THE WOMEN OF BREWSTER PLACE

Gloria Naylor depicts the living conditions of the Afro American women and the matrix

of their familial relationships and the appalling conditions in which women live in that

community. They wage a life and death struggle to turn an adverse circumstance into an

affirmative and assert their survival instinct. Gloria Naylor penetrates to the root of the

women’s problem. She diligently captures their split consciousness through a set of

representative characters, both their submissiveness and their struggle for individuality. The

women in all the novels represent the same constant, long struggle against the dictum of the

society that the women be perceived as object and not as subject. Gloria Naylor mirrors the

indomitable spirit of the Afro American women who resist the white society and the black men

to create a world of their own. Naylor’s novels attempts at identity transformation and these

attempts bring about constructive result. She clearly depicts the difficulties involved in

achieving the change that different characters desire. Psychologically the novelist’s own self or

psyche is projected so extensively in the mind of her characters.

The novel The Women of Brewster place is a collection of seven stories dealing with

Africans settled in America. The novel negotiates between two cultures with their attitudes, their

concerns and their life styles. The Women of Brewster place not only portrays the grim realities

of the women’s lives but also the basic lessons they learn in preparing for another rebellion. The

novel is a direct discourse upon the burning conflict in the mind of the women who becomes

aware of her, being crushed and neglected in the society. Naylor implies social change is a must

to end the inner conflict as well as the social conflict. Gloria Naylor throws light upon the seeds

of social conflict lying in an unjust social system of patriarchal pattern.

The novel begins with Mattie Michael, getting a glimpse of a wall. The wall

demarcates Brewster place from the central activities of the city. The wall represents

‘segregation and isolation’ and the division existing between the white society and the black

people. The white man is personified as this wall. The white man and the wall symbolize the

obstacles for the people of Brewster place. It symbolize the limitations for the people of

Brewster place. It is the people of Brewster place who makes the street to be alive and it is the

wall that kills the street and the people who live there. The wall is as an impediment for every

woman in Brewster place.

Gloria Naylor presents the confrontation of the female protagonists with the patriarchal

oppressive environment. Mattie Micheal, the main protagonist is always pulsating with energy.

Her sweet nature of sympathizing with others and her efforts to minimize their pain win her an

everlasting place in the heart of the other charaacters. Throughout she remains a loveable

creature. She is extolled as an embodiment of sacrifice. She acts as a supporter, a guide and a

source of energy to the other characters, who is often baffled by the problems of life and death.

She reveals a maturity that is far beyond her age.

Mattie hails from a traditional family under the strict vigilance and stifling care of her

father. His domination over her made leads her to offer explanation for everything she does.

Mattie is shaped by the predominance of patriarchy. She is deprived of social interaction. She

feels trapped in an oppressive environment. Her ignorance, her limiting of consciousness in the

form of her father, alienating herself from her surroundings, hamper her free thinking. She easily

falls a prey in the hands of Butch, a notorious womanizer. Her pregnacncy aggravates her

father’s aggressiveness which pushes her to unleash herself from the torturing mental and

physical pains. The physical violation exercised by her father makes her to set off to the north.

This brings about a transformation. The strong emotional bond over her baby makes Mattie to

undertake her journey towards the north.

She just wanted to lay her head on the cushioned seat and suspend time, pretend that she

had been born that very moment on that very bus, and that this was all there was and ever

would be. But just then the baby moved, and put her hands on her stomach and knew that

she was nurturing within her what had gone before and would come after. This child

would tie her to that past and future as inextricably as it was now tied to her every

heartbeat.(p.25)

Mattie considers her child to be the cynosure for the existence of her life. She named him

Basil. In her isolation, loneliness and absence of relationships, she thinks about her house. But

very soon she makes up her mind not to remain in the past. She realizes that the present with its

pleasures and pains are the only realities for her. Her strong spirit decides to dispel all the

impediments for the betterment of his life. She resolves to lay the entire burden on her soul to

bestow him a wholesome life.

Mattie’s problems encompassing physical, emotional and economic spheres are many

and varied. Even in her desperate and forlorn situation she does not lose courage. Her tenacious

and strong willed mind to raise him as a single parent ends in finding a job in a book bindery.

