Theme Of The Women Of Brewster Place
What do you think of the novel’s structure? How does each woman’s individual voice reinforce the novel’s themes as a whole?
The Women of Brewster Place, by Gloria Naylor, is a novel that takes a unique approach in telling the narratives of the inhabitants of a community known as Brewster Place. Throughout the story, the narrator’s perspective is shifted between 7 of these people, with the last chapter coming from the perspective of the community as a whole during a neighborhood block party. I believe the structure Naylor used to tell her story - having each person’s background, one after another, told without disruption - is appropriate for it does not disrupt the flow, as it would if the perspectives were alternated between the characters a multitude of times.
The search for a home is one of the main themes of this novel. Each woman’s individual voice reinforces this theme as each woman had gone through some circumstance that forced them to move to the impoverished Brewster Place neighborhood. One of these woman, for example, was Mattie whose son, Basil, was just arrested. After hearing the conditions of Basil’s cell, she asked her lawyer, “I’ve got my house; it’s mine and paid for. Can I put that up for bail?” (50). Although her lawyer was hesitant at first, and told her of the risk, they both agreed. However, just before the trial, Basil vanished and Mattie had to forfeit her home. Left with no direction, and little money, Mattie had no choice but to live in Brewster. In
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