Definitions of Self in Community in Sula and the Song of Songs"In that place, where the nightshade and the blackberry bushes were torn up by the roots to make room for the City by Medaglione Golf course, once upon a time there was a neighborhood" (Sula 1). Toni Morrison begins the novel Sula with these powerful words, which describe more than a physical place, but a spiritual place where a community once stood. He begins with the destruction of the community, and then starts from the end because his novel traces the history of this community. In the Song of Songs. Morrison takes the opposite route. It traces the story of himself that ultimately ends in some sort of destruction when Milkman jumps off the cliff. In both novels, however, he explores the tension between self and community and the sacrifices each demands of the other. Morrison's characters are both strengthened and limited by the strong sense of community that operates in his novels. In all of his novels, characters are drawn and entangled in the communities in which they live. In Sula and Song of Songs the struggles of my community and my characters within the community structure are the driving force behind much of my novel. Both characters and larger communities have changed irrevocably over the course of the novels, as a tension defines both individual and communal surfaces. From the opening lines of Sula foreshadowing my ultimate vision of my community, Morrison calls attention to my sense of community. in the Fund. In "Eruptions of Funk. Susan Willis says: "Sula's opening line might as well have been the conclusion of my novel, so complete is the destruction it describes. This is the community that Morrison is writing to reclaim" (315)...... middle of paper ...... Pessoni, Michele. "'He was laughing at their God.': Discovering the goddess within Sula. " African American Review 29 (1995): 439-451. Rigney, Barbara Hill. The Voices of Toni Morrison Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1991. Rubenstein, Roberta “Pariahs and Community.” Toni Morrison: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and K. A. Appiah New York: Amistad Press, Inc., 126-1 58. Smith, Valerie. “Toni Morrison: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and K. A. Appiah New York: Amistad Press, Inc., 1993. Willis, Susan. Toni Morrison: Critical Perspectives Past and Present Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and KA Appiah New York: Amistad Press, Inc., 1993. 308-329.