She nurtures him with utmost care. The affliction caused by a rat to her child leads her to abide

her only abode. She frantically searches for a safer place. She has been deprived y the white

neighbourhoods and even by some black neighbourhoods. She roves around many places. In

her frantic search she has been pushed to the periphery and about to lose hope. Eventually she

meets Mrs.Eva Turner, who happens to be her source of solace. Her sojourn with her lasts for

the next three decades. She cannot fathom the depth of relation between herself and Mrs. Eva.

Mrs. Eva brings up her grand child, Lucielia. Both grow up together.Mrs. Eva with a streak of

worldly shrewdness regards her over protectiveness as highly incongruous. She warns her:

“Basil needs a bed of his own. I been telling you that for years”

“He’s afraid of the dark. You know that.”

“Most children are afraid at first, but they get used to it”.

“I’m not gonna have my child screaming his head off all night just to please you. He’s

still a baby, he doesn’t like sleeping alone, and that’s it!”

Miss Eva urges Mattie to possess a suitable match. Mattie holds herself responsible for her past

action. She carries that guilt in her conscience. Her guilt is dispelled in her sacrifice of

promising marriage or relationship. As a result she rests all her hopes and energies on her son

BasilMrs. Eva forsees the problems about to mount on her.

Basil is caught up by the police . Mattie is shocked when he

says,”I’ll blow my brains out before I spend my life in jail”(p.51). Her convictions suffer a

severe jolt when Basil attempts to escape instead of facing the hard realities of life. He moves

away from mundane realities. Unable to confront the problems of life, he retreats from his

family. After Basil’s departure, Mattie is lonely, deeply depressed, searching for the meaning of

life. Mattie tries to analyse her feelings and examines her memories of the past inorder to reach

the source of this disturbance. Mattie’s emotional responses begin to fluctuate between

involvement and apathy. Mattie wants Basil to love her intensely for his love would give

meaning to her existence and help her fulfil her desires. Her search for love is part of a larger

quest for motherhood. When she is denied, she feels hunted and persecuted. Her material needs

are met but her emotional aspirations remain unfulfilled. Her painful odyssey through life makes

her realize the futility of her ambition.

His sudden departure leaves her enigmatic. She remains still watching all her sedulous

efforts turning to be futile. She moves around the kitchen unable to accept the horrified reality.

The long silence threatens her. Her intuitive understanding discloses the complex realities. She

is doomed to endure a trapped and tormented conscience in utter loneliness. She is out of tune

with her surroundings. Her move from to Brewster place is

physical manifestation of an inner sense of restlessness. She analyses the problem of

restlessmind. Her suffering lead her to a new consciousness and instill self-confidence into her.

A new phase of life begins when she moves to Brewster place. It turns out to be a journey from

immaturity to maturity, a struggle to come to terms with herself against the complex realities of

human nature.

Gloria Naylor mirrors the journey of Mattie into maturity, into an understanding of the

present and redefines her own existence in the present. Mattie is not just passive victim of fate

and circumstances. She has the strength within to resist or change. She extends her warm

support to the other women. She reinterprets her life in the light of reality. She believes that

helping would unburden the heart and would help her reclaim her original self. Her life in

Brewster place helps to get rid of many negative feelings. It reflects the voyage of the individual

through life making self discovery and self-reconciliation.

Mattie muses over the miserable plight of her women and is touched by the heartrending

hopelessness, which conveys the futility and helplessness of life. The journey she undertakes is

not merely a journey but something greater than it. It is an expansion of her experience. Her

dilapidated building at Brewster place symbolizes her imprisoned life. She has evinced an

extraordinary resilience and tenacity to maintain her identity in her ardour struggle for survival.

Floating in the same boat of travails, she could take a compassionate view of one another.

Suffering chasten the women of Brewster place and acts as a cohesive force of union and

solidarity. Her journey is a movement from innocence to knowledge, from self-ignorance to

self-awareness and from isolation to involvement.

Etta Mae, a childhood friend of Mattie and also a resident of Brewster place is highly

sensitive, brave and intelligent. She wants to be emotionally and economically independent. Her

desire to be independent, to be courageous enables her to grow up both strong and confident.

