Gender Identity In Sula

The paper explores the issue of Gender construction and assertion of Identity in Bama’s “Karukku” and Toni Morrison’s “Sula”. Morrison has portrayed the African American culture and the state of oppression and sufferings due to slavery .Similarly Bama’s autobiographical work “karukku” traces the agony and despair of the Dalits and how they were marginalized in an Indian society by the upper caste. Through the protagonists of these two works we could see the assertion of their identities as they break their silence to establish “self” in the society. Feminism has a long history and women writers always have to struggle for their equality and Individual status in a society .Mary Ellman, in “Thinking About Women”(1968) apropos the sperm/ovum nexus reverses male dominated ways of seeing by suggesting that we might prefer to regard

Sula, through her character depicts that No Women is non essential. She should not be seen only as an object or “other” to male.Morrison has portrayed the character of Sula as very eccentric and fragmented. Even her birthmark has been interpreted in many ways .To Nel the mark gives Sula’s glance ‘a suggestion of startled pleasure’[Pg 96].To Jude,it looks like a poisonous snake. Only shadrack recognizes the mark as a sign of Sula’s developing self ,he thinks ‘she had a tadpole over her eye’[pg 156].
The character of chicken little appears for a while in the novel but he often come across in the minds of rest of the characters. Chicken Little’s death was on Sula and from that very incident the two girls became scared. Though it was not an intentional act done by Sula. But the racial discrimination we get to see after this incident was such a harsh memory to forget as his body was disposed to the bottom after three days of his death. A white man saw his body but he never tried to reach his parents or any other member from his