Female Bonding in Sula and The Women of Brewster Place : A Freedom Nest Threatened by Patriarchal Institutions and Social Perceptions

In Sula, Toni Morrison paints the marvels of female friendship in the American society where race, class and gender define Black women’s lot. Personified through the characters of Sula and Nel, Morrison pictures how togetherness alleviates the young girls’ social burdens and consolidates their selves despite their distinct personalities. In The Women of Brewster Place, through seven stories, Gloria Naylor portrays women’s bonding in its different shapes as their redeemer in defiance of the social, psychological and economic conditions in the Black community. In both novels, Naylor and Morrison represent female bonding in its dynamic as Black women’s healer in the African American community where they are subjected to oppression because of their position as the other of an “other†. However, the two authors draw particular attention toward men’s destructive social power embodied in institutions like marriage but also how women’s tendency to homogenize the black female characters’ self-definition hinders their empowerment. Both authors’ views of the assets of female community are confirmed by the recent conditions of African-American women. Nevertheless, the query remains on how far togetherness drives Black women in their way to empowerment in America.