Essay on Gloria Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place

Elaine and Robert, Mattie's two unmarried children, along with other family and friends, are encouraging her to be what they expect a seventy-eight year old woman to be. They talk about how she needs to get rest because she is slowing down and can't keep going as steady as she seems to think. When she decided to try and help a young juvenile, Wesley Benfield, become a better person by taking him to church and offering him to stay the night with her, Robert thought that Mattie was sick.

The two were ultimately different in the beginning of the story but eventually Mattie has to endure what Zeena did and it makes Mattie more alike to Zeena. Irony is seen since in the beginning it may have seemed that Zeena had a terrible life but in the end Mattie was the one stripped of all that she

Later on the story Mattie experiences her grandfather?s death, which taught her to stand up for herself. After all of the hardships that Mattie and Grandfather faced out on their own, they came back to a Philadelphia very unalike the one they had left, and their coffeehouse home was no different. It was completely robbed of almost everything and shards of glass were everywhere. Although this did not stop two thieves from coming in and killing grandfather when he tried to fight back. Mattie did not take this well however. After Grandfather fainted, she gashed the robber?s shoulder with her granddad?s sword which sent him running down the street with Mattie chasing him close behind. This event clearly shows that Mattie learned to stand up for herself against higher authority, which is a big part of adulthood.

The essay “The Meanings of a Word” by Gloria Naylor discusses the many definitions of a word and how its meaning can change according to context and delivery. She made this point by telling a story of her childhood and the first time she heard the n-word used by a white person in a derogatory, demeaning way. She described her this situation that took place when she was in third-grade and a boy in front of her in math class called her the n-word. She had no idea what it meant to be called that in a negative way because the people she grew up around only used it as positive and empowering. At the end of her essay, she once again emphasized how easy it is to change a word into something hateful simply depending on who says it and their

Mattie was smart. She remembered everything her grandpa taught her. She saw Willow trees and remembered this trick: find a Willow tree and you will soon see water nearby. She saw raspberries, and knew that rabbits were nearby. She is the reason why her and her grandfather survived. Her personal traits that helped her get through this was the

Gloria Naylor’s powerful novel, The Women of Brewster Place, consists of many characters and many great themes, though, only one character in particular sticks out the most: Mattie Michael. Since the longest individual chapter focuses on her, readers get a glimpse at Mattie’s life, struggles, and how she got to the unit known as Brewster Place. With her constant recurrence throughout the novel, readers come to understand her importance as she is the strong-willed, backbone, and main ebony phoenix of Brewster.

A character in this story that plays an important part is Matt’s friend, Maria. Maria is always kind to Matt and although he is a clone, Maria still loves him and likes talking to him and Matt also loves Maria. Maria is always kind to Matt and has wanted to play with him ever since they met. On page 15 Maria shouts,“Hey, boy! What’s your name? Do you want to play?” This quote from the book is the first time Maria and Matt met. After the first day they met, Maria has always liked him and never forgotten about him. Maria

Mattie is a fourteen year old girl, who has the responsibilities of an adult, which was expected of people that age in this time period. “[Mattie] kept his books for him”(keeping the books means keeping track of the money) said Mattie when she was explaining why she knew how much money her father had (Portis 15). This quote is interesting because it exhibits the amount of responsibility that was put upon her even at a young age. Also, Mattie seems to have the best math skills in her family despite having a mother and father much older than her. Mattie told Yarnell, (who is an African American that works for Mattie's family) “Yarnell said ‘you can't stay in the city by yourself’ [Mattie] said ‘It will be alright’” (Portis 26). Mattie is going to stay in the city by herself without her mom knowing when she will return, or what her sleeping arrangements are. It is strange because she is a young girl in a city alone with nobody to protect her, and her mother has no idea what is going on. Mattie told the sheriff “[I’am] looking for the man who shot and killed my father” (Poti 59). Mattie is not asking the sheriff to find the man and bring him to

