Death In Toni Morrison's Sula

Vision a motionless body lying on their deathbed. Their souls is departing from the decaying bones left on the earth. Death is nothing to be afraid of because it is a way of life. Death remains a great mystery and no one can figure it out or predict when the time will come to die. When death is mention, one might think about physical death. They also might think about someone losing their life, but that is only one type of death. Death does not always come in a physical form. There is also social death. Social death can be described as someone who is mentally dying. Social death is similar to a person pushing others away, relationships being destroyed, and it can destroy one’s social life. In Toni Morrison’s Sula, death is used both physically and socially and it is shown through different ways like murder, sacrifice, accidents, and natural cause.

Murder is one of the most inhuman crimes a person can commit. A lot of people can murder someone and still be able to sleep at night not showing emotions that a majority of people might feel. A example of physical death is when Eva murders Plum because he was trying to crawl back into her womb. She also believed he was trying to become a baby again. Plum is Eva’s son and he is briefly discussed in the novel. Plum enlists in the war and

While this is going on Eva shuts the door and lets him suffer to death. Eva wanted Plum to die like a man. Plum's possible overdose, a self-imposed, drug-related death that would, in Eva's mind, eternally mark him as a non-man (Jackson 384). Killing one’s son is considered a terrible act and is looked down upon. An example of social death is when Sula tries to kill the existence of Eva. Sula kills the existence of Eva by locking her up in a nursing home and letting her live there. Sula told Nel that the reason she put Eva in a nursing home is because she was afraid of her. “I’m scared of her, Nellie. That’s why…” (Morrison