 (Bluest 43). As her dissatisfaction grows and her needs remain unfulfilled, Pauline berates Cholly for his intoxication and lazy temperament; effectively goading him into fighting with her. According to the narrator, 'The tiny undistinguished days that Mrs. Breedlove [lives are] identified, grouped, and classed by these quarrels. They [give] substance to the minutes and hours otherwise dim and unrecalled' (Bluest 41). Of the few constant things in this world, Pauline knows that Cholly will behave today as he had before, she knows that she will hate him for it, and she will never leave him because he still makes her feel whole.
While Morrison denotes society's derision for female dependency, she also indicates society's need for strong women who are self-reliant. J. Hillis Miller's article 'Literature and a Woman's Right to Choose Not to Marry' examines female marital status within literature as a determinate factor in the woman's prospective future. According to Miller: an unmarried woman 'is a wild card, without a fixed value, unpredictable' (45). Morrison presents two such wild cards in Hannah and Sula Peace, the mother-daughter duo of Sula, who 'loved maleness for its own sake' (41). After her husband's death, Hannah moves into her mother's house and takes multiple lovers. While plentiful, Hannah's amorous activities are not in pursuit of someone to fulfill her. She is not looking for a new husband or a man to act as a father to Sula; she is merely giving and getting some affection from any man who catches her eye. Trudier Harris observes in Fiction and Folklore: The Novels of Toni Morrison that '[in] any world but the one Morrison has created, Hannah Peace would be considered a slut' (75). In Bottom, however, Hannah's behavior is thought of with only mild disapproval. The women do not harbor any ill will toward Hannah and at times even feel complimented that she chose their husbands. As Morrison indicates, Hannah does not act out of maliciousness or a desire to ruin someone's marriage; she simply'refused to live without the attentions of a man'' (42). Hannah's desire for affection should not be misread as indicative of a weak and dependent personality. She makes no demands of the men she takes to her bed. There are no accusations, ultimatums, or requests for marriage. Hannah does not seek to change anyone or look for someone to complete her; she merely acknowledges her desire to meet her physical needs. According to Morrison, 'Hannah rubbed no edges, made no demands, mad e the man feel as though he were complete and wonderful just as he was'he didn't need fixing'and so he relaxed and swooned in the Hannah-light that shone on him simply because he was' (43).
Even though 'Hannah exasperated the women in town,' as Morrison describes, she does not allow their feelings to define her sense of self (Sula 44). Hannah continues taking lovers as she sees fit regardless of whether or not the other women in town approve of her actions. She does not feel guilt or remorse after sleeping with someone's husband, nor does she feel resentment when the man returns to his wife. Morrison favors Hannah's independent nature and defined sense of self by allowing her to find a place within the community. As Harris indicates, 'Although [Hannah] has few women friends, she does not appear lonely or isolated' (76). The community's ultimate acceptance of Hannah can be seen in the sympathetic manner in which the town responds to her death. After being badly burned in a yard fire, Hannah lies amidst her friends and neighbors awaiting the ambulance. In the middle of the horrible scene, Morrison describes how'someone covered her legs with a shirt. A woman unwrapped her head rag and placed it on Hannah's shoulder' (Sula 76). After Hannah died from the injuries she sustained, Morrison illustrates how 'the women who washed the body and dressed it for death wept for her burned hair and wrinkled breasts as though they themselves had been her lovers' (Sula 77). The sensitivity with which the women handle Hannah's body strongly indicates their acceptance of her within their community. Furthermore, the deep remorse the women feel regarding Hannah's death suggests that Hannah was not merely an accepted member of the community, but that the women thought of her as one of their own.
