{"id":101,"date":"2025-03-26T13:56:58","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T17:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/georgianoori.com\/project-three\/content\/?p=101"},"modified":"2025-03-27T16:06:06","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T20:06:06","slug":"an-exploration-of-self-image-in-maud-martha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgianoori.com\/project-three\/content\/an-exploration-of-self-image-in-maud-martha\/","title":{"rendered":"An Exploration of Self Image in Maud Martha"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Maud Martha<\/em>, a novel by Gwendolyn Brooks, tells the story of the book\u2019s namesake and her life growing up and existing as a Black woman. Through a series of vignettes, the novel poses questions about beauty and self-worth and challenges conceptions of class and race. The novel depicts Maud Martha\u2019s journey to understand her individual identity and self-worth when she is faced with her family\u2019s favoritism of her sister, various interactions with male characters, and the strict confines of Eurocentric beauty standards. This affects the way that Maud views herself and her understanding of how much she deserves to be loved. Brooks structures the novel in a coming of age style, or bildungsroman, that allows us to see the ways in which Maud\u2019s views change throughout her life. She uses descriptive language and imagery to convey Maud\u2019s internal thoughts and reactions. Through this tactic, Brooks gives Maud\u2019s character a voice that is largely unheard by those who are actually present in her life. Maud Martha<\/em> is a novel of devastating self-realization manifested over the course of a Black woman\u2019s life and the internal struggles that she faces with societally imposed beauty standards, internalized racism, and colorism within her family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of Maud Martha\u2019s central internal battles, particularly when she is a child, is her family\u2019s favoritism of her older sister Helen over herself. Even in the first chapter of the book, when Maud is a young girl, there is evidence of her family\u2019s perceived preference of Helen: \u201cSuch as her sister Helen! Who was only two years past her own age of seven, and was almost her own height, weight and thickness. But oh, the long lashes, the grace, the little ways with the hands and feet\u201d (Brooks 2-3). From this, it is evident that Maud internalizes the interactions that have led her to believe that her sister is more beautiful and therefore more valuable than she is, even as a young child. It is never explicitly stated, but it is implied that her sister Helen is of a lighter skin tone than Maud. This is another driving force of the insecurity prompted by Maud being compared to her sister, and it continues to impact the way she sees herself throughout her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to reconcile with her family\u2019s evident preference for her sister, Maud continually recounts the many things she does for them compared to Helen\u2019s very minimal contributions. Regardless of her efforts Helen is continually favored for her beauty even though Maud describes herself as smarter and more well read than her sister. As a result, Maud continues to think that no matter what she does, her sister will always be admired far more.  More emphasis is placed on beauty than knowledge, which is particularly destructive to Maud, who prioritizes reading and school. She says, \u201cHelen was still the one they wanted in the wagon, still \u2018the pretty one,\u2019 \u2018the dainty one.\u2019 The lovely one\u201d (Brooks 34). I would argue that this treatment of Maud directly influences the way that she sees her own value as a person, and it inspires complacency within her that influences the rest of her life. This treatment alone translates into Maud\u2019s romantic relationships, her eventual marriage, and the acceptance of her fate within her kitchenette home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maud\u2019s internalization of this is manifested throughout her entire relationship with her husband Paul. She reduces herself from the beginning of their courtship with her persistent sense of inferiority to him. It is arguable that this sense of inferiority comes from insecurities about her skin color that are imposed on her by her family and those around her: \u201cShe locates the attraction of Paul as a site of battle, internalizing feelings of inferiority and doubt because she possesses African features\u201d (Frazier 136). Even from the very beginning of their relationship she thinks to herself: \u201cI know what he is thinking, thought Maud Martha, as she sat on the porch in the porch swing with Paul Phillips. He is thinking that I am all right. That I am really all right. That I will do\u201d (Brooks 52). She focuses on trying to predict what he is thinking of her, but doesn\u2019t take the time to consider what she thinks of him. She essentially views her own color as an obstacle that is preventing him from truly wanting to be with her or from being proud to be her husband. There is a tremendous amount of irony in this because Paul, too, is Black, but Maud never acknowledges this as an issue, she is only able to see her own perceived faults at this point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Maud equates her understood sense of ugliness to her darker coloring when she says \u201cPretty would be a little cream-colored thing with curly hair. Or at the very lowest pretty would be a little curly-haired thing the color of cocoa with a lot of milk in it. Whereas, I am the color of cocoa straight, if you can even be that \u201ckind\u201d to me. (Brooks 53) The word \u201clow\u201d as mentioned by Maud in the previous quote is significant in this chapter. The chapter itself is titled \u201clow yellow,\u201d and Maud uses the word low to distinguish the shade of yellow that represents her own skin. The word low, in this sense, means a darker shade. However, the use of this word is ambiguous in this particular context, as it also takes on the meaning of a lesser version of yellow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLow yellow\u201d is mentioned in contrast to \u201chigh yellow\u201d which Maud denotes as a more preferable form of the color: \u201cThen he thinks, Well, hmp! Well, huh!