story in the book; Yoyo has to deliver a commencement speech. In search of inspiration, Yoyo finds Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" and takes a particular liking to "Song of Myself." Inspired by Whitman, Yoyo writes a speech celebrating egotism and self-interest. The theme infuriates Yoyo's father, who tears up the speech in a rage. However, Yoyo's mother offers support and urges the girl to deliver the speech anyway. Yoyo takes her mother's advice and delivers the speech-quite successfully. Even her repentant father congratulates her and gives her a congratulatory gift of a personal typewriter. As can be seen from this example, the Alvarez family deals with its problems with language and its use and moves on. Behind disagreements is the understanding that the actors in this family drama operate from a basis grounded in love. This is not true in Sula, where Sula grows up damaged emotionally and spiritually by the events of her childhood. Sula becomes so detached from her emotions that her feelings of separateness become translated into a permanent lack of compassion. This separation is so severe that Sula can watch-fascinated-as her mother burns to death. The tragedy in Sula's life is that no experience from the most mundane to the most profound has any meaning for her. Sula has lost one of the primarily functions of language-she has lost the ability to take on another person's perspective. This serves to keep Sula emotionally frozen at age twelve. She still seems relationships and people only in terms of herself. Nevertheless, one cannot remain in stasis forever. With her love for Ajax, Sula once more tries to connect emotionally with another human being. She attempts, in her own hesitant way, to come back from her Cain-like exile by, once more, taking responsibility for another person. She feels the desire to have possession, exclusive rights to another and to attempt to know someone other then herself. To Sula, their lovemaking is s...
