William Faulkner's Acceptance Speech, given for the literature Nobel Prize in 1949, discusses Faulkner's view of what an author should utilize in their writings in order to become a good writer. This valuable and deep speech about writing influenced many authors. Toni Morrison was one of the authors who was most most-influenced by Faulkner's speech; Sula, a rich and powerful novel published by Morrison includes many of the criteria which Faulkner mentions in his speech: writing of love and pride and sacrifice, the old universal truths (Faulkner).
             Morrison embraces love, pride, and sacrifice in many parts of Sula. Throughout the story, Eva's love for her children stands out significantly and is a meaningful piece of the story. For Eva, love is an action; she works for them and feeds them with all her effort by herself in a time when Blacks were "dying like flies"(Morrison 68). Her love toward Plum, the only son of Eva, is comprehendible. When Plum comes back from the war, Eva sees him as a dependent man who is a slave to his addiction: Heroin. With her pride as a mother, Eva burns him with her own hand. Because of this love and pride, Eva sacrifices her precious child rather than letting him be a slave to his addiction. In terms of Eva's "motherly love", she also never abandoned her children no matter how severely the situation deteriorates. Although Hannah once wonders and asks, " Mama, did you ever love us?"(67), Eva's feeling toward her never changed; Hannah was more important than anything else for Eva, as shown when she throws herself into the fire to try an save Hannah's life. Before worrying about her own life, she worries about losing any more of her children was more terrifying to her than even her own death and suffering. At the moment when she jumps into the fire, she prepares to sacrifice her life. Overall, Eva's love toward her children comes from he...