The Themes of Folklore, Women's Issues, and Morals in SulaToni Morrison has said that she enjoys writing the kinds of books she would like to read (Harris 52 ). From this we can assume that he prefers black folklore, women's issues and discussions of accepted moral standards. These are some of the main 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 storylines, embellishing them with experiences and wisdom from their own lives. It then takes on the collective morality, or conscience, of that culture. From those individuals we would not normally consider educated, great jewels 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. Yet these oral traditions are not without power; they reach the very heart of what it means to be human. Typically, folk tales are set in believable settings with extraordinary people. We see the same in Sula. The setting is in an ordinary Negro village called “Bottom” where it is said to be “the bottom of heaven” (Morrison 6). The larger historical settings are kept intact in the novel as the events of the First World War unfold and capture some of the Bottom's inhabitants. It is the people, however, who create the surreal in Sula. Eva is a tireless grandmother who controls the domain of a large guesthouse; Shadrach is a war-shocked veteran who invents a day of amnesty where people can kill each other; Hanna and her daughter Sula are shameless adulteresses. In this story, Toni Morrison takes the liberty of changing the style of folklore (Harris 53). Instead of the happy ending, violent......middle of paper......net.10 September 2001. < >Harris, Trudier Fiction and Folklore: the novels of Toni Morrison. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1991. Hedge, Holly. "Toni Morrison." Empire Zine (accessed 6 September 2001) Morrison, Toni Sula. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1973. "Morrison, Toni." Microsoft Encarta 2000 Online Encyclopedia. 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; abstract to (accessed September 26, 2001)