differences between Morrison and Hawthorne lead to massive differences in the end of the two girls lives.
1 comment:
Austin, I really enjoyed reading your post on Pearl and Sula and seeing your thoughts on the two girls. While I did read The Scarlet Letter this summer, Sula was not one that I chose to read so I was glad you provided enough detail for readers to follow along, even if they hadn't read the book. The question you posed at the beginning “what is it that makes people different?” is an interesting and complex question and was a great way to draw readers in to make them want to see what you had to say on the subject. I was surprised while reading your blog how many similarities these two characters share, including their disgraced mothers, absent fathers, and social outcast status. One thing I would disagree slightly on is your characterization of Pearl as “mature”. My interpretation of her character was slightly different, I felt that while she was able to observe what others missed it was because of her childlike innocence that she was able to see this truth in people. In many scenes throughout the book she is described using words such as "elf-child," "imp," and "airy sprite,” giving the feeling that she has a young spirit. In addition I felt that the “small differences” you reference that lead to the “massive differences” in the characters were actually quite substantial differences. I feel that the environment a person grows up in can influence their character a great deal, and while some family elements are similar between the two, their childhoods and where they were raised could hardly be anymore contrasting. Another positive was that the quotes you chose to include were both insightful and helpful in moving the piece along. Great job!
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