Aristotle once said: "I consider him more courageous who overcomes his desires... because the most difficult victory is over oneself." Unfortunately, most people do not understand the true meaning of Aristotle's quote because they live as a servant of their community in which their identity loses shape. This end is the inevitable result of living under the constraints of binaries. Toni Morrison's Sula is filled with numerous binaries that define the nature and actions of the novel's characters, such as the Self/Community binary. Sula, Nel, and Eva's identities are delineated by the different choices they make in relation to this binary: controlling the privileged side, being controlled by the non-privileged side, or staying in the middle. For starters, Sula enjoys the superiority of its central character. himself. Galehouse in her article “New World Women” states that “despite any real or perceived limitations imposed by her family, her community, or the era in which she is depicted, Sula places no limits on herself” (341). His disinterest in what the Bottom community glorifies shapes his narcissistic identity and creates his motto “I want to make myself” (Morrison 121). For Sula, all the worn-out traditions promoted by her community are worth nothing more than her own "dirt", since at least the latter is her own production. Sula's identity as a woman of the new world is highlighted by her "bold, disruptive, imaginative, ... out-of-home, uncontained, and irrepressible" personality, as Morrison puts it (quit. Galehouse 339). Furthermore, throughout the novel, Sula's self-control controls every aspect of her social and intellectual life, resulting in a full appreciation of her angelic, as well as demonic, actions. On the one hand, when you cut your finger in an attempt to...... middle of paper......ng? Finally, I idealize Eva, but does she idealize herself? The questions remain unanswered just as the Self/Community binary remains unchanged even in our storied 21st century. (1,187) Works Cited Bergenholtz, Rita. "Toni Morrison's Sula: A Satire on Binary Thinking." African American Review 30.1 (1996): 89-99. Premier of academic research. Network. March 22, 2012.Galehouse, Maggie. "New World Woman: Toni Morrison's Sula." Documents on Language and Literature 35.4 (1999): 339-355. Jstore. Network. March 21, 2012.Morrison, Toni. Sula. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. Print. Pessoni, Michele. “He was laughing at their God: discovering the goddess inside Sula.” African American Review 29.3 (1995): 439-442. Premier of academic research. Network. March 20 2012.