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Chicken Little Critical Analysis

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Sula and Nel’s home environments negatively influence the way they handle the drowning of the little boy, Chicken Little, marking a pattern of thinking that follows them through adulthood. When the girls realize Chicken Little is not going to resurface from the river, Nel’s first words are “somebody saw” (Morrison 61). Rather than attempt to save Chicken Little, her first thoughts are about what other people will think, reminiscent of the attitude of her mother. The girls, particularly Nel, are concerned more about what others will say and do than the moral and ethical enormity of their actions. They resolve to tell no one and ignore the death rather than find a true solution, which is an immature approach Sula and Nel continue for future conflicts. Willful ignorance and passivity are a destructive approach characters use in the face of a frightening idea. Due to their betrayal, distrust, and miscommunication, Sula and Nel fail to set themselves apart from their origins and lose balance in their lives. The downfall of their irreplaceable friendship is foreshadowed in the year of 1927, when, in the effort to please her family and friends, Nel loses a bit of her autonomy. Fulfilling her mother’s dreams, Nel and Jude agree to get married so “the two of them together would make one Jude,” illustrating Nel’s secondary role in the marriage and by extension her life (Morrison 83). In this moment, Nel marries more out of content than love, relinquishing control of her life over to

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