Brewster Place's Wall Quotes And Analysis

Symbols (4) - identify the symbol, and explain how/why what or who you have selected functions as a symbol in the text. Justify your reasoning with evidence from the text for each symbol.

Sugar Cane: First appearing within the chapter of Mattie Michael’s introduction. Butch Fuller, a man known for his sexual endeavors, uses the motive of going to the sugar cane fields to lure Mattie to be alone with him. From the first introduction of Butch, it was apparent Mattie was attracted to him, “Everything about Butch was like puffed air and cotton candy…” (Naylor 14). Having an ominous aurora surrounding him, he used Mattie’s lack of experience with the emotion of curious desire to have sex with her, leaving her to fall pregnant and essentially

The wall presented itself as an obstacle, hindering people's view of beautiful days, forcing vehicles to turn around to go on the long roadway to the city, visitors never attempting to view the complex because of the long path, and then the city's allowance of the building to become rundown. For example, Etta Mae Johnson's hesitancy to walk down the alley due to the recurring theme of when someone moves into Brewster Place it is very hard to find a way out, a symbol of poverty, “If I walk into this street, she thought, I’ll never come back. I’ll never get out” (Naylor 73). Another example, Kiswana’s mother referred to it as a “dreadful wall” (Naylor 79), wondering what lay behind it. This particular symbol is recurring because at some point every woman has gone through hardship and they have faced something they thought they'd never overcome, the wall represents hardship and its demolition in the last chapter represents freedom and strength as each woman has finally overcome their

At the time, Mattie was working full time and traveling mostly by foot for several hours to attempt to make ends meet as she didn’t have any connections within the city of Tennessee. Beyond exhausted, when this injury occurred, her first reaction was flight instead of attempting to mend the hole in the wall to prevent any more rats to appear. This is a form of symbolism due to it allowing the reader to realize that a mother’s love is blinding but also to realize that the drive needed to be better - in the sense of to work harder, to only demand the best - comes from mysterious motivating factors. An example of the newfound grit Mattie gained is, “She walked the entire day, and her hand became blistered from the handle of the suitcase” (Naylor 29). This incident can also symbolize that injuries are bound to happen and that one can only do so much to protect those one