“. . . The finest man I had ever known” (Anderson 149). He was a man who was the captain of Pennsylvania Fifth Regiment and served under George Washington. He always found a way for Mattie to break away from Mother’s thoughts--he pampered her. He also taught her the basics of soldiering, which Matilda used when she and Grandfather were kicked off a wagon due to Grandfather’s coughing--the summer grippe. Both Matilda and her grandfather were stranded in the middle of nowhere and in order to return to their homeland they would have to walk miles and miles. As strong, brave, and courageous her grandfather was; he decided to go out and look for her. He found Matilda laying on the floor because of her faint. Matilda’s grandfather picked her up in the struggling heat and carried her all the way to Bush Hill. Where she fought off the fever and was treated. “Imagine a man his age carrying someone like you all that distance” (Anderson 99). Matilda’s Grandfather was everything to her. Too bad he was killed by thieves robbing valuables. A man like him shouldn’t have died, this put Mattie in a very difficult and heartrending

Edith Wharton uses Mattie to express isolation and being lonely. She comes to the country with ribbons in her hair and more joy in herself. She wanted to free Ethan from the terrible society he lived in. Life in Starkfield is bleak and boring. No one comes outside or enjoys themselves. This is mainly why Ethan wants to escape the barren and poor neighborhood. Ethan is also isolated as well. He opposes society mainly because he cannot be with the one he loves and he doesn’t want to ruin his marriage to Zeena as well. When Zeena falls ill, she goes to the doctor for a couple of days and returns only to find her expensive china now ruined. Angry, she tells Ethan that she needs more hired help and plans to send Mattie away. Upset, Ethan did not know what to do . He decided to write a letter to Zeena telling her to run the farm and be by herself. However, he

Mattie is the older character in this book that was owned “Jesus is Lord Tires” and was a character that acted as a mother to multiple characters. “She looked at me the way Mama would have,” (Kingsolver 252). This quote was found near the end of the book that signified Mattie looking at Taylor and Taylor observing that look and thinking that it is similar to her real mother’s. Mattie gave some money to Taylor for the trip and Taylor refused to take it, so Mattie said that it was for everyone in the car and gave her the look that reminded Taylor of her biological mother. “’I’ve got some peanut butter crackers,’ Mattie said leaning over Turtle. ‘Will she eat peanut butter?’,” (Kingsolver 252). Mattie seemed worried about Turtle and offered her something to eat. She acted as a mother figure to Turtle because she fed her and gave her more food when Turtle hinted for it. Mattie was the one that fit as a mother figure to a lot of characters in the book. She was the person that led a sanctuary and was the one who took care of the many.

As you can see Mattie put herself at risk facing her father’s killer and also showed that her weakness is her poor skill on how to handle a gun. Second part is the abyss where, “the initiate faces the greatest challenge of the journey…. Often final step…

The roles of men and women were not specifically defined in her family, mainly after her dad’s stroke and one of her brothers having head trauma. All work was divided up between three girls and the one remaining son,

In the beginning of the story, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” Jacobs illustrates the importance of the family relationship. The description of the attachment Linda has with her parents as a child is displayed to accentuate, Linda having dignity in herself, for she never knew she was a slave. Linda is not receptive of accepting that she is property to another person. As a result, she had a different outlook on life and much was expected of her by her family. Seeing that, the unveiling of Jacob’s audience develops more in depth for women, with an appeal to women ideal of true womanhood. Sentimental literature is used to appeal to women, introducing both sexual and psychological abuse through taking a close look at relationships surrounded

Sara is the widow of a soldier. She lives alone in the mountains, raising her baby in the face of certain starvation after Federals have looted her farm and burned down her barn. Despite being in such a poor condition she still offers Inman food and shelter [240-243]. An anonymous author from Middle Tennessee State University discussed the state of women during Civil War writes, “In addition to the challenge of everyday subsistence, ex-slave women had to deal with such other problems as lack of warm clothing and good shelter, rampant illness (contraband camps had extremely high mortality rates due to disease), abuse from soldiers, and the transitory nature of life within a war zone. To cope, many women helped each other and drew on the resilience they had learned while enslaved” [p. 3] making point stronger. Ada is the main female character in the novel. She was raised by her father Monroe with sophisticated education and a privileged background as a preacher’s daughter, she turned out to be docile, submissive and obedient. Raising her so had left her helpless in the Black Cove Farm with no idea how to maintain the farm and live on her own without any