Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule Marshall
"Brown Girl, Brownstones," Paule Marshall's debut novel, intricately explores the life of Selina Boyce, a young girl navigating her coming-of-age journey in the Barbadian immigrant community of Brooklyn during the 1940s. The narrative delves into the complexities of Selina's family dynamics, particularly the contrasting aspirations of her immigrant parents: her mother, who embodies the pursuit of the American Dream through homeownership, and her father, who longs for the nostalgic simplicity of life in Barbados. This conflict creates tension for Selina, who finds herself torn between her parents' divergent paths.
As she evolves from a tentative ten-year-old into a poised dancer and college student, Selina forges significant relationships that influence her understanding of identity and societal challenges. Throughout her journey, she grapples with the expectations of her community, the weight of racial prejudice, and her own personal desires. Ultimately, Selina's story culminates in a decision to leave Brooklyn for Barbados, reflecting her quest for autonomy and self-discovery. The novel not only highlights the immigrant experience but also underscores the universal struggle for individuality amidst familial and cultural expectations.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule Marshall
First published: 1959
The Work
Brown Girl, Brownstones, Paule Marshall’s first novel, set in the Barbadian community of Brooklyn, focuses on the coming-of-age of Selina Boyce, whose parents emigrated from Barbados. Selina’s initiation into adulthood is complicated by family strife and the racial prejudice she finds in Brooklyn in the 1940’s. Her mother, mirroring the Barbadian community around her, strives for the American Dream of owning her own home, while her father refuses to be caught up in the pursuit of that dream, longing to return to the idyllic life he associates with Barbados. Selina is caught in the family tensions between her father’s free spirit and her mother’s power. Although most often drawn toward her father, she recognizes the pull of her mother. Selina discovers that she cannot find her own way by following either parent.
The first glimpse the reader gets of Selina highlights contradictions and conflicts: Although only ten, her eyes suggest an uncanny age; she springs forward while at the same time pulling herself backward with one arm; she imagines herself wearing a gown and belonging to the genteel white family that previously lived in the brownstone now rented by the Boyces, but she sees her lanky and ragged reflection in a mirror.
Several characters in the novel mark Selina’s development from an awkward ten-year-old into a graceful dancer and successful college student. She quickly outgrows her childhood friend Beryl, who opts for conformity with the community; Selina’s friendship with Miss Thompson, an African American, provides some solace from family strife and widens her knowledge about American society and prejudice; Selina leaves Clive, her lover, recognizing in him an inertia that also took hold of her father before his death.
By the novel’s end, Selina decides to leave Brooklyn and travel to Barbados alone. Although often at odds with her mother and the Barbadian community, Selina, before leaving, makes peace with both; she leaves the brownstone and her community not with bitterness, but with determination to find her own way.
Bibliography
Brown, Lloyd W. “The Rhythms of Power in Paule Marshall’s Fiction.” Novel: A Forum on Fiction 7 (1974): 159-167. Examines the use of rhythm and sound in Marshall’s novels and short stories, especially Brown Girl, Brownstones and “To Da-duh, In Memoriam.” Brown contends that Marshall uses a repetitive, rhythmic symbolism to support themes of self-reflection and life versus death. He also examines the way in which the power of the machine, another strong theme in Marshall’s fiction, is portrayed through rhythmic symbols, pitting the machine against the life force to create a jarring “sound” full of tension and conflict.
Cobb, Michael L. “’She Was Something Vulgar in a Holy Place’: The Resanguination of the Word in Paule Marshall’s Brown Girl, Brownstones.” In Racial Blasphemies: Religious Irreverence and Race in American Literature. New York: Routledge, 2005. Chapter on the ideological function of blasphemy in Brown Girl, Brownstones; compares the work to novels by James Baldwin, Flannery O’Connor, and William Faulkner.
Collier, Eugenia. “The Closing of the Circle: Movement from Division to Wholeness in Paule Marshall’s Fiction.” In Black Women Writers, 1950-1980: A Critical Evaluation, edited by Mari Evans. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1983. Contends that Marshall’s body of work reveals a progression of characterization from divided individuals to whole individuals integrated within a community. Collier sees in Brown Girl, Brownstones an illustration of a lost, fragmented protagonist—Selina—who finds herself within the world community. Collier illustrates her thesis with references to all Marshall’s novels and several short stories.
Jackson, Blyden. The Waiting Years: Essays on American Negro Literature. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1976. Includes Marshall’s The Chosen Place, the Timeless People in a discussion of African American novels that might be labeled “militant” for their intolerance of the white world.
Jackson, Tommie Lee. “The Success Phobia of Deighton Boyce in Paule Marshall’s Brown Girl, Brownstones.” In An Invincible Summer: Female Diasporan Authors. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 2001. Looks at Marshall as a diasporic writer in examining her representation of success and ambition.
Kapai, Leela. “Dominant Themes and Techniques in Paule Marshall’s Fiction.” CLA Journal 16 (September, 1972): 49-59. Examines the major themes at work in Marshall’s novels, including racial tension, psychological struggles for identity, and the African American cultural tradition. Kapai traces these themes through an examination of character in each of Marshall’s novels, concluding that one of Marshall’s primary voices is the one that calls readers to their past in order to enlighten their present selves.
Pryse, Marjorie, and Hortense J. Spillers, eds. Conjuring: Black Women, Fiction, and Literary Tradition. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985. An anthology of essays that emphasizes the power of the written word in giving voice to the “magic” and reality of black women’s lives. Marshall’s work is a frequent subject in this collection. In Barbara Christian’s “Trajectories of Self-Definition,” Brown Girl, Brownstones is discussed as a major literary touchstone in African American fiction by women, focusing as it does on a mother-daughter relationship. In “Chosen Place, Timeless People: Some Figurations on the New World,” Hortense Spillers discusses Marshall’s novel in the context of her career, viewing it as an expansion of the themes initiated in Brown Girl, Brownstones.
Whitlow, Roger. Black American Literature: A Critical History. Totowa, N.J.: Littlefield, Adams, 1974. Traces Marshall’s life and career, evaluating her work in a personal and social context. Whitlow considers Brown Girl, Brownstones a major novel of urban realism. He emphasizes Marshall’s use of the urban setting of Brooklyn as a symbol of various thematic concerns.