In Toni Morrison's novel Sula, characters' attitudes towards their sexuality are shaped by their processes of identity formation. Sula and Nel, despite their similarities, have conflicting beliefs about sex due to the very different female role models they grew up with. Their beliefs are further influenced by their society's pre-existing race and gender roles, which have created a complicated web of rules and double standards that simultaneously sexualize women and discourage them from participating in sexual activities. This results in the formation of inconsistent sexual identities for the novel's protagonists because they identify with characters who also struggle to navigate the complex and paradoxical concept of female sexuality. This can be demonstrated through a Lacanian reading of the text, as the novel's older characters act as imagos for their younger counterparts and help them define their social roles. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay According to Jacques Lacan's essay "The Mirror Stage", a person begins to form an identity when he first looks in the mirror and recognizes the image object as a representation of himself. Lacan refers to the mirror phase “as identification” or as “the transformation that occurs in the subject when he takes on an image” (Lacan 2). The “transformation” that Lacan refers to is the formation of one's ego, or sense of self. However, the fundamental mistake that is made during the mirror stage is that the child mistakenly recognizes the image in the mirror, or the imago, as himself rather than as a ghostly image. This happens in the novel when Nel sees herself in the mirror and has a cathartic moment, saying, “I am me. I'm not their daughter. I'm not Nel. It's me. I” (Morrison 28). This misrecognition becomes the basis of his identity, otherwise known as his personal narrative. He advances his narrative through misrecognitions because he continues to identify with various people, or imago, throughout the story. As a result, his personality begins to diverge from Sula's because identities are influenced by the environment and they identify with different characters. However, the identification is not always intentional. For example, Nel does not purposely try to imitate Helene. Instead of forming an identity based on Helene's, he begins to form identities in relation to other people: first Sula and then, later, Jude. One of the first instances in which Nel changes herself because of another person is when Sula visits her home and "Nel, who viewed the oppressive order of her home with terror, felt at ease with Sula, who l 'loved' (Morrison 29). While he isn't consciously trying to bend his personality to match Sula's, he naturally welcomes her to connect with her. A more explicit example is found later in the text, when their friendship is described as “so close” that “they themselves had difficulty distinguishing their own thoughts from those of the other” (Morrison 83). In this sense, Nel is more like her mother than she thinks. When they are on the train together and Helene “smiled dazzlingly and coquettishly into the salmon-colored face of the conductor” (Morrison 21), she indirectly taught Nel to welcome and satisfy the needs and desires of others. Despite the fact that Nel is humiliated by her mother's "silly smile" and "ashamed to feel that these men... seethe with a hatred for her mother that wasn't there to begin with but was born" (Morrison 22) , still echoes this behavior later in his life.This moment completely alters Nel's perception of her mother, as we read in the text, "if this tall and proud woman, this woman who was very demanding of her friends, who entered church with unparalleled elegance, who could sedate a thief with a look, if he was really custard, then there was a possibility that Nel was too” (Morrison 22). Nel had never seen his mother sexualized before this moment, and this creates a change in their relationship because it makes Nel understand that she “wanted to make sure no man would ever look at her that way” and that she will “always be on her guard” (Morrison 22). However, as seen in her later relationship with Jude, Nel cannot help it the sexualization and stigma that comes with being a black woman in the same way that her mother could not avoid. Another parallel between the two women can be seen in their relationships with men simple, as Morrison writes that he “loved his home and enjoyed manipulating his daughter and her husband” (Morrison 18). Although Nel does not openly admit to manipulating Jude, she relies on him to create her own identity, such as when she “didn't even know she had a neck until Jude noticed, or that her smile was anything but widening his lips until he saw it as a little miracle” (Morrison 84). Relying on Jude to remind her that she is a whole person is itself a manipulation of her being. Unfortunately, Nel is not alone in her predisposition to creating an identity in relation to others. Does the society she grew up in encourage this behavior from women? especially black women. This can be seen in the text when Jude's ideal relationship is explained because "mostly he wanted someone who cared about his pain, who cared very deeply...And if he became a man, that someone could no longer be his mother ” (Morrison 