\u2013all the little good-lookin\u2019 dolls that have wanted him<\/em>\u2013all the little sweet high-yellows that have ambled slowly past his<\/em> front door\u2013\u201d (Brooks 53) Again, he is presumed to be desirable and worthy with no mention of what makes him so, while she is lower in hierarchy simply because of her skin tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Despite this, however, Maud maintains a certain level of her sense of self throughout the novel, and as she and Paul continue further into their marriage, this reveals itself more and more. She begins to lose the sense of inferiority that she feels towards Paul as their relationship develops into a mere tolerance of one another. This becomes apparent when the couple is reading in bed one night and Paul urges Maud to read the book Sex in the Married Life <\/em>that she has no interest in: \u201c\u2018I want you to read this book,\u2019 he said, \u2018\u2013but at the right times: one chapter each night before retiring\u2019 (Brooks 67). Maud ignores this request and proposes that she make them a snack instead, and they both eat while continuing to read their respective books. As they are falling asleep, the book slips to the floor: \u201cSex in the Married Life<\/em> was about to slip to the floor. She did not reach out a hand to save it.\u201d I interpreted the falling of the book as a symbolic event for multiple reasons. The book literally falls to the ground as Paul drifts off to sleep, while the desire for a passionate, loving marriage falls simultaneously with it. Maud does not make an effort to save it because she has no desire to read the book, nor does she have the desire to salvage any remaining (if there ever was) passion in their relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brooks uses the poetic nature of the book to include symbolism and imagery that allows for a more figurative interpretation of the text. Color imagery, in particular, is used abundantly throughout the novel to describe Maud\u2019s environment. A prominent example of this is when she refers to the color gray, particularly in reference to her husband Paul and their living situation. \u201cShe was becoming aware of an oddness in color and sound and smell about her, the color and sound and smell of the kitchenette building. The color was gray, and the smell and sound had taken on a suggestion of the properties of color, and impressed one as gray, too.\u201d (Brooks 63) I would argue that this image of grayness is a metaphor for her discontentment in her marriage with Paul just as it is a reference to her disappointment with their house. The mention of the color gray appears frequently throughout the book, even during the birth of their baby, Paulette. In contrast to this concept of grayness, in the first chapter of the book, Maud Martha is introduced as a young girl who is mesmerized by flowers, bright colors, and candy. This version of Maud is both short-lived and sweet, as her childlike wonder slowly dissipates throughout her life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, to convey the individuality and importance of each chapter, Maud\u2019s story is told through a series of vignettes. While there are connections between each chapter, there are still various moments throughout her life that are left untold. The pauses between each vignette leave space for interpretation, but they also leave gaps where a concrete answer or her own reaction to the major event might be. \u201cRanging in length from one and a half pages to eighteen pages, these tightly controlled chapters withhold information about Maud just as she withholds her feelings; they leave her frozen in an arrested moment so that we are left without the reactions that are crucial to our understanding of her\u201d (Washington 454). I would argue that through the use of vignettes, we are encouraged to view each chapter individually, and analyze them at a deeper level. The vignettes also reflect the structure of memories, and the way that we only remember certain intense moments at various capacities. Additionally, they highlight the fact that we cannot necessarily choose what we remember. Through this tight structure, we are able to see the progression of how she views herself from a young age and later into her adult life and that similar issues persist throughout her existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the use of vignettes, Brooks makes another stylistic choice that is essential to the structure of the story by outlining Maud\u2019s life as a coming of age. The coming of age style of the book allows readers to observe Maud\u2019s understanding of her place in the world as it unfolds. She begins to strive for only what she believes she deserves, a conceptualization that has been shaped by her family\u2019s behavior towards her. The novel has been distinguished particularly as an \u201cethnic bildungsroman,\u201d which is a separate variation of the traditional bildungsroman or coming of age story. \u201cThe ethnic Bildungsroman is thus a very potent genre that allows explorations of the issues of ethnicity, identity, mainstream society versus group versus the individual; it can question many common assumptions about identity formation, ethnicity, and assimilation\u201d (Bub\u00edkov\u00e1 10). This genre of Bildungsroman uses the