Sula, on the other hand is never accepted into the community and remains, as Harris describes, 'the epitome of independence' (72). She makes no demands and recognizes that fulfillment must come from within the individual, instead of being sought in others. In her deathbed statement to Nel, Sula voices her commitment to herself: 'I sure did live in this world'I got my mind. And what goes on in it. Which is to say, I got me' (Sula 143). With this statement, Sula tries to make Nel understand that they are vastly different women. While Nel searches for a sense of fulfillment through her mother's attachment, Jude's need to prove himself, and the community's sympathy for a wronged wife, Sula looks only to herself. She does not conform to the community's standard of womanhood and refuses to accept the town's social mores. Sula lives to fulfill her desires by her own rules, whether this includes attending a church dinner sans underwear or sleeping with multiple married men. As Jan Furman in her book Toni Morrison's Fiction indicates, 'Sula will have none of Nel's limitations' (26). Sula will not restrict her true nature or warp her desires in order to appease someone, as does Nel, nor will she commit herself to someone incapable of being her equal.
Fiercely independent, Sula has only had one semi-serious relationship in her adult life, and as Furman suggests 'only once has she come close to subsuming herself to some other, named Ajax' (26). When Sula takes Ajax as her lover she encounters an intense desire to claim him as her own. Morrison describes Sula's reaction to Ajax in the statement: 'Sula began to discover what possession was' (Sula 131). During the course of their relationship, Sula is increasingly drawn to Ajax to the point where she values and anticipates his company more than any other lover to date. Before Ajax, Sula is not concerned with the dust and disorder of her home, but as her relationship with Ajax progresses so does her desire to adapt standards of female domesticity. As Furman indicates, 'Giving into a nesting instinct that is new for her, she is on the verge of making his life her own' (26). Sula's attempt to claim Ajax and simultaneously devote herself to him echo Nel's dependent nature and her desire to please Jude. As a result, Morrison shows how society punishes Sula for adopting a dependent attitude by allowing Ajax to depart after he 'detect[s] the scent of the nest' (Sula 133).
Unlike Nel's prolonged despair over losing Jude, Sula accepts Ajax's loss and quickly returns to her original state. She does not pine for her lost love or search for someone to blame in order to be adopted and cared for by the community, as does Nel. After losing Ajax, Sula mourns briefly and then returns to her original self-indulgent state. Furman acknowledges that 'Ajax and Sula had come together, not as fractional individuals in need of the other to be complete, but as whole people'' (28). This is reminiscent of Maslow's Deficiency love/Being-love theory. As a result, when Sula and Ajax part as lovers they continue as separate and complete individuals. Nel, unable to understand Sula's motivations and lack of despair, questions her decision to exist as an independent woman:
'Lonely ain't it?'
'Yes, but my lonely is mine. Now your lonely is somebody else's. Made by somebody else and handed to you. Ain't that something? A secondhand lonely' (Sula143).
With her response Sula tries to explain to Nel that any loneliness she feels is a result of decisions she made and not a consequence of someone else's decisions. Therefore, any loneliness, hurt feelings, anger, etc. that she may feel are innately hers as opposed to emotional obligations foisted upon her by some individual. As Furman surmises, 'Sula's me-ness remains intact; she has not betrayed herself as Nel has and any loneliness she feels is a price she is willing to pay for freedom' (26).
Pleased by Sula's refusal to submit to the confines of female domesticity, Morrison holds Sula as a model to the community as a direct example of female independence. During Sula's lifetime, however, the community is unable to accept the prospect of female agency and as a result Sula becomes an outcast. The women resent Sula for both sleeping with their husbands and casting them away once she was through with them. The men take offense to being discarded like old toys and despise Sula for willingly sleeping with white men. Sula remains unfazed by the social unrest brewing in her town. According to Morrison, 'Sula acknowledged none of their attempts at counter-conjure or their gossip and seemed to need the services of nobody' (Sula 113). She does not alter her behavior or try to appease the community by repressing her desires. Sula remains a steadfast example of an alternative lifestyle based on independence. The community, however, unable to accept the alternative, labels Sula an outsider and begins to despise her. In their desire to hate Sula, the men and women of the town begin to draw closer and heighten