By denying the reader the freedom to observe the victim of violence from behind the wall of aesthetic convention, to manipulate that victim as an object of imaginative play, Naylor disrupts the connection between violator and viewer that Mulvey emphasizes in her discussion of cinematic convention. Inviting the viewer to enter the world of violence that lurks just beyond the wall of art, Naylor traps the reader behind that wall. Having been rejected by people they love Mattie allows herself to be seduced by Butch Fuller, whom Samuel thinks is worthless. With prose as rich as poetry, a passage will suddenly take off and sing like a spiritual Vibrating with undisguised emotion, The Women of Brewster Place springs from the same roots that produced the blues. Why does Lorraine kill Ben in The Women of Brewster Place? - eNotes Discusses Naylor's literary heritage and her use of and divergence from her literary roots. Critic Loyle Hairston readily agrees with the favorable analysis of Naylor's language, characterization, and story-telling. The first climax occurs when Mattie succeeds in her struggle to bring Ciel back to life after the death of her daughter. When Miss Eva dies, her spirit lives on in the house that Mattie is able to buy from Miss Eva's estate. Naylor uses each woman's sexuality to help define her character. ", Most critics consider Naylor one of America's most talented contemporary African-American authors. Linda Labin asserts in Masterpieces of Women's Literature, "In many ways, The Women of Brewster Place may prove to be as significant in its way as Southern writer William Faulkner's mythic Yoknapatawpha County or Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio. Cora Lee loves making and having babies, even though she does not really like men. The Pigman Flashcards | Quizlet Ben's daughter was indirectly led into prostitution by her parents, who refused to do anything about the fact that she was being forced to sleep with their white landlord. By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy. Place is very different. The Women of Brewster Place: Character List | SparkNotes why does lorraine remind ben of his daughter? She goes into a deep depression after her daughter's death, but Mattie succeeds in helping her recover. Brewster Place is a housing development in an unnamed city. $24.99 According to Bellinelli in A Conversation with Gloria Naylor, Naylor became aware of racism during the 60s: "That's when I first began to understand that I was different and that that difference meant something negative.". Lorraine and Theresa are the only lesbian residents of Brewster Place. She is taken by his looks, wealth, and status, but after sleeping with him, she She works long To fund her work as a minister, she lived with her parents and worked as a switchboard operator. One night after an argument with Teresa, Lorraine decides to go visit Ben. The nicety of the polite word of social discourse that Lorraine frantically attempts to articulate"please"emphasizes the brute terrorism of the boys' act of rape and exposes the desperate means by which they rule. migrants from the southern half of the United States. In this one sentence, Naylor pushes the reader back into the safety of a world of artistic mediation and restores the reader's freedom to navigate safely through the details of the text. She finds this place, temporarily, with Ben, and he finds in her a reminder of the lost daughter who haunts his own dreams. Mattie is a resident of Brewster partly because of the failings of the men in her life: the shiftless Butch, who is sexually irresistible; her father, whose outraged assault on her prompts his wife to pull a gun on him; and her son, whom she has spoiled to the extent that he one day jumps bail on her money, costing her her home and sending her to Brewster Place. In a catalog of similes, Hughes evokes the fate of dreams unfulfilled: They dry up like raisins in the sun, fester like sores, stink like rotten meat, crust over like syrupy sweets: They become burdensome, or possibly explosive. He is killed by Lorraine. As an adult, she continues to prefer the smell and feel of her new babies to the trials and hassles of her growing children. Ben relates to The women again pull together, overcoming their outrage over the destruction of one of their own. My interest here is to look at the way in which Naylor rethinks the poem in her novel's attention to dreams and desires and deferral., The dream of the last chapter is a way of deferring closure, but this deferral is not evidence of the author's self-indulgent reluctance to make an end. Having recognized Lorraine as a human being who becomes a victim of violence, the reader recoils from the unfamiliar picture of a creature who seems less human than animal, less subject than object. She stops even trying to keep any one man around; she prefers the "shadows" who come in the night. Butch succeeds in seducing Mattie and, unbeknownst to him, is the father of the baby she carries when she leaves Rock Vale, Tennessee. When John comes back, he whispers to Lorraine that Mrs. Pignati is dead. Why do you think Mr. Pignati is in denial? Many commentators have noted the same deft touch with the novel's supporting characters; in fact, Hairston also notes, "Other characters are equally well-drawn. broken, but her spirit is restored once she finds out that Mattie has stayed up all child after another, almost all with different men. Naylor represents Lorraine's silence not as a passive absence of speech but as a desperate struggle to regain the voice stolen from her through violence. Kiswana Browne is different from all of Brewster Places other residents in brought his fist down into her stomach. As the body of the victim is forced to tell the rapist's story, that body turns against Lorraine's consciousness and begins to destroy itself, cell by cell. That year also marked the August March on Washington as well as the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. release Lucielias enormous grief by rocking and bathing her until she falls asleep Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Provide detailed support for your answer drawing from various perspectives, including historical or sociological. Feeling rejected both by her neighbors and by Teresa, Lorraine finds comfort in talking to Ben, the old alcoholic handyman of Brewster Place. 