How Does Morrison Create Identity In Sula

In both Jazz and Sula by Toni Morrison, the question of what defines a person is constantly asked. The way in which Morrison poses the question to the reader, however, changes drastically between the two works. Sula is Morrison’s second novel, and because of this, shows a more experimental and varied approach to the idea of identity, like she is trying to figure out exactly what she thinks. Jazz, on the other hand, while dealing with very abstract concepts, grapples with its ideas in a more focused manner. The different approaches in Sula and Jazz help shed light on her evolution in dealing with the theme, and her maturation helps the reader follow her development and better understand her works.
In Sula, Morrison chooses to explore the concept of identity through several different
Both Sula and Jazz use familial relationships to examine what defines a person. In Sula, she focuses on mother-child relationships, changing their dynamics from the expected to explore the consequences. By looking at the missing parts of Nel and Helene’s relationship, Sula, Hannah and Eva’s relationship, she asks questions about what motherhood really means, how we use our families to gain a better sense of ourselves. In Jazz, she broadens the relationships she deals with to more loosely, parent-child relationships. The consequences of her characters’ dysfunctional relationship demonstrate her opinions on identity and self-definition, rather than asking questions to figure out what she thinks. She asserts that Joe kills Dorcas because he has “changed once too often” (Jazz 129). The loss of connection to his family drives him to murder. In preserving the theme of family in Jazz, she seems to show the reader the conclusion that she eventually came to from her experimentation in Sula- that our identities are fundamentally bound to our heritage and our