The reader is introduced to Eva after her husband leaves her and their three children. For Hannah, sex is simply pleasurable and physical, and although Hannah alludes to wishing that Sula wasn’t around so that she could pursue more men, sex is just used to fill up her empty spaces created by the loss of her husband, and the lack of love felt from her mother (Alban).Įva Peace, the matriarch of the Peaces is the figure of amoral womanhood. These frequent sexual encounters, however, do not lead to any attachments for Hannah. So she watched her mother’s face, and the face of the men when they emerged from the pantry and made up her own mind” ( Morrison, 44). Outside the house… the message was different. These interactions between men and Hannah influence Sula to believe that society’s conservative view of sex is wrong: “Seeing her step so easily into the pantry and emerge…happier taught Sula that sex was pleasant and frequent, but otherwise unremarkable. Hannah Peace, the mother of Sula and daughter of Eva is a promiscuous woman, requiring regular sexual encounters with strange men after her husband’s death.

In Sula, the trio of Peace women, Hannah, Eva, and Sula all represent Lilith figures in the way that they are amoral, sexual beings, with the ability to hold tyranny over their children. What stands out the most for this figure is the unwillingness to accept anything less than equality, and the defiance and independence, as well as the mutual distrust and hatred between men and women because of how Lilith acts. When she refused, God responded by killing one hundred of her created children every day. Because of the havoc Lilith was wreaking, God came down to talk Lilith into returning to Adam. As fighting progressed between the two, Lilith left the garden and began to create her own children, described as demonic. Created at the same time and in the same manner as Adam, Lilith was unwilling to serve Adam and demanded equality. Lilith is an archetypal character, and was reportedly the original wife of Adam.

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