Maud Martha (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Gwendolyn Brooks
- First Published: 1953
- Type of Plot: Bildungsroman
- Time of Work: The 1920’s to the 1940’s
- Setting: Chicago, Illinois
- Principal Characters: Maud Martha Brown Phillips, Helen Brown, Harry Brown, Belva Brown, Russell, David McKemster, Paul Phillips, Paulette Phillips
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: African Americans
- Locales: Chicago, IL
The Novel
Maud Martha is a lyrical, impressionistic series of episodes and vignettes narrating the life of Maud Martha Brown, a young African American woman born into a struggling working-class family. It is clear from the beginning that she is sensitive, aware, and deeply affected by color prejudice both outside and inside her home. The reader follows her through her development from a seven-year-old child into young adulthood. Much of the novel is loosely autobiographical.
The novel is divided into thirty-four brief chapters, each delineating a moment in Maud...
[The entire page is 3066 words long]
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