34 pages • 1 hour read
Gwendolyn BrooksMaud Martha
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1953A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Ordinariness of Everyday Life
Maud’s appreciation for the simple things in life is established early in the novel. Her musings over the ordinariness of dandelions as “yellow jewels for everyday” (2) demonstrate her ability to recognize beauty in her everyday surroundings. Maud relates to the dandelion’s combination of demure appearance and everydayness, which makes her character endearing.
Even though Maud dreams of New York as a young adult, she’s realistic in her expectations, knowing that her dreams are just that: dreams, not plans. Paul promises to provide all the material symbols of wealth from Maud’s New York dreams, but Maud quickly recognizes that his hopes exceed their income. The young couple quickly falls into a domestic routine, going out together and spending quiet evenings reading at home. When Maud spares a mouse she’s caught, it’s treated as a monumental event because it’s something out of the ordinary for her daily routine. Happenings as simple as catching a mouse or cleaning a chicken take on more significance in this novel, drawing attention to generally overlooked details in life. When a person rushes through purchasing a cleaned chicken, they miss the stench and slime of butchery. This narrative, though, goes into Maud’s head while she’s performing daily chores and tasks, providing a glimpse of her thoughts as she prepares meals and runs daily errands. Her thoughts are not profoundly groundbreaking but are instead relatable in their musings.
Paul expects something to propel his life forward, but Maud understands that most people’s lives follow a somewhat normal trajectory, and a life with a significant happening is uncommon. Her outlook is broader than Paul’s and goes beyond her own lifetime: “There might even come a year when no one on earth would think of him at all” (150). Maud sees life as coming and going, as a series of interactions and encounters. Even after death, life as a whole moves forward, with others continuing to live out their own lifetimes. Paul is more focused on his discontent with the present and his hopes for the future. He does not appreciate life’s simple joys the way Maud does, and he fades to the narrative’s background as Maud’s zest for life and hopeful energy return at the novel’s end.
Race and Racism
Maud first becomes intensely aware of her own race when she waits for a white boy to call on her. She recalls rumors and stereotypes about the smell of an African American home, and it sets her into action: “She sniffed a couple of times. Often it was said that colored people’s houses necessarily had a certain heavy, unpleasant smell. Nonsense, that was. Vicious—and nonsense. But she raised every window” (17). Maud recognizes that the stereotype is nonsense—even vicious—but airs out the house nonetheless, just in case. At this point in the novel, she’s an adolescent still learning who she is. She wants to deny the stereotype of a Black-smelling home, but she’s uncertain enough to open the windows before Charles arrives.
Maud takes more ownership of her race as she matures. By the time she meets Paul, she understands that “he would have liked to tell those secretly snickering ones!—That any day out of the week he can do better than this black gal” (53). Maud is darker-skinned, and Paul eventually makes her feel less desirable than a beautiful white woman; Maud is the practical choice, but she is not what he really desires. Paul’s ultimate happiness rests upon achieving higher social status, and Maud comes to see her skin color as a barrier preventing him from reaching that dream.
Interactions with white characters in the book highlight the everyday racism in Chicago at the time. Eugena Banks objectifies her Black husband as something exotic, primitive, and sexual that can be tried and then cast away. She originally envisions her interracial marriage as an adventure, but she’s disappointed as the excitement of the marriage fades. As they settle into everyday life together, Eugena faces the realities of her mixed-race marriage, such as her own family no longer responding to her, and she questions whether it’s time to end the adventure and return home.
At Sonia’s salon, Maud wonders whether the racist lipstick saleswoman realizes that “in the ‘Negro group’ there were complexions whiter than her own, and other complexions, brown, tan, yellow, cream, which could not take a dark lipstick and keep their poise” (137). Maud’s understanding of her own race develops as the novel progresses. She knows that race is more complex than a color palette, but she still struggles to confront racism when it’s in front of her.
Social Status and Material Wealth
Status is closely tied to race in this society, with lighter skin associated with higher classes. Maud and Paul both want to improve their status, but Maud’s dreams of a jeweled, polished, and poised life in New York are the fleeting daydreams of an 18-year-old, whereas Paul clings to his aspirations throughout the novel. When Paul abandons Maud at the Foxy Cats Club to dance with a beautiful white woman, Maud recognizes that his behavior is “not very promising of gems to come” (85). She’s proven correct as Paul continues striving for an elevated class standing. He ultimately fails to reach his desired status and instead falls to the other extreme when he’s laid off and Maud must support the family with a housekeeping job.
Status is also symbolized by material objects throughout the novel. David desires the material symbols of the privileged, educated white class: a good dog, good art, a nicely furnished apartment, and bookcases “filled with good books in good bindings” (46). Paul focuses on their future apartment as a symbol of the raised status he imagines for them, promising Maud a swanky flat that will be the envy of their social circle. Maud doesn’t place the same value on status or material wealth, so even though she’s disappointed by Paul’s empty promises, she still finds happiness in the simple joys of everyday life.
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By Gwendolyn Brooks