82). This is not to deny that he loves Nel, but he inherently believes that she is not his person, but rather a figure in his life meant to complete him. His greatest wish is that “the two of them together would make one Judas” (Morrison 83). Nel is a perfect wife for Jude because she "had no aggression" (Morrison 83) and rarely disagrees with him, if at all. The relationship that forms between the two of them is not only dysfunctional, but it is also very common in that period. Both men and women reinforce the belief that women are not complete beings on their own, which can be seen when Eva tells Sula, “no woman's business around without no man” (Morrison 92). Furthermore, in Nel’s discussion with Sula at the end of the novel, Nel even tells her, “You can’t do everything. You are a woman, and a woman of color at that. You can't act like a man. You can't go around independently, doing what you want, taking what you want, leaving what you don't” (Morrison 142). Her comment shows that she doesn't rely on others because she truly wants to, but because she believes there is no other way for a black woman to act. On the contrary, Sula rejects the role of black woman that society imposes on her. Her attitude towards female sexuality is unconventional, as is that of her mother Hannah. Neither woman marries, but instead entertains a series of sexual partners over a period of time. In this way, Sula attempts to create his identity as a black man rather than a black woman. He believes that black men are “the envy of the world,” explaining to Jude, “everything in the world loves you. White men love you... What about white women? They chase you in every corner of the earth, they look for you under every bed... Black women worry about havinghealth problems just trying to hold on to your handcuffs” (Morrison 104). Instead of defining her identity through relationships with others, she does the opposite, as the lyrics say “Sula has never competed; he simply helped others define themselves. Other people seemed to get louder and louder when Sula was in the room” (Morrison 95). Paradoxically, in her sexual relationships with men, she uses others to help her understand herself, but unlike Nel, she does not rely on them. Sula “slept with men as often as possible” because “it was the only place where she could find what she was.”looking for” (Morrison 122), but the men she sleeps with are almost interchangeable for her, as they often he looks at his partner “in wonder trying to remember his name” (Morrison 123). Furthermore, her rejection of traditional gender roles can be seen when she asks Nel, “Is this what I'm supposed to do? Spend your life supporting a man?" (Morrison 143). Similar to her mother Hannah, Sula does not understand the possessive feeling that wives have towards their husbands because she does not define herself through any single man. Due to the fact that she identified with the imagos "who thought all men available, and selected them among themselves paying attention only to their tastes, she was ill-prepared for the possessiveness of the only person she felt close to" (Morrison 119). Sula's understanding of the concept of possession destroys her friendship with Nel. Although Sula “knew quite well what other women said and felt, or said they felt,” she believes that “she and Nel had always seen right through them.” ” (Morrison 119) He does not realize that “marriage, it seems, had changed all that” because he “had no in-depth knowledge of marriage” (Morrison 119). in which they define concepts such as love, friendship, morality and femininity. This can be seen when Nel tells her friend "You didn't love me enough to leave him alone... you had to take him away", to which Sula replies, "What do you mean, take him away?" (Morrison 145). Sula doesn't realize that Nel has possessive feelings towards Jude, and because of this, she doesn't understand why Nel can't be with him anymore after he cheats on her. Furthermore, Sula does not believe that her tendency to ignore social norms makes her a worse person than Nel. When Nel says to Sula, "I've been good to you, Sula, why doesn't it matter?" (Morrison 144), he is implying that because he follows the rules and cares for people in the traditional way, he is a good person. Sula challenges this idea when she asks, “How do you know… who was good. How do you know it was you?" (Morrison 146). In this scene, Sula criticizes the way Nel shows love for the people in her life by forming her identity in relation to them. In relationships with family and with friends, Nel manages to avoid creating her own identity by putting everyone else's needs before her own. She believes that caring for a person means indulging in their every desire, as when she catches Jude with Sula and doesn't tell him anything because "she was worried." that you didn't know that your fly was open and even scared because your eyes looked like that time of the soldiers on the train when my mother turned into custard” (Morrison 106). what they need instead of what they want. This is exemplified by his speech which follows the phrase: “Oh, they will really love me, but they will love me” (Morrison 145). Sula shapes the identities of the rest of the Bottom's population because they all strive to be her antithesis, believing that she.