She has a remarkable stamina to face adversities. In Rock Vale Black women are not allowed to

play any active role. They are ignored and brushed aside. They experience discomfort and feel

trapped in an oppressive environment. When a woman is caught in such a trap she has only one

way left, that is to languish in misery. But Etta differs from the other Black women. Etta likes

to break down existing social power structures and create a place for herself. It became necessary

for her to rebel against the confining creed to find her true self and live her own life as a free

human being instead of remaining fixated in a state of permanent enslavement. She suffers from

the tyranny of social convention and barbarism of male cruelty. There is a conflict between her

ideal desire and the real experience prevailing in Rock Vale. She comments on the present state

of Rock Vale.

Rock Vale had no place for a black woman who was not only unwilling to play by the

rules, but whose spirit challenged the very right of the game to exist.(p.59)

Etta feels humiliated when she is forced to do for which she is against. Etta has been in a

state of hesitation at first, but this wavering doesn’t last long because she eventually overcomes

the anxiety by deciding to move away from Rockvale. She has chosen to leave Rock Vale

because she wants to be free of her past and of the inhibitions they impose on her. She convinces

herself that she has a mission ahead. Finding there is no place for her growing freedom, she

leaves Rockvale. She later finds the atrocities and barbarism of the white male cruelty who has

burned down her father’s barn.

Naylor draws a parallel between Etta and Mattie. Etta’s causes of leaving south are

identical to those of Mattie’s. Both choose not to surrender and be meek but break the

convention to face the situation and take up a new road. They are exposed to the experience of

life and in the process they mature and gain insight. Etta’s life is juxtaposed with Mattie’s as they

are on the same wavelength. Mattie escapes marriage and reaches Brewster place. Unable to

find a suitable match for marriage, Etta lands in Brewster place. Etta experiences a gut

wrenching fear about her fading youth. She is obsessed with the malaise of life, a sense of

vacancy and attempts to fathom some meaning from the barrenness. She hopes to transform,

mould and reshape her own future by finding a suitable match. Etta rejects Mattie’s warning of

finding a nice person who settles with her. Etta grows impatient and assaults her. She expresses

her desire to settle down quickly as a respectable person. She loses her hope on herself and

attacks her. Her love for life overcomes her insecureness and deception and she moves with

Mattie to church. Her preoccupations with worldly interests make her to waver. She is caught in

a flurry of conflicting emotions. Etta’s love for a man like Mr.Woods and her marriage to him

can only be construed as a desperate attempt to clutch on to a way of life she has glamourished

for which Woods is a gate way. Moreland T Wood’s wealth and rich pageantry attracts Etta.

She envisages an impressive future. Mattie is vivid, sharp and full of clarity that it does not end

up in marriage. Etta’s sudden charge on her leaves her speechless. Etta’s realization that she is

considered merely a decorative piece nothing more than that hinders her. Being rejected she is

abruptly broken. The attitude of Mr. Wood has a frustrating effect on her. The hopes of her life

and the unfulfilment of her dreams leave her in the lurch. Her exposure to reality has a salutary

effect on her. She hovers between self-deception and reality. Her painful realization that he

refuses to recognize her as an individual pumps her to leave the place immediately.

Etta got out of the car unassisted and didn’t bother to turn and watch the taillights as ti

pulled off down the deserted avenue adjacent to Brewster place(p.72).

Etta has bitter memories but accepts her fate to endure the burden of her life. Etta suffers

from an intense feeling of inadequacy, a feeling of rootlessness and a feeling of rudderless boat

being tossed on turbulent waves. Though wounded fatally, she endures the pain. She makes up

herself to adjust to the situation without loosing her individuality. She ignores the past and

moves ahead. Brewster place seems to enfold her. It seems to be the last ray of hope. Her

spirits are never broken when suppressed even during the ravages. She becomes aware of her

alienation. Her discomfort, loneliness and pain annihilate her. Her unquenching thirst for

something more, something better culminates on a very sad pessimistic note. She realizes that

she is mere puppet in the hands of this powerful man. The change of consciousness and

perceptions propitiates her to pace towards Brewster place.

When Etta got to the stoop, she noticed there was a light under the shade at Mattie’s

window, and she strained to hear what actually sounded like music coming from behind

the screen(p.74).

