The Themes of Folklore, Women's Issues and Morals in SulaToni Morrison stated that she enjoyed writing the kinds of books she would like to read (Harris 52 ). We can therefore assume that it favors black folklore, women's issues and discussions of accepted moral standards. These are some major themes of Sula. Folktales are a type of oral prose that is passed from one person to another. Listeners can choose to add or subtract from the main lines of the story, peppering them with experiences and wisdom from their own lives. It then assumes the collective morality, or conscience, of this culture. From these individuals whom we do not normally consider cultured, great gems of knowledge and wisdom are passed down through folktales. This is done without the traditional use of written language or the use of an appropriate organizational style. However, these oral traditions are not without force; they reach to the very heart of what it means to be human. In general, folk tales take place in a believable environment with extraordinary characters. We see the same thing in Sula. The setting takes place in a common Negro village called “the Bottom” where it is said to be “the bottom of the sky” (Morrison 6). The larger historical contexts remain intact in the novel as the events of World War I swirl around and capture some of Bottom's inhabitants. It’s the people, however, who constitute Sula’s surrealism. Eva is a tireless grandmother who controls her estate from a large pension; Shadrach is a veteran shocked by the war who invents an amnesty day so that people will kill each other; Hanna and her daughter Sula are shameless adulterers. In this tale, Toni Morrison takes the liberty of changing the style of folklore (Harris 53). Instead of happy, violent endings......middle of paper......net.September 10, 2001. < >Harris, Trudier Fiction and Folklore: The Novels of Toni Morrison. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1991. Hedge, Holly. “Toni Morrison.” EmpireZine (accessed September 6, 2001) Morrison, Toni Sula. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1973. “Morrison, Toni.” Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2000. 1997-2000 Microsoft Corporation. (accessed September 26, 2001)O'Neill, Cynthia. Goddesses, heroes and shamans. New York: Larousse Kingfisher Chambers Inc., 1994. “Toni Morrison.” Contemporary Authors, Gale Research, 1993; summarized at (accessed September 26, 2001)