Themes: All Themes
Themes: Feminism and Responsibility
In various interviews, Gloria Naylor has shared that her inspiration for writing The Women of Brewster Placecame during her Bachelor of Arts in English at Brooklyn College in 1981. Her exploration of feminism and her personal insights on the subject played a significant role. As a result, the novel is distinctly feminist and literary, with these elements enriching the central theme of women in community. For a debut novel, Naylor's deep and...
Themes: Resilient Womanhood
Naylor highlights the resilient spirit of women through characters like Miss Eva and Mrs. Browne, as seen in the tales of Mattie and Etta Mae. The narrative depicts Etta as a spirited and determined young woman, yet "America wasn't ready for her yet—not in 1937." As a result, Etta "took her talents to the street," learning "to hook herself to any promising rising black star, and when he burnt out, she found another." Unlike Billie Holiday or less...
(Read more)Themes: Community and Solidarity
In The Women of Brewster Place, Naylor explores black feminism by emphasizing the significance of black women establishing communities to find the strength needed to navigate their lives. She highlights the voice of the African American matriarch as a vital survival strategy. By showcasing the resilience within female-led households, like those of Mattie and Etta Mae, Naylor illustrates how women thrive in these communities. In the chapter...
(Read more)Themes: Dreams and Liberation
Naylor's intentional and consistent use of dreams through various literary techniques underscores her emphasis on women's and Black liberation within the community theme. She opens The Women of Brewster Placewith Langston Hughes's poem "Harlem" (1951), which poses the question, "What happens to a dream deferred?" The poem suggests that postponed dreams wither in some way, pondering if they "sag / like a heavy load. / Or does it explode?"...
(Read more)Themes: Community
According to The Living Webster Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language, "community" is defined as "the state of being held in common; common possession, enjoyment, liability, etc." Naylor uses Brewster Place to craft a shared experience for the women residing there. These women experience life on a dead-end street that the world has forgotten. Within Brewster Place, they encounter daily struggles, happiness, and heartaches. In an...
(Read more)Themes: Female Bonding
Naylor emphasizes the power of female relationships. While these bonds have always been present, the women's movement has brought them into greater focus. As Annie Gottlieb observes in Women Together, a review of The Women of Brewster Place, "... all our lives those relationships had been the backdrop, while the sexy, angry fireworks with men were the show ... the bonds between women are the abiding ones. Most men are incalculable hunters who come...
(Read more)Themes: Violence Against Women
The novel begins with a flashback to Mattie's life as a typical young woman. Her routine existence is abruptly shattered when her father assaults her for not disclosing the identity of her child's father. From this point, Naylor portrays men as exploitative figures. Male characters in the story exhibit cowardice, alcoholism, aggression, idleness, and deception. The climactic act of violence, Lorraine's gang rape, underscores men's violent nature...
(Read more)Themes: Alienation and Loneliness
The women in the novel are portrayed as victims of ignorance, violence, and prejudice, leading to their alienation from family, others, and God. For example, Mattie, who leaves home because of her father's abuse, never reunites with her parents. Likewise, her son, for whom she...
(This entire section contains 986 words.)
Unlock this Study Guide Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
sacrificed everything, leaves without saying goodbye. Naylor continually emphasizes the characters' isolation throughout the story. The relationship between Lorraine and...
(Read more)Themes: African-American Heritage
Naylor seeks to highlight the depth of African-American heritage. Through the female community in The Women of Brewster Place, she portrays the love, trust, and hope that have been the enduring essence of African-American women. Drawing from real women Naylor has encountered, the characters vividly represent the historical struggle for survival that black women have faced. Like those before them, the women of Brewster Place overcome challenges...
(Read more)Themes: Female Sexuality
Naylor utilizes each woman's sexuality to help shape her character. Mattie's life is profoundly changed when she allows her desires to cloud her judgment, resulting in pregnancy. She devotes herself to loving and nurturing her son, foregoing any adult companionship. Etta Mae spends her life drifting from one man to another, seeking validation and believing she requires a man to find happiness. Ciel continually reconciles with Eugene, despite his...
(Read more)Themes: Personification of Brewster Place
Naylor’s novel begins with a prologue, “Dawn.” It is a short introduction to Brewster Place, which she personifies so that it almost becomes a character, an antagonist as well as the setting. Brewster Place is the “bastard child” of politicians and realtors, who “conceive it” in a “damp smoke-filled room.” It is born just three months later (Naylor implies that its premature birth has malign long-term results), and its “baptism” occurs two years...
(Read more)Themes: Patriarchal Political System
In the cramped space between the last building on Brewster Place and the brick wall is the alley that C. C. Baker and his gang consider to be their territory, their “stateroom, armored tank, and executioner’s chamber.” There Lorraine is brutally raped. Naylor’s description of the gang implies that the rape, terrible as it is, pales in comparison to the violations perpetrated by a patriarchal political system. The gang will not be asked to bayonet...
(Read more)Themes: Survival and Retribution
The women of Brewster Place are driven into a “dead end.” There is no further refuge, so survival in the decaying neighborhood is the only viable course of action. People cannot endure passively forever, and Lorraine’s death serves as the catalyst for Mattie’s dream of retribution and revenge. In her dream, only the women participate in tearing down the wall, which has come, through the bloodstains, to represent violence against women. The...
(Read more)