As she nears the house, the music from Mattie’s house acts as a pain reliever. Her

anguished heart lingers for a moment and beats fast. Mattie’s awaiting strengthens her. She

returns to Mattie who is eagerly waiting for her. She proffers to uphold her life afresh and

Mattie is there to lend her support. This aids her to realize her as an individual with her own

world cut out for her.

Kiswana Browne, a dreamy young woman of twenty dwells in the sixth floor studio

apartment of Brewster. She has been raised in an affluent black suburb linden hills. Kiswana is

presented as a confident, enterprising, ambitious and individualistic New woman. She demands

attention, equality and peace at par with man. Her deep inherent cultural heritage propels her to

expel Linden Hills in search for roots. She seeks refugee at Brewster place. She feels her roots

have been pinned to it intimately. Her worth and meaning of life lie the impostition of her will.

Detached herself from voluptuous life at Linden Hills, she pursuits a meaningful life as an

activist.

From the window of her sixth-floor studio apartment, Kiswana could see over the wall at

the end of the street to the busy avenue that lay just north of Brewster Place.(75)

The window is used as a symbol of the outlook of the self on the world around it. For an

ordinary individual, it is the aperture through which comes the only light one may receive, but it

is also a barrier, hampering one’s movement towards the source of that light. Kiswana considers

the wall as an obstacle debarring their potentialities for growth.

Kiswana’s blind yearning and immense nostalgia for the African lifestyle and her intense

hatred against the oppression made her change her name from Melanie to Kiswana Browne.

Kiswana reflects her Afrocentrism by protesting silently by not responding to her when her

mother calls her as Melanie. She states ”Oh, hi, Mama. You know, I thought I heard a knock,

but I figured it was for the people next door, since no one hardly ever calls me Melanie”.(78) She

casts off her brother’s selfhood for evading from protesting on campus at school. She is haunted

by her brother’s comments at her appearance.”She never forgave Wilson for telling her that she

didn’t look African, she looked like an electrocuted chicken.’(81)

Kiswana Browne seems to be bold in pursuing her interests. She wants to embark on a

new life and chooses her own undestined future. Kiswana is reluctant and stubbornly refuses

help from her mother. She wants to make it on her own. “ I don’t want you to be giving me

money –I’ve told you that before. Please, let me make it by myself”(82). Kiswana has a close

proximity with Brewster place. Her vigorous mind and vitality favor Brewster place though it is

not considered respectable and dignified by middle class standards. Her escape from Linden

Hills is accelerated by two factors-her intense dislike of the artificiality of the urban culture and

lack of understanding on the part of her mother. She considers Brewster place the most human

place. “They’re my people and yours too, Mama- we’re all black”(83). The sense of

belongingness tends her to stay with them. Kiswana’s mother contempts her quite naïve nature

and her incapability of analyzing her varied potentialities. Her mother says,” Well you could

afford a lot better, if you hadn’t dropped out of college and had to resort to these dead-end

clerical jobs” but she is not interested to pursue her education. She accuses her mother as an

imitator of the white man’s way of life. She is a ‘black white woman’ living by completely

rejecting all the values and rituals that held the community together as an organic whole.

Kiswana has the most painful throes of conscience. She represents an immaturity. Her

intelligence and mature judgement are out of action. It is her in-born urge for self-realization

that takes her to the Brewster place. Kiswana mother’s psychological observation and fineness

of human valuation is utterly convincing when she says:

You constantly live in a fantasy world- always going to extremes-turning butterflies into

eagles, and life isn’t about that. It’s accepting what is and working from that. Lord, I

remember how worried you had me, putting all that lacquered hair spray on your head. I

thought you were going to get lung cancer –trying to be what you’re not.(85)

She presents the life with compelling reality. “When all the smoke had cleared, you found

yourself with a fistful of new federal laws and a country still full of obstacles for black people to

fight their way over-just because they’re black. There was no revolution, Melanie, and there will

be no revolution.”(84) Kiswana cannot alter herself. The despairing bitterness engulfs her. By

delicate touches her mother opens up the new possibilities that would enable her to grow

emotionally and spiritually. Her cosmopolitan ideas are putforth to try to make the best of the

situation.

