The Writings Of African American Women

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

African American novels have always had protagonists who strongly voice their dissent over discrimination. We see a different approach adopted by Gwendolyn Brooks’ Maud Martha (1953). Unlike other African American texts, I see in this novella a deliberate attempt at bringing in passivity wherein Brooks has subverted the dominant, stereotypical notion by upholding the passive as heroic.

Gwendolyn Brooks’ Maud Martha is a lesser known work of hers, dismissed by many critics alike as being unworthy of any detailed analysis. It has been disregarded as a work dealing with trivial, everyday incidents in the life of a coloured woman, ignoring all the larger concerns of race and resistance. Brooks however has admitted to the novel having autobiographical elements. "Much that has happened to Maud Martha has not happened to me- and she is a nicer and a better coordinated creature than I am. But it is true that much in the story was taken out of my own life, and twisted, highlighted or dulled, dressed up or down."

During the time that the novel was published, critics did not bother to engage with the text deep enough to notice the suppressed anger beneath the seemingly calm exterior of Maud Martha. If we probe deeper into the mind of the character, we can see that she has concealed her strong feelings behind this mask of silence, trying to negotiate her way through her hapless and hopeless situation. According to Mary Helen Washington, "She has learned to conceal her feelings behind a mask of gentility, to make her hate silent and cold, expressed only in the most manipulative and deceptive ways."

As far as only gender relations are concerned, a woman’s passivity is an ideal trait of submission. Men, furthermore, require some sort of resistance from women in order to effect their subordination and domination. When the problem of race enters the picture, the question of passivity attains several more connotations. African American texts have portrayed the characters’ struggle and resistance against the atrocities based on race and gender. By adopting a passive standpoint for the protagonist, Brooks has drastically moved away from the conventional method of presenting an African American story.

Maud Martha’s passivity is complemented by a deliberate attempt to infuse this passivity into the narrative and the style of writing. All the chapters in this novella are concise and terse, leaving us with very little cues on understanding each character. The absence of a flow of thought in the musings of Maud is reflected in the discontinuous ordering of chapters in the text. The sentences are similarly kept simple and short.

She does experiences a few racial encounters through the course of her journey from the kitchenette to the outside world. Maud recollects her painful memories as a child when Helen was always the preferred one in the family. She however does not blame them. "They were enslaved, were fascinated, and they were not at all to blame." (35) It is with inconsolable grief that she recollects the incident when Emmanuel chose Helen over her.

In the chapter "home", we see Maud Martha trying to defend their family home when her sister Helen condemns it by saying, "They're [modern flats] much prettier than this old house".( 29).In response to this belittling of their domestic space, Maud Martha says nothing. "Yesterday, Maud Martha would have attacked her. Tomorrow she might. Today she said nothing"( 29-30).

When Miss Ingram utters the unpardonable "nigger" before Maud Martha and Sonia Johnson, Maud fails to understand why Sonia didn’t react to it. Had it been upon her to react, she says that she would not have insulted her in retort but she would be "gentle in a cold way"(140)She resignedly admits that she is "too relaxed to fight today’.(140)

We can see Maud Martha as belonging to the category called "The Assimilated Woman", a term which Mary Helen talks about in her essay ‘Teaching Black-Eyed Susans: An Approach to the study of Black Women Writers’. The women in this category are subject to "psychic violence" rather than physical violence. They are "more aware of their condition" and have the required potential to shape their lives, though the political environment does not let them do so. Maud Martha is not subject to any forms of harsh physical violence. The violence she encounters as far as her coloured skin is concerned is not inflicted physically. The reason that she is passive is not because she is ignorant of the social implications of having a coloured skin.

Even after she is married, Maud Martha continues to be in a subordinate state, under the control of her husband. Her attitude and language undergoes a change and she starts viewing herself from his viewpoint. She feels that the colour of her skin will affect her relationship with Paul. There is an invariable brooding over colour throughout the text. "I am the colour of cocoa straight."(53) .She feels that her dark skin is a hindrance to her relationship with Paul. According to her, "It’s my colour that makes him mad...he keeps looking at my colour, which is like a wall. He has to jump over it in order to meet and touch what I’ve got for him."(87) There is a very clear awareness of her colour throughout the novel, though she remains silent about it most of the time. She reiterates the fact that she is not "a pretty woman" nor can she give birth to any "beauty".

When she was going to give birth to the baby, all her pent-up emotions are given a vent because of the unbearable pain and frustration. She shouts at Paul, demanding attention. It is finally when the baby is born does she feel empowered.

It is interesting to note that Maud Martha does not always submit herself to a passive role, merely accepting and contended with leading an unproductive life. It is in one of these instances towards the end of the novel that Maud delivers the longest speech. She delivers this speech when she realizes that there is no other way to offer consolation to her daughter. Now, she is outdoors, free from the clutches of the restraining boundaries of home where both physical and psychical entrapments had left her helpless. She tries to tell her daughter, Paulette, that Santa Claus loves her as much as any white child. She wants to make sure that her child would not start seeking the answers for the larger concerns of life at an age when nothing should trouble or bother- "Keep her that land of blue!" (176) Throughout her life we see Maud Martha as avoiding fights where she was certain that she could do nothing, let alone have say. However, when it comes to comforting her daughter, she is ready to do whatever she can to bring back the smile on Paulette’s face.

She intermittently reveals her desire to be an artist. "To create ? a role, a poem, a picture, music, a rapture in stone: great. But not for her. That was the offering, the bit of art, that could not come from any other. She would polish and hone that. (22) Valerie Frazier in "Domestic Epic Warfare in Maud Martha" sees even the mere consideration of this possibility as revealing. Joyce Carol Oates in an article on the sexist images of woman in modernist texts talks about how women who aspire to produce art violate the stereotypically constructed images of men. The autonomy of an artist is seen as threatening and unfeminine. Maud Martha here thus adopts a radical standpoint.

She asserts herself and reaffirms her sense of self when certain situations demand her to do so. Her refusal to buy the hat, even at a discounted rate is a case in point. Another instance is where she walks out of Mrs Burns Cooper’s house, capable of identifying with what Paul endured daily, working under his boss. Her strong retaliation is evident when she wonders what Mrs Burns reaction will be when she tells her that she will never come back. "What difference did it make whether the firing squad understood or did not understand the manner of one's retaliation or why one had to retaliate?"(163)

Throughout the novella, we see Maud Martha as having the ability to see hope and ability to see hope and beauty in her everyday existence. When Maud Martha spares the mouse from death, she experiences a sense of exhilaration. Given a choice between preservation and destruction, she chooses the former. "In the centre of that simple restraint was-creation." (71) Her ability to give birth is one significant example. She is able to bring forth life in the midst of death and destruction. We need to place the protagonist as someone who believes in upholding her dignity and in valuing human existence in ways that are possible for her, in a society that chooses to discriminate.