23, No. The brick wall symbolizes the differences between the residents of Brewster Place and their rich neighbors on the other side of the wall. This unmovable and soothing will represents the historically strong communal spirit among all women, but especially African-American women. They gang rape her Source: Jill L. Matus, "Dream, Deferral, and Closure in The Women of Brewster Place" in Black American Literature Forum, spring, 1990, pp. Hairston, however, believes Naylor sidesteps the real racial issues. Lorraine feels like being a lesbian is only a part of her identity, which is what frustrates her so much about the judgement, as she feels this is just another fact about her. She resents her conservative parents and their middle-class values and feels that her family has rejected their black heritage. For Further Study 918-22. Ciel's eyes began to cloud. While the rest of her friends attended church, dated, and married the kinds of men they were expected to, Etta Mae kept Rock Vale in an uproar. Like those before them, the women who live on Brewster Place overcome their difficulties through the support and wisdom of friends who have experienced their struggles. As lesbians, Lorraine and Theresa represent everything foreign to the other women. They will not talk about these dreams; only a few of them will even admit to having them, but every one of them dreams of Lorraine, finally recognizing the bond they share with the woman they had shunned as "different." He is unable to accept any responsibility for his actions, and, as an adult, he kills a man in a fight. her because she reminds him of his daughter. crying. He believes that Butch is worthless and warns Mattie to stay away from him. Lorraine knows that taking the money is not the right thing to do, but after getting into an argument with his parents, Lorraine's friend, John convinces her that it would be wrong not to visit . Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan! Then suddenly Mattie awakes. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. Mattie is moving into Brewster Place when the novel opens. She beats the drunken and oblivious Ben to death before Mattie can reach her and stop her. Then Cora Lee notices that there is still blood on the bricks. / 8, 2022 / department of corrections ombudsman / list of conditional promises of god 8, 2022 / department of corrections ombudsman / list of conditional promises of god At the play, the children and Cora Lee are all touched by While critics may have differing opinions regarding Naylor's intentions for her characters' future circumstances, they agree that Naylor successfully presents the themes of The Women of Brewster Place. when she is an adult. Miss Eva warns Mattie to be stricter with Basil, believing that he will take advantage of her. Samuel Michael, a God-fearing man, is Mattie's father. Christine H. King asserts in Identities and Issues in Literature, "The ambiguity of the ending gives the story a mythic quality by stressing the continual possibility of dreams and the results of their deferral." But perhaps the mode of the party about to take place will be neither demonic nor apocalyptic. Why? Explored Male Violence and Sexism When Mattie moves to Brewster Place, Ciel has grown up and has a child of her own. coming straight home, she goes down a dark alley. She leaves her middle-class family, turning her back on an upbringing that, she feels, ignored her heritage. Then her son, for whom she gave up her life, leaves without saying goodbye. If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Amid Naylor's painfully accurate depictions of real women and their real struggles, Cora's instant transformation into a devoted and responsible mother seems a "vain fantasy.". Yet, he remains more critical of her ability to make historical connectionsto explore the depths of the human experience. Teresa, the bolder of the two, doesn't care what the neighbors think of them, and she doesn't understand why Lorraine does care. "Dawn" (the prologue) is coupled neither with death nor darkness, but with "dusk," a condition whose half-light underscores the half-life of the street. Etta Mae spends her life moving from one man to the next, living a life about which her beloved Billie Holiday, a blues musician, sings. Source: Laura E. Tanner, "Reading Rape: Sanctuary and The Women of Brewster Place" in American Literature, Vol. Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). The Women of Brewster Place Character Analysis | Course Hero Fannie speaks her mind and often stands up to her husband, Samuel. Of She is left dreaming only of death, a suicidal nightmare from which only Mattie's nurturing love can awaken her. Etta Mae Johnson and Mattie Michael grew up together in Rock Vale, Tennessee. disreputable man named Butch Fuller. Her story starts with a description of her happy childhood. In other words, she takes the characters back in time to show their backgrounds. and the boys] had been hiding up on the wall, watching her come up that back street, and they had waited. children. Virginia C. Fowler, "'Ebony Phoenixes': The Women of Brewster Place," in Gloria Naylor: In Search of Sanctuary, edited by Frank Day, Twayne Publishers, 1996, pp. The attempt to translate violence into narrative, therefore, very easily lapses into a choreography