But you’re going to have to fight within the system, because it and these so-called

‘bourgie’ schools are going to be here for a long time. And that means that you get smart

like a lot of your old friends and get an important job where you can have some

influence. You don’t have to sell out, as you say, and work for some corporation, but you

could become an assemblywoman or a civil liberties lawyer or open a freedom school in

this very neighborhood. That way you could really help the community.(84)

Kiswana’s constant profound pondering of the nature of society and of the possibility of

imagining a finer civilization usurps her moral sense. It is her greatness that retains all the

provincial strength and virtue. She not only sympathizes but also empathizes with her fellow

being although her social and economic status is elevated from that of an ordinary aborigine.

This mirrors her commitment, her zeal for reformation and her brilliant way of using her rebel

nature as a tool in her attempt to change the social and political scenario.

Naylor presents Lucielia as an impressive and sympathy commanding figure. She

shows an ardent submissive affection towards her husband Eugene. She acts as a placid good

wife to a husband, being tactfully solicitous about his comfort. Eugene is egocentricand

malevolence, being chiefly occupied in his particular pleasure His longs to escape from the

burden into a world of liberating action. His intense frustration leads him into childish

infidelities to his wife. Her compassion or good-will vanish unnoticed. His double-edged sword

results in many self-inflicted wounds. The memory of Eugene impinges more and more on her

thoughts. The tension is deadly. The tension between them is not resolved. She endures the

agonized helplessness:

It is Matie’s love that sets her free from the shackles of Eugene and enables her to come

out of her narrow shell towards the path of light and meaningful life, leaving behind the darkness

of the soul she went through.

Lucielia’s health is at stake and she moves into her shell of self-imposed aloofness.

Having got married to a man of her choice, she doesnot lead a happy life. She tries in vain to

reform his manners and speech. But he is too firmly entrenched in his roots to provide any

comfort for her. She stifles her emotions and sees love as a kind of weakness.

Tears that failed her at the time of the death of her daughter, pile up in her eyes, when

Mattie soothes her. Lucielia learns the process of asserting life very late. This makes her

uncomfortable and unhappy. She is attached to him emotionally and dependent on him

economically. She finds a ray of light descending into the darkness of her soul.

She seeks abortion in pursuit of his interests. The rift between Lucielia and Eugene is

established in the click of the lock and his ‘Yo baby’. Despite his indifferent attitude in the last

eleven months his word ‘Yo baby’ steers a kind of energy in her. She strives hard to realize the

reason behind his hatred. She hides her desperate mood when she converses with Eugene. He

never shares her work. She alone takes care of her a month old baby.

All her attempts to him ends up in a dislocating experience that frustrates

and shatters her. Locked in Mattie’s caresses, she forgets the loss of her daughter. Tired and

grief stricken she lies on the bed in a state of coma, too feelingless to sit up or think. Both have

to play the ball to keep the tournament of life running. Her married life does not bear fruit. She

continues to lead the life of a disappointed woman. He is unable to establish a good relationship

with her. He considers himself to be a prisoner. Life continues to be a tragedy for her. Her

daughter’s death makes her hysteric. Even at a very old age Mattie lives the life of a young

woman. But Lucielia suffers sleepless nights. She never recovers from the shock, whereas he

never has any prick of conscience.

Gloria Naylor gives a fine portrayal of the character of Cora Lee. Gloria Naylor asserts

that her characters are new and different. What is different about Cora Lee is that she is prepared

to face the consequences of her choices. She has no desire to be owned. She does not want

anyone to feel or show either kindness or responsibility for her.

To know a person one has to study the interior workings of a character rather than her

exterior character. She portrays the intricacies of the child’s psche towards baby dolls. The

passage conveys her over exuberant love of baby dolls.

Her new baby doll. They placed the soft plastic and pink flannel in the little girl’s lap,

and she turned her moon-shaped eyes toward them in awed gratitude. It was so perfect

and so small. She trailed her fingertips along the smooth brown forehead and down into

the bottom curve of the upturned nose. She gently lifted the dimpled arms and legs and

then reverently placed them back. Slowly kissing the set painted mouth, she inhaled its

new aroma while stroking the silken curled head and full cheeks. She circled her arms

around the motionless body and squeezed, while with tightly closed eyes its low gravelly

”Mama” to radiate through her breast.(p.107).

