African Naming In Toni Morrison's Sula

Toni Morrison, the author of “Sula,” used the tradition of African naming numerous times throughout the entirety of her novel. With names ranging from Eva to BoyBoy, there are a profuse amount of ways to interpret the meaning behind her writing style and name selecting. Her characters Helene, Eva, and BoyBoy have the most prevalent parallels to African naming traditions. Once Helena married Wiley Wright, they relocated to a residence in Medallion. The people of ‘The Bottom’ then omitted the e from her name,essentially changing her name, to try to degrade her. This is an adaptation of the institute of African naming because one form is when a man “leaves his traditional setting and family” he is “given or takes a new name (Holloway 1). Therefore,