Lyz Shehan's Research

The Effects of Migration in Sula

Toni Morrison's Sula acknowledges the opportunities for betterment that migration presented for some, but also shows the risks involved in migration and the negative effects migration can have on communities. The collapse of the once vibrant community known as the Bottom, the main setting of the novel, and the racism experienced outside of the haven of the community are two examples of negative sides of migration. However, the road cannot be entirely construed as a negative space for African-Americans in the course of this novel, as it is Sula's move to the city that leaves her empowered upon her return to the Bottom.

Sula is set during the years of the Great Migration, and within the novel motivating factors in the Great Migration are seen, such as racism and poor treatment by whites, and poor jobs and working conditions. Just as both positive and negative factors are seen in Sula, it has been argued that the Great Migration did not succeed in its purpose of bettering the lives of African-Americans, citing presence of racism in the North and the fact that African-Americans did not always receive the better opportunities that they had hoped for in Northern cities.