Comparisons of Sula and Breath, Eyes, Memory

The Most Complex Relationship In Breathe, Eyes, Memory, Tante Atie usually tells about the chunk of the sky and flower petals story to explain from where Sophie was born, but of course, Sophie is not an exception of nature. Like billions of girls all over the world, she was linked to her mother’s body by the placenta, and lived in the womb for nine months before being greeted by the world. When the placenta is removed – a girl and her mother do not share the same body any more, however, she does not develop into a woman independent of her mother. It’s not simply a matter of genes or inheritance, but a complicated relationship between mother and daughter. How does a mother positively or negatively influence her growing up daughter? What is the meaning of a daughter to her mother? How do a daughter’s personality form under her mother’s influence? These questions are answered in both novels Breathe, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat and Sula by Toni Morrison with some from similar views, and some from different views. For ages, a mother’s love is always mentioned as the symbol for pure and selfless love. Digging deep in the complex maternal love, nevertheless, both Morrison and Danticat draw an unexpected conclusion that daughters are somewhat detestable to their mothers. Perhaps the biggest impression that Hannah, Sula’s mother, gives readers is her seemingly unfathomable love for her daughter. One day, when Sula passes by, some women are talking about problems of child rearing, and Hannah says that she does not like her daughter: “You love her, like I love Sula. I just don’t like her. That’s the difference” (Morrison 57). Along with Eva’s murder of Plum, Hannah’s words raise a question about the ambivalence of a mother’s love, which is not a simple definition of romantic understanding. Instead, it can be an emotion tightly sticking to heavy responsibility, or even a burden of taking care of children. Perhaps deep in Hannah’s soul, she does

Cited: Morrison, Toni. Sula. Vintage International, June 2004. Print. Danticat, Edwidge. Breath, Eyes, Memory. Vintage Contemporaries, May 1998. Print.