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The writer believes that the transformation of Sula Peace is the influence of her mother. As a young woman, she will be proud when a lot of men are attracted to
her. According to Medinnus, there are three main parental variables which
influence the personality of their children. They are parent’s personality, behavior and attitude 1969: 347. When Sula was a child, her mother has a lot of affairs
with men. Then, as a young woman, Sula serves the mirror which reflects her mother’s behavior. She becomes a flirtatious woman too. She does what her
mother does in her childhood. She seduces men, single or married, to get sexual pleasure.
b. Sula’s Belief in Non-Commitment Relationship with Men
Sula has a lot of affairs with White men when she is in the city. The people in Bottom consider her as a bad woman because she sleeps with Whites p.112.
Hannah sleeps with many men since the death of her husband. She will have lovemaking with married men or single men. She does not care with the feeling of
their wives. Seeing her mother’s action teaches Sula that having sex frequently is pleasant. Seeing different men come is something commonly happen in her house.
When she was a child, she often sees men sleep on her bed because she sleeps on the same bed with her mother.
Sula also rejects commitment in her relationship. As a result, she chooses to be a single woman along her life because since she is born, she lives without
the presence of a father and also a grandfather. She enjoys living in her way. She
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is different from the other girls who live in Bottom. When other children giggle about underwear, she has already known about lovemaking before her mature age.
Sula came home from school and found her mother in the bed, curled spoon in the arms of a man. Seeing her step so easily into the pantry and
emerge looking precisely as she did when she entered, only happier taught Sula that sex is pleasant and frequent, but otherwise unremarkable.p.44
Actually, Sula has a very good relationship with her only friend, Nel
Wright, but Sula breaks up her friendship because of her own mistake. She sleeps with her friend’s husband. She does the action because she wants to feel what Nel
feels. She wants Nel to understand that love is measured and risky p.143-144. Love can destroy someone and Sula shows it to Nel by sleeping with Jude. Sula
does not believe in commitment and commitment exists because of love. Nel loves Jude, but Jude leaves her. It clearly explains that love is risky.
The influence of Hannah Peace towards her daughter brings negative impact in the community. Hannah Peace is judged as a bitch by women because of
her bad reputation and so is Sula. People in Bottom think that since Sula’s coming, everything changes into worse. Community considers her as a scapegoat
and people blame her for bad things which happen in Bottom. The community treats Sula badly. The women see her as a sexual threat and the issue about her
watching Hannah burned comes up again in the community. Her community always watches her as a bad creature. They hate Sula because of her difference.
She does not change her behavior although she knows that people in Bottom do not like her attitude. She enjoys doing anything in her way. She never worries
about destroying one’s marriage. She blames the men who are attracted to her. Sula never feels any special feelings toward men. She never gets parental
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guidance from her mother or her grandmother to lead her to choose the right partner in life.
c. Sula’s Feeling of Insecurity
