Brown Girl, Brownstones
Encyclopedia
Brown Girl, Brownstones is the first novel by the internationally recognized writer Paule Marshall
, published in 1959. It is about Barbadian
immigrants in Brooklyn, N.Y.
and then in World War II
. The primary characters include Selina and Ina Boyce and their parents, who suffer from racism and extreme poverty. The book focuses most directly on the growth and development of the character Selina.
The book did not gain widespread recognition until it was reprinted in 1981.
The action opens on a discussion of the brownstone neighborhood in which the Boyce family lives. Selina Boyce, age 10, fantasizes about the white family that used to live in her house. The rented house is occupied by the Boyce family, frivolous father Deighton, stern mother Silla and Selina's older sister, Ina, as well as Suggie Skeete, a Barbadian woman who rents a room and frequently has male visitors. Additionally, a spinster woman and her mother, Maritze and Miss Mary, both white, live upstairs.
In the early pages we learn that Ina, Selina's older sister, has reached puberty and is home sick with what we can assume are menstrual cramps. Understandably, she doesn't want to talk to Selina or entertain her. Selina finds her father, Deighton, working on some accounting books he's studying in hopes of getting a job. Deighton tells Selina that he's been left a plot of land back in Barbados, and he tells her not to tell anyone about it until her mother knows. Selina asks if she can tell her best friend, Beryl, and her dad acquiesces, and gives her some money for candy.
On her way to the candy shop, Selina runs into the hyper-sexualized Suggie, as well as another neighborhood woman, Miss Thompson. She also sees Beryl in the park and asks her to stop by later. Seeing her mother coming home, Selina struggles to clean herself up, in fear of being chastised.
Paule Marshall
Paule Marshall is an American author. She was born Valenza Pauline Burke in Brooklyn to Barbadian parents and educated at Girls High School, Brooklyn College and Hunter College . Early in her career, she wrote poetry, but later returned to prose...
, published in 1959. It is about Barbadian
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
immigrants in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Plot summary
The somewhat autobiographical story describes the life of Barbadian immigrants in Brooklyn during the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and then in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The primary characters include Selina and Ina Boyce and their parents, who suffer from racism and extreme poverty. The book focuses most directly on the growth and development of the character Selina.
The book did not gain widespread recognition until it was reprinted in 1981.
The action opens on a discussion of the brownstone neighborhood in which the Boyce family lives. Selina Boyce, age 10, fantasizes about the white family that used to live in her house. The rented house is occupied by the Boyce family, frivolous father Deighton, stern mother Silla and Selina's older sister, Ina, as well as Suggie Skeete, a Barbadian woman who rents a room and frequently has male visitors. Additionally, a spinster woman and her mother, Maritze and Miss Mary, both white, live upstairs.
In the early pages we learn that Ina, Selina's older sister, has reached puberty and is home sick with what we can assume are menstrual cramps. Understandably, she doesn't want to talk to Selina or entertain her. Selina finds her father, Deighton, working on some accounting books he's studying in hopes of getting a job. Deighton tells Selina that he's been left a plot of land back in Barbados, and he tells her not to tell anyone about it until her mother knows. Selina asks if she can tell her best friend, Beryl, and her dad acquiesces, and gives her some money for candy.
On her way to the candy shop, Selina runs into the hyper-sexualized Suggie, as well as another neighborhood woman, Miss Thompson. She also sees Beryl in the park and asks her to stop by later. Seeing her mother coming home, Selina struggles to clean herself up, in fear of being chastised.