Morrison continues to portray blacks as on the outside of the dominant culture, members of the Other. Davis writes that, "Blacks are visible to white culture only insofar as they fit its frame of reference and serve its needs (Davis 218)." Otherwise they are reduced and demeaned, as Helene is on the train ride down from Medallion to New Orleans. She is reprimanded for entering a white car by the conductor who, despite her elegant and dignified appearance, calls her "gal" and causes her to react with a bedazzling smile (Morrison 20). The desire to please this figure bubbling up from somewhere inside her. Helene, unable to openly defy the conductor, seems to feel the need for recognition of her self from him; when she is objectified by a single word, she seeks to become a more perfect object for him to look at. .
This problem of lack of recognition by white society is further complicated by the nature of society, which is based on power relations. Just as Helene cannot openly go against the conductor, neither can Jude fight back against his oppressors. He stands in line for nearly a week hoping for the chance to work a masculine road building job, "real work" as he calls it, instead of the waiter position he currently holds (81). After even the skinniest of immigrants is chosen before him, Jude finds the need for another person to recognize him and his manhood and to share in the pain a racist society has burdened him with. Nel quickly accepts his marriage proposal, for she too seeks acknowledgement as an individual and enjoys having someone to recognize her independent of Sula. Early in life Sula and Nel discover their status as the Other, understanding that "they were neither white nor male, and that all freedom and triumph was forbidden them (52)." .
Sula and Nel create "something else to be" in light of their situation, just as Morrison does not attempt to portray the black community fighting to gain rights from dominant society (52).