of bodily positions and angles of assault that serves as a transcription of the violator's story. Rae Stoll, Magill's Literary Annual, Vol. The street continues to exist marginally, on the edge of death; it is the "end of the line" for most of its inhabitants. ." Michael Awkward, "Authorial Dreams of Wholeness: (Dis)Unity, (Literary) Parentage, and The Women of Brewster Place," in Gloria Naylor: Critical Perspectives Past and Present, edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and K.A. [C.C.] Naylor's writing reflects her experiences with the Jehovah's Witnesses, according to Virginia Fowler in Gloria Naylor: In Search of Sanctuary. Ciel hesitantly acknowledges that he is not black. But just as the pigeon she watches fails to ascend gracefully and instead lands on a fire escape "with awkward, frantic movements," so Kiswana's dreams of a revolution will be frustrated by the grim realities of Brewster Place and the awkward, frantic movements of people who are busy merely trying to survive. The second climax, as violent as Maggie's beating in the beginning of the novel, happens when Lorraine is raped. Her success probably stems from her exploration of the African-American experience, and her desire to " help us celebrate voraciously that which is ours," as she tells Bellinelli in the interview series, In Black and White. By the end, Cora Lee begins to imagine a better future for her Later, when Turner passes away, Mattie buys Turner's house but loses it when she posts bail for her derelict son. Kate Rushin, Black Back-ups, Firebrand Books, 1993. slammed his kneecap into her spine and her body arched up, causing his nails to cut into the side of her mouth to stifle her cry. When he share-cropped in the South, his crippled daughter was sexually abused by a white landowner, and Ben felt powerless to do anything about it. The close of the novel turns away from the intensity of the dream, and the satisfaction of violent protest, insisting rather on prolonged yearning and dreaming amid conditions which do not magically transform. However, when she goes to her own bed, asks Ciel. When Reverend Woods clearly returns her interest, Etta gladly accepts his invitation to go out for coffee, though Mattie expresses her concerns about his intentions. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. why does lorraine remind ben of his daughter? Kiswana cannot see the blood; there is only rain. For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more! List the conflicts, or struggles, that the major characters in The Pigman experience. In her representation of violence, the victim's pain is defined only through negation, her agony experienced only in the reader's imagination: Lorraine was no longer conscious of the pain in her spine or stomach. In summary, the general consensus of critics is that Naylor possesses a talent that is seldom seen in new writers. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. As black families move onto the street, Ben remains on Brewster Place. The face pushed itself so close to hers that she could look into the flared nostrils and smell the decomposing food in its teeth.. The Naylors were disappointed to learn that segregation also existed in the North, although it was much less obvious. on Brewster Place, a dead end street cut off from the city by a wall. Yet, when she returns to her apartment, she climbs into bed with another man. This question contains spoilers (view spoiler) like. bell hooks, Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism, South End, 1981. In the epilogue we are told that Brewster Place is abandoned, but does not die, because the dreams of the women keep it alive: But the colored daughters of Brewster, spread over the canvas of time, still wake up with their dreams misted on the edge of a yawn. She couldn't feel the skin that was rubbing off of her arms from being pressed against the rough cement. As a black girl growing up in a still-segregated South, Etta Mae broke all the rules. Mattie is the matriarch of Brewster Place; throughout the novel, she plays a motherly role for all of the characters. Jill Matus, "Dream, Deferral, and Closure in The Women of Brewster Place." The Mediterranean families knew him as the man who would quietly do repairs with alcohol on his breath. to in the novelthe making of soup, the hanging of laundry, the diapering of babies, Brewster's death is forestalled and postponed. Naylor uses many symbols in The Women of Brewster Place. This selfless love carries the women through betrayal, loss, and violence. The violation of her personhood that is initiated with the rapist's objectifying look becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy borne out by the literal destruction of her body; rape reduces its victim to the status of an animal and then flaunts as authorization the very body that it has mutilated. Serena, with a man named Eugene. As the reader's gaze is centered within the victim's body, the reader, is stripped of the safety of aesthetic distance and the freedom of artistic response. Why does Lorraine kill Ben in the Women of Brewster Place? 