Children make the dolls perform social roles over which the lifeless doll have no control.

But Cora venerates the baby dolls and shows effusive reaction to the doll’s voice ”mama”. Cora

prefers to entangle herself into the vortex of ignorance. This is evident when she shatters the

teenaged Barbie doll intended for an increasingly mature child.

Cora Lee is portrayed as an immature girl and exhibits signs of wordly failure from the

beginning. Even as a child she fails to conform to the domestic norms of the world around her

and becomes alienated. She had not been looking for a meaningful way of life since her early

childhood.

Cora is shown as a simple, innocent and ignorant careless mother with no responsibilities

towards her grown children. She is obsessed with her pursuit of having babies that she simply

does not care for or even remember her responsibility towards the grown infants. She considers

them as nuisances who distracts her from viewing soap opera.

Cora undergoes a transformation inducted by Kiswana Browne, a resident of Brewster

place and by a black production of A Midsummer Night’s dream. She realizes her role as a

mother. Her tender reminiscences about her childhood days and her brother and sister are

transmitted through her imagination and memory.

This new mood directs Cora’s consciousness to new thresholds of experience. The

perception of the power of imagination helps her open her mind to new vistas of knowledge

within. Cora has had no education. She has no money of her own . She wishes to educate her

children to make them independent. She feels responsible and wants to take care of her children.

She never expects others to stand by her and take any burdens on their shoulders if she is ever

faced by a crisis.

Cora Lee has changed. But her change does not last long. Despite the hopeful echoes of

peace and order in her house, she sleeps with the anonymous “shadow” “ who had let himself in

with his key, moved in the bed. She turned and firmly folded her evening like gold and lavender

gauze deep within the creases of her dreams”(p.127).

Gloria Naylor portrays the frustration, conflicts and contradictions encountered by her

characters, Lorraine and Theresa. Lorraine ,a light skinned one is timid, submissive and passive.

An elementary teacher by profession, she gives great importance for the opinion of others.

Lorraine can never tolerate the indifferent attitude of others. On the contrary, Theresa, a

personnel director at the board of education is a strong-willed woman who does what she wants,

neglecting the frame of society. Both Lorraine and Theresa harbour homosexual love for each

other. As a lesbian couple, they have to move from one place to another. Each stand apart from

other due to psychic and emotional disparities and yet show a strong kinship.

The denial of love casts its dark shadow on the sensitive mind of Lorraine. Eventually

they have moved to Brewster place to avoid the appalling sights from the residents of the more

affluent neighborhoods. Initially the residents of Brewster place are filled with apprehension

emanating from their charm and beauty. Their indifference to men gain them comfort. After a

short while, gossip ensues. Sophie adds fuel to the fire and is instrumental in spreading the

gossip. The strange attitude of the people has a frustrating effect on Lorraine. Their differences

and menace have rekindled her worries. Her mind was restless due to the constant flux of

warring thoughts which wracked her indeterminate mind. She could not find a way out. She

realizes that disassociation from the surroundings cannot provide peace of mind. Her frustration

continues to build up slowly rising to a crescendo. Unable to free herself from the clutches of

these prejudices, Lorraine mentions their dispassionate and callousness to Theresa. Theresa has

mistaken Lorraine’s statement as her urge to get away from the stifling ambience, which

aggravates her. In her fury, Theresa charges her as the reason for moving to a godforsaken part

of town. This eruption puts her in utter mental agony. She lacks the courageness to assert her

individuality.

Theresa acknowledges that Lorraine has become more sensitive. Theresa wishes

Lorraine to banish the obsessions from the terrain of the consciousness. She wants her to act as a

free women who can exert her own will and make her own choices in life. She is reminded of

her first encounter with Lorraine. Theres a is captivated by her bubbling youth, vibrant

disposition and the kindest heart. Lorraine’s tenderness which once attracts Theresa now

irritates her. She expects Lorraine to stand by her side and combat against the harsh realities of

life. She asserts that she is no different from other women. Lorraine and Theresa have good

roots, but their reaction to the mode of life differs. Theresa understands Lorraine’s weakness and

is tolerant towards her. She does not approve of her conduct and does voice out her opinion also.

