The 1982 first novel by Gloria Naylor, The Women of Brewster Place tells the stories of seven African American women who live on a walled-off street in the ghetto of an anonymous northeastern city. While these characters come from varied backgrounds, they all have suffered great hardships, often caused by men.
After a prologue describes the history of the deadend street, the first section of The Women of Brewster Place tells, primarily through flashback, the story of its aging title character, Mattie Michael. Mattie's one sexual experience results in her pregnancy, expulsion from her Tennessee home, and journey northward. As Basil, her son, grows up, Mattie overprotects him, and he becomes irresponsible. Following his accidental murder of another man, Basil skips his bail, causing Mattie to lose her house and sending her to Brewster Place.
The following sketch gives the story of Etta Mae Johnson, a strong-willed, flamboyant woman who stays with Mattie Michael on Brewster Place. After attending a church service, Etta pursues a widowed preacher with whom she dreams of a secure future but only finds a one-night stand. Returning to Mattie's home, Etta realizes that her friendship with Mattie is more valuable than fleeting male attention.
Next Naylor tells of Kiswana Browne, named Melanie by her middle-class mother. Kiswana has changed her name to reflect her new Afrocentrism and has rejected her privileged upbringing to live as an activist on Brewster Place. Yet after Kiswana and her mother undergo a painful interchange, the two women gain a new understanding of each other.
The following chapter relates the story of Lucielia (Ciel) Louise Turner, who has an abortion in order to try to keep her husband. Shortly thereafter, while the couple is arguing about his imminent departure, their toddler daughter is accidentally electrocuted. Ciel's numb response almost results in her own death until Mattie rescues her with loving attention.
Cora Lee is the subject of the next section, which tells of her fixation with having babies, subsequent neglect of them once they mature, and rapid production of seven children. After Kiswana persuades Cora and her children to attend an African American Shakespeare production, Cora begins to realize her irresponsibility, and the chapter ends optimistically.
Next, in “The Two,” Naylor tells of a lesbian couple, Theresa and Lorraine, who move into Brewster Place. Dishëartened by the community's rejection of them, Lorraine one evening seeks solace with the kind old handyman, Ben. Later that night, delinquent young men in an alley by the Brewster Place wall gang-rape Lorraine. When Ben discovers her, she is so traumatized that she kills him with a brick.
After these tragedies, “The Block Party” relates the grieving community's attempt to go on with life. When it begins to rain during the neighborhood fundraiser, the women perceive the raindrops on the Brewster Place wall as bloodstains, so they destroy the wall. Although these actions appear only to have been in Mattie's dream, the rain and ritual destruction purify the community.
When The Women of Brewster Place was first published, Naylor won the 1983 American Book Award for best first novel. The novel was adapted into a television production starring Oprah Winfrey in 1989. Critical interpretations of the novel emphasize its geography, naturalism, and mythical overtones. The novel's emphasis on women's bonding, class, community, and motherhood are also common themes in its criticism, which often takes a feminist approach and compares Naylor to other African American authors, such as Toni Morrison.
Bibliography
- Barbara Christian, “Gloria Naylor's Geography: Community, Class, and Patriarchy in The Women of Brewster Place and Linden Hills,” in Reading Black, Reading Feminist, ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 1990, pp. 348–373.
- Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and K. A. Appiah, eds., Gloria Naylor: Critical Perspectives Past and Present, 1993
Kristine A. Yohe
