Gwendolyn Brooks, Maud Martha: Beauty in Color

Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks, “Maud Martha” and Societal Perception of Skin Deep Beauty

“was spurned by members of her own race because she lacked social or athletic abilities, a light skin, and good grade hair.” (Galegroup.com)

Gwendolyn Brooks throughout her life had to deal with this belief that black is not beautiful. The overcastting notion that an African American woman that has “Negro features” is not beautiful is confronted in her novel “Maud Martha”. “Maud Martha” is a series of vignettes that captures snapshots of a black woman’s life from childhood to motherhood. Brooks examines the black woman and the people in her environment, which is laden with poverty and discrimination. Although this novel examines the many flaws of human nature from racism, sexism, and classism, the attempt of this paper will be to examine the discrimination due to appearance placed on Maud Martha within her microcosm. However there are some parallels between Maud Martha and Brooks which seems to suggest that this novel is a “thinly disguised autobiography” that relays Brooks’s sentiments into written form. Brooks and her character in the novel, both from a very young age experience discrimination and allow for a bitter sentiment to ferm

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Displacing the negative mental energy focused on her demeanor, Brooks turned it into a driving force to propel her into becoming one of the greatest writers of all time. ” (Brooks, 1692) Then to go on and find warmth and comfort at the end of the novel through the sun and nature, after it is revealed she does not have a tumor.

Brook’s, one of the most influential writers of all times is a Chicagoan who grew up on the South Side and eventually lived in a “kitchenette” with her husband. Brook’s herself was not far behind her character Maud Martha when she wrote this novel in 1953. One of her revelations is that “life was more comedy than tragedy. (Shaw, 173) However, she then laments having to go back to her “kit’n’t apt. Brooks in reality never had a sister, but perhaps creates Helen, Maud Martha’s sister, to symbolize how closely and intimately she had to deal with this issue throughout her life. She says, “He gets awful tired of all that jumping”, maybe fearing that one day he will leave her. ” She says, “sooner or later one could find something to laugh at in almost every situation. Also he never thinks that any boy that Helen is dating will ever be good enough. ” (Shaw, 173) Her fault-finding within her life was further continued by making statements that makes her inferior to her husband. ent into a reverberatingly conscious state. Stating that “it’s my color that makes him mad.

Approximate Word count = 1476
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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