2023 . Before leaving, she secretly gives Kiswana enough money to have a phone line In Naylor's representation of rape, the power of the gaze is turned against itself; the aesthetic observer is forced to watch powerlessly as the violator steps up to the wall to stare with detached pleasure at an exhibit in which the reader, as well as the victim of violence, is on display. She feels bad for wasting his money but enjoys the fact that someone would actually buy things she doesn't need for her. Mattie decides to find a new home. But its reflection is subtle, achieved through the novel's concern with specific women and an individualized neighborhood and the way in which fiction, with its attention focused on the particular, can be made to reveal the play of large historical determinants and forces. They will tear down the wall which is stained with blood, and which has come to symbolize their dead end existence on Brewster Place. Lorraine reminds Ben of his estranged daughter, and Lorraine finds in Ben a new father to replace the one who kicked her out when she refused to lie about being a lesbian. Naylor earned a Master of Arts degree in Afro-American Studies from Yale University in 1983. Later in the novel, a street gang rapes Lorraine, and she kills Ben, mistaking him for her attackers. Then the cells went that contained her powers of taste and smell. The men Naylor depicts in her novel are mean, cowardly, and lawless. Their dreams, even those that are continually deferred, are what keep them alive, continuing to sleep, cook, and care for their children. The final act of violence, the gang rape of Lorraine, underscores men's violent tendencies, emphasizing the differences between the sexes. After the child's death, Ciel nearly dies from grief. When they had finished and stopped holding her up, her body fell over like an unstringed puppet. Middle-class status and a white husband offer one alternative in the vision of escape from Brewster Place; the novel does not criticize Ciel's choices so much as suggest, by implication, the difficulty of envisioning alternatives to Brewster's black world of poverty, insecurity, and male inadequacy. In Bonetti's, An Interview with Gloria Naylor, Naylor said "one character, one female protagonist, could not even attempt to represent the riches and diversity of the black female experience." She is similarly convinced that it will be easy to change Cora's relationship with her children, and she eagerly invites them to her boyfriend's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. " This sudden shift of perspective unveils the connection between the scopophilic gaze and the objectifying force of violence. Plot Summary What the women of Brewster Place dream is not so important as that they dream., Brewster's women live within the failure of the sixties' dreams, and there is no doubt a dimension of the novel that reflects on the shortfall. Far from having had it, the last words remind us that we are still "gonna have a party.". One night a rat bites the baby while they are sleeping and Mattie begins to search for a better place to live. The end of the novel raises questions about the relation of dreams to the persistence of life, since the capacity of Brewster's women to dream on is identified as their capacity to live on. While these ties have always existed, the women's movement has brought them more recognition. Themes When she dreams of the women joining together to tear down the wall that has separated them from the rest of the city, she is dreaming of a way for all of them to achieve Lorraine's dream of acceptance. Naylor wants people to understand the richness of the black heritage. But I worried about whether or not the problems that were being caused by the men in the women's lives would be interpreted as some bitter statement I had to make about black men. how does lorraine explain the reason for her mother's attitude toward men? Joel Hughes, "Naylor Discusses Race Myths and Life," Yale Daily News, March 2, 1995. http://www.cis.yale.edu/ydn/paper. After Ciel underwent an abortion, she had difficulty returning to the daily routine of her life. (Full name Neil Richard Gaiman), Teresa How does Lorraine explain the reason for her mother's attitude - eNotes Ben belongs to Brewster Place even before the seven women do. , Not only does Langston Hughes's poem speak generally about the nature of deferral and dreams unsatisfied, but in the historical context that Naylor evokes it also calls attention implicitly to the sixties' dream of racial equality and the "I have a dream" speech of Martin Luther King, Jr.. She is relieved to have him back, and she is still in love with him, so she tries to ignore his irresponsible behavior and mean temper. Research the era to discover what the movement was, who was involved, and what the goals and achievements were. mother arrives, the two women have several short arguments that culminate in Kiswana Co-opted by the rapist's story, the victim's bodyviolated, damaged and discarded is introduced as authorization for the very brutality that has destroyed it. Basil is the center of Mattie's life from the moment of his birth and grows up under her watchful and loving eye. The screams tried to break through her corneas out into the air, but the tough rubbery flesh sent them vibrating back into her brain, first shaking lifeless the cells that nurtured her memory. Poking at a blood-stained brick with a popsicle stick, Cora says, " 'Blood ain't got no right still being here'." Support your reasons with evidence from the story. The rain eventually returns during the party, By considering the nature of personal and collective dreams within a context of specific social, political, and economic determinants, Naylor inscribes an ideology that affirms deferral; the capacity to defer and to dream is endorsed as life-availing. lived there. Women and people of color comprise the majority of Jehovah's Witnesses, perhaps because, according to Harrison in Visions of Glory: A History and a Memory of Jehovah's Witnesses, "Their religion allows their voices to emerge People listen to them; they are valuable, bearers of a life-giving message." Why does she have these mixed feelings? PRINCIPAL WORKS Etta Mae has always lived a life very different from that of Mattie Michael. How does Lorraine remind Ben of his daughter? Give reasons. After Lorraine and John discover that Mr. Pignati's wife is dead, Lorraine feels very sad. tears, and Ben, the oldest resident and the janitor of the complex, consoles her by Unfortunately, he causes Mattie nothing but heartache.