Essay Homework: Documented Literary Analysis
Your literary analysis essay will be on the novel Sula by Toni Morrison. You can choose from any of the topics listed below (recommended) or explore further topics in the chapter on Sula, pp. X to Yin the book How to Write about Toni Morrison (linked here for your convenience).
Task
i. Analyze the ending of the novel. What are the "circles of sorrow" that Nel experiences? Is the ending pessimistic, optimistic, or something else altogether?
ii. Nel and Sula's friendship is central in the novel. What role does this friendship play in Nel and Sula's lives and what point is Morrison making about the role of friendshipin the expression and formation of identity?
iii. How do people who are intensely individualistic fare in the novel? Is it possible to break away from the values of the community and to be one's own person? Answer the question with reference to at least two of the novel's characters.
iv. How and by whom is love expressed in the novel? In what ways does the love in the novel ease the suffering of the characters? How is love not enough to diminish the suffering of the characters? Answer the question by discussing at least two characters in the novel.
v. In what ways are the various characters in the novel alienated from the community? How do they cope with their loneliness, their preoccupations, and other effects of feeling alienated?
vi. Compare and contrast the journey of self-discovery for two characters in the book. Remember to take a position in your thesis that establishes the significance of the comparison and contrast.
vii. Contrast Nel's relationship to her mother and Sula's interaction with her mother. Remember to take a position in your thesis that establishes the significance of the contrast.
viii. Trace the use of three symbols in the novel and explain their connection to a theme in the novel.
ix. What does Shadrack's character teach us about the effects of war and the ways mentally ill people can be ostracized from a community?
x. Although no one has ever joined Shadrack on National Suicide Day, in the chapter titled "1941," much of the town marches toward the tunnel where they have not been able to work, and, in their rage, thetry to "kill, as best they could, the tunnel they were forbidden to build" (160). What is the significance of the event at the tunnel and the resulting deaths there?
Format your homework according to the following formatting requirements:
i) The answer should be typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), double spaced, with one-inch margins on all sides.
ii) The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the homework, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
iii) Also include a reference page. The Citations and references must follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.