Lorraine joins the Brewster place Block Association to establish a harmonial relationship

with others. But Sophie mentions Lorraine’s moral degradation and opposes to be appointed as

association secretary. In connection with this, a verbal attack ensues between Sophie and Etta.

Unable to bear the indifferences when she is exposed to the petty powerplay of Sophie, she

rushes from the room. She realizes much to her dismay that all human relationships are futile.

She comes to believe that all human beings are cocoons, all engrossed in themselves and that no

one is anyone’s comfort. She feels frustrated and alienated. She feels that her unhappiness is

increasing every moment, with the bitter agony of not being able to confront it. Her mind is in

further turmoil. Fearing an “I told you so” from Theresa, she is left with no one to console her.

The hurt heart of Lorraine yearns for a kind word of love and compassion. Ben affords

her some measure of comfort. Ben acts as a balm to her aching heart. His sympathies and his

efforts to minimize her pain win an everlasting place in the heart of Lorraine. Lorraine also

learns that Ben has also been abandoned and rejected by society. Both foster a friendship that

offers each of them comfort and peace. Wading through such trauma, Ben soothes himself by

encountering his story. Lorraine narrates how she has been deprived and always longs for the

love of her father. Her inner struggle and inner conflict continue to vibrate in her mind. She

tells her struggle for existence and survival.

Theresa perceives the change in the attitude of Lorraine. She nolonger views things in

the way Theresa does. What perplexed Theresa is that all her attempts to change Lorraine turned

to be futile in all these five years. But an ignorant country winehead has brought some changes

in her. Lady Macbeth washes her hands to remove the blood stain and the guilt in her

conscience. In the same way, Theresa washes her hands to get rid of the guilt of not able to

change Lorraine. Theresa can never be at peace, once awakened to her weak existence. Theresa

repressed. Perhaps even unconscious anger bursts out in fully fury when she sees Sophie

watching them.

Death makes an important turning point. Fate was cruel and unkind to her. She has been

seduced. She died as a disappointed woman. She tries hard to overcome her psychological

fears. She becomes the prey of morbid stiffness and dry and sapless treatment. C.C was

avenging the insult that they receive at the hands of her. Lorraine is victimized in the worst

manner by the crude world. Death becomes a solace and escape from the harsh realities of the

society. It reflects the wounded nature of the world around. She makes it her concern to make

life tolerable with the help of compassion. Lorraine receives a physical blow. She is brutally

beaten up and trampled. Ultimately, she stumbles home in a miserable state. The love she has

for her dear departed is praiseworthy. Lorraine’s efforts and decision to leave her home and go

to the party alone is a sign of her tormenting mental agonies. She tries to search for her identity.

She realizes the dominance of fear over her has made her weak, dependent and submissive.

Lorraine’s unending suffering creates in the minds of the readers, a feeling of sympathy for her,

regret and wrath for social system. Lorraine’s death symbolically represents a nation breaking

free from its repressive shackles. Theresa visualizes a new Lorraine at the loom harmoniously

weaving a pattern of her life. Her desperate attempts to accommodate herself to the ways of life

in Brewster and her pathetic failure leads her to the realization of the limitations.

Theresa has been shown to impose a degree of control over circumstances which threaten

to swamp her spirit.

Conclusion

The rude shock of Lorraine’s death forces them to review their own life. Lorraine’s death

underscores the mean violence of vengeful male chauvinism.

It is a moving emphasis on the necessity of supporting human relationships and a mutual

human concern and caring. This factor can act as a stabilizing and binding force in an

increasingly fragmented world. These novels hold out a ray of hope through their positive

vision.

EXtra

The novel begins with the description of the pitiable condition of Brewster place.

Brewster place is depicted as the setting against which the characters emotional development are

charted.

________shows her awareness about the repressive nature of the man authority. The dream

world is far away from the harsh reality they live. With her grandmother’s death she woke

upto the brutal facts of life. She becomes a victim of poverty, hunger.

The stories concern themselves predominantly with social preoccupations. She plunges

into her old routine without any interest or enthusiasm. She repents her dependence, her not

having enough education to go out and earn her living. She possesses nothing in her life. In the

end she is defeated and the rebellious spirit dies. The strong side of her character turns ordinary

and average.