Toni Morrison’s Sula: The Resistant Scapegoat

Abstract

This paper examines Toni Morrison’s Sula through RenéGirard’s scapegoat mechanism and explores how Morrison critiques exclusionary practices within marginalized Black communities. The Bottom, a Black community formed through a deceitful land transaction by a white farmer, reflects systemic racial and economic exploitation, patriarchal norms, and internalized hierarchies. Unlike Girard’s archetypal scapegoat, the protagonist Sula embodies a “resistant scapegoat” who rejects communal narratives of guilt and defies traditional gender and racial roles. Her defiance disrupts the Bottom’s reliance on scapegoating as a means of conflict resolution, exposing its cyclical nature and ethical limitations. The relationships among key characters—Sula, Nel, Eva, and Helen—highlight Girard’s triangular desire, where rivalry and imitation fuel conflict. Sula’s refusal to conform, including her rumored relationships with white men, challenges the moral binaries upheld by the community and reveals its hypocrisies. Morrison critiques Christian morality as a framework that perpetuates exclusion, as the Bottom clings to rigid moral codes that suppress individuality and sustain patriarchal oppression. Sula’s subversive actions advocate for empathy and structural transformation, urging the dismantling of exclusionary hierarchies. This study underscores the importance of understanding how intersecting forces of race, gender, and class create scapegoats within oppressed communities. It also highlights Morrison’s integration of African American cultural traditions and economic critique, suggesting further research into similar themes in her works Paradise and Beloved. Ultimately, Sula challenges societal norms, offering a vision of transformative change rooted in inclusivity, mutual understanding, and the rejection of oppressive systems.