ENL 177: “Journal Entry #1—Reaction to Sula by T. Morrison”

Jolene Patricia Brown

ENL 177: T. Morrison

January 12, 2009

Journal #1

Toni Morrison's work is highly political especially in terms of race relations (white/black) and sex relations (male/female). The marriage of Jude and Nel is an important marker of sex relations as well as race relations within the novel because Jude longs to be a “man” yet cannot consider himself a man until he finds a man's job, but those are reserved for whites:

It was after he stood in lines for six days running and saw the gang boss pick out thin-armed white boys from the Virginia hills and the bull-necked Greeks and Italians... that he got the message. So it was rage, rage and a determination to take on a man's role anyhow that made him press Nel about settling down. (82)

Jude longs to be a “man” and to do work that will give him a man's status, not “women's work” that he was performing in the kitchen at his job.

The more he thought about marriage, the more attractive it became. Whatever his fortune, whatever the cut of his garmet, there would always be the hem—the tuck and fold that hid his raveling edges; a someone sweet, industrious and loyal to shore him up...Without that someone he was a waiter hanging around a kitchen like a woman. With her he was head of a household pinned to an unsatisfactory job out of necessity. (83)

His dilemma—longing for manhood in a society that denies it—enlightens the predicament of many men but especially those of color because, unlike the “thin-armed white boys” and the “bull-necked” Europeans, he is not allowed the opportunity for manhood even if he seeks it out for himself. He is forced into a feminine position in white society: relegated to wash dishes in a kitchen; a job usually reserved for a woman. The message sent to him is that he is not man enough to do a man's job and it is his determination to change his forced feminine status to marry. By marrying Nel, Jude can force his way into manhood outside of the control of the white men. He dreams of being a “man” in terms of white men had failed him and “He needed some of his appetites filled, some posture of adulthood recognized, but mostly he wanted someone to care about his hurt...And if he were to be a man, that someone could no longer be his mother” (82). By having a wife and, ultimately, a family to care for Jude can make that leap into manhood without the requirement of a “job” to grant him that status. It may be harder to care for his family because his job prospects are less-than wonderful, but he can take the “man's role” to care for his family.