The Men of Brewster Place

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1998

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-8

Chapters 9-10

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 9-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 9 Summary: “The Barbershop”

The “heartbeat” of Brewster Place is the barbershop known as “Max’s place.” Even though there’s no explicit rule banning women, only men congregate at the shop. Ben goes once a week, even if he doesn’t need a haircut, to talk with the other men. The “barbershop politicians” have three subjects on their agenda: “white men, black men, and women” (158). They complain about how black men get blamed for white men’s failures and discuss how women are a total mystery.

One of the only things to slow the men’s talk was Greasy, a man who had lost his job, family, and mind to a crack addiction. Max cut his hair for free. Some days, Greasy became agitated, pounding on his chest and shouting, “I am a man” (160). On other days, he responded to every comment directed at him by saying, “I’m trying.” Max always served Greasy, believing that “every man is entitled to a shave and a haircut” (161), but he tried to do the job quickly before Greasy got upset.

Ben reflects that the chairs in Max’s barbershop are full of “sad stories,” not just Greasy’s. The chairs might tell some of the sad stories Ben has collected over the years, like the time he saw Basil coming to look for Mattie or when he saw Eugene before his daughter’s funeral. None of the other men at Max’s saw Greasy’s pain. Instead, “they were so busy judging and feeling superior […] that [they] forgot he was [their] ‘brother’” (163).

One day, Greasy showed up at the barbershop while the men talked about the usually long and hot summer. His clothes were cleaner than usual, suggesting that he had recently stayed in a shelter. Henry, Max’s partner, cleared his chair for Greasy, but suddenly, Greasy seized Henry’s straight-edge razor and held it to the barber’s throat, repeating, “I am a man” (167). The men spoke to Greasy “as if they were cooing to a baby” (166), affirming, “You’re a man” (166). Greasy let Henry go and, before anyone could stop him, slit his own throat. Blood sprayed across the shop and the assembled men.

The barbershop was closed for a week, and when it reopened, none of the men mentioned Greasy. All of them had to go home, wash his blood off of them, and “lie to [them]selves that it wasn’t [their] fault” (166), but Ben knows that their ostracization of the man played a role in his death. Now, Brewster Place is slated for demolition, but Max is committed to keeping the shop open as long as possible. It is “the only place for […] men to get together, look into each other’s eyes and see […] that [they] do more than just exist—[they] thrive and are alive” (167).

Chapter 10 Summary: “Dawn”

With all of Brewster Place slated for demolition, Abshu walks down the dark, empty street. There is silence except for the sound of Brother Jerome’s blues coming out of a window. Abshu wants the music to stop so that the street can “go in peace” (172), but the sound carries on as Abshu spends the night sitting on the stoop of his childhood home, wondering if there is more he could have done to save the place. However, he knows that “even with a million men they could not hold back the dawn” (172). Abshu believes that “the war” isn’t lost, even if this battle has been. He is a “tired warrior” but “the best that Brewster Place has to offer” (173), and he will keep fighting for the future.

Chapters 9-10 Analysis

Following the structure of The Women of Brewster Place, “The Barbershop” breaks from the convention of devoting a chapter to a single character and describes the community of Brewster Place. Max’s barbershop is one of the few places where Black men in the community can come together and support one another. However, Greasy’s death illustrates the cracks in the community and the distance that exists between the men despite their common struggles. Ben describes how the barber’s chairs are full of sad stories. He isn’t sure if they can be called “any man’s blues” (161). Still, he says, “You can definitely call it the black man’s blues” (161), indicating their group identity and shared experience living in a racist, patriarchal society.

Throughout the text, the male characters are concerned with defining, proving, and asserting manhood as prescribed by white society. However, due to systemic racism and oppression, many markers of masculinity are out of reach for poor Black men who have few opportunities to exercise responsibility, maintain dignity, or achieve economic stability. This demonstrates the theme of Performative Masculinity and the Impact of Systemic Racism. Greasy, with his stock phrases “I’m trying” and “I’m a man” (160, 166), embodies this striving and the damage done to Black men’s identities as they seek to achieve ideals of manhood defined by a society that continues to oppress them. When men get “sick and tired of being sick and tired” (161), they end up “like Greasy.” Because the men’s struggles are framed as personal failures, they feel ashamed of their shortcomings, which isolates them from other Black men. In this isolation, they failed to recognize Greasy’s suffering and understand the shared nature of their experience.

The Women of Brewster Place also ends with a death following the brutal rape of Lorraine, a lesbian woman, who is marginalized and ostracized even within the community of Black women. However, in the end, the women come together to tear down the physical and metaphorical barriers that trap them in Brewster Place, representing the power of community in the face of adversity. In Men, on the other hand, the men fail to come together and support one another. They are physically and metaphorically connected by Greasy’s blood, which “sprayed […] on every man in the shop” (166). Still, when the barbershop reopened, the men didn’t discuss Greasy’s fate, suggesting that their isolation wasn’t broken by the experience.

The novel’s closing chapter, “Dawn,” echoes this isolation. Abshu is the image of the future, sitting alone on the empty street, bidding goodbye to Brewster Place. Abshu’s character, with his determination to work toward a better future, along with the image of the coming dawn, has a sense of hope and optimism. However, he is still alone, “one man against the dawning of the inevitable” (172), suggesting that the Black men of Brewster Place remain isolated. This image connects the themes of performative masculinity and the impact of systemic racism, Community and Isolation in Individual Survival and Success, and Coping With Pain and Loss.