I really enjoyed the reading given by Gloria Naylor on her book, The Women of
Brewster Place. Naylor stated in her reading that the wall that blocked off Brewster Place
from the rest of the world and symbolized the racism and sexism that the women in the
story had to deal with. Lucielia Louise Turner, or Ceil, was one of the characters featured
prominently in her reading. Ceil was important to the story of The Women of Brewster
Place, because she experienced the racism and sexism symbolized by the wall.
Ceil valued traditions in family and she tries to hold on her sense of self. Her life
revolved around trying to keep her small family together. She wanted her daughter
Serena, to have a father in her life. Her man, Eugene, was in and out of her life. He left
her alone for eleven months, sick, with a one-month-old baby. He did not have a steady
job, and when Ceil told him that she was pregnant he seemed very unexcited about the
thought of another child. She felt pressured by Eugene to have an abortion. He didn't
want to have another mouth to feed. Although he never came out and told her to
terminate her pregnancy, Ceil did it to please him. She would have turned herself inside
out for Eugene. She lost her identity for him, her life revolved around what he wanted.
Ceil lived for the click of the lock and his, "hey baby" as he came through the door when
he would decide to reenter her life.
Ceil slowly loses her sense of self throughout the years of having to raise her daughter
with little money and a man that is coming and going as he pleases. Because Ceil was a
woman, Eugene thought that he could mistreat her. He would not make the commitment
to stay with her and left Ceil on her own most of the time to care for and support their
daughter alone. Life was hard for Ceil because although she wanted to be able to
count on Eugene, the question was always in the ...