story of an individual to combat larger issues such as racial stereotypes by acknowledging microaggressions and everyday experiences that are not as commonly recorded. An example of this would be Maud and her daughter Paulette\u2019s interaction with Santa Claus. In a moment of reflection, Maud thinks to herself: \u201cShe could neither resolve nor dismiss. There were these scraps of baffled hate in her, hate with no eyes, no smile and\u2013this she especially regretted, called her hungriest lack\u2013not much voice\u201d (Brooks 176). This takes place after Santa Claus refuses to give her daughter the same attention as the other children. Maud hereby expresses how badly she wants to prevent her child from understanding the horrors of racism and prejudice for as long as she can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, the coming of age style also allows us to see the transition from a young, unwearied Maud to an older version of herself that has become jaded by the harsh realities of her adult life. This transition becomes especially clear when Maud and Paul move into their first and only home together. Maud is initially enthusiastic about their new apartment, and she makes plans for how she intends to arrange it. However these plans are extinguished when she discovers that \u201cthe Owner would not allow furniture to be disturbed\u201d (Brooks 62). This news rids Maud of any desire to make the house more desirable or even to care about it at all. Feelings of disappointment are a common thread throughout the book that further outline the contrast between child and adult Maud. At the beginning of the book, we see childhood Maud who knows \u201cwhat she liked and what she would have liked,\u201d however, the harsh reality of her adult life creates a version of Maud who slowly loses the will to strive for more than what little she has. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maud Martha <\/em>outlines the story of a woman who gradually loses her lust for life as a result of the poor treatment inflicted on her by those closest to her. In doing so, the novel gives a voice to a character who is continually torn down by her loved ones and diminished by the strict confines of beauty standards that also influence those who hurt her. The structure of the novel allows us to see her perspective shift as a result of the harsh realities of life, which highlights the extremities of this drastic change and urges us to sympathize with Maud. In turn, I would argue that we begin to mourn the loss of what Maud deserved when we are faced with what her life turned out to be. Maud\u2019s image of herself is distorted by her family\u2019s favoritism of her sister when she is a young girl, and I contend that this threat to her self esteem alone is what sets the trajectory for the rest of her life. Despite the ways in which these factors were detrimental to Maud\u2019s self image, it is important to recognize the societal issues that influenced the perpetrators of Maud Martha\u2019s pain. The book has an underlying message of the entrapping nature of poverty, and the ways in which minority groups internalize racism. Both of those issues affect the other main characters as well, but in less direct ways. While Maud is the primary victim in this story, the other characters cannot and do not remain unscathed by these societal issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Works Cited<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bub\u00edkov\u00e1, S\u00e1rka . \u201cMaud Martha and the Tradition of the Ethnic Female Bildungsroman.\u201d Litteraria Pragensia: Studies in Literature and Culture<\/em>, vol. 21, no. 41, 2011, pp. 7\u201321. Literary Reference Center Plus<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Valerie Doris Frazier. \u201cDomestic Epic Warfare in Maud Martha.\u201d African American Review<\/em>, vol. 39, no. 1\/2, 22 Mar. 2005, p. 133. Accessed 30 Nov. 2023.Washington, Mary Ellen. \u201c \u201cTaming All That Anger Down\u201d Rage and Silence in Gwendolyn Brooks\u2019 \u201cMaud Martha.\u201d\u201d Massachusetts Review<\/em>, vol. 24, no. 2, 1983, pp. 453\u2013466. JSTOR<\/em>, www.jstor.org\/stable\/25089444.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Here are two illustrations I made for a visual essay I created with elements of Maud Martha, the first illustration is a representation of Maud and her sister whom she always compared herself to, the second image is an illustration of Maud identifying herself as a flower and comparing herself to other flowers<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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“We don’t ask a flower any special reason for its existence.\u00a0We just look at it and are able to accept it as being something different from ourselves.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Gwendolyn Brooks<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maud Martha, a novel by Gwendolyn Brooks, tells the story of the book\u2019s namesake and her life growing up and existing as a Black woman. Through a series of vignettes, the novel poses questions about beauty and self-worth and challenges conceptions of class and race. The novel depicts Maud Martha\u2019s journey to understand her individual […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-literature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgianoori.com\/project-three\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgianoori.com\/project-three\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgianoori.com\/project-three\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgianoori.com\/project-three\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgianoori.com\/project-three\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/georgianoori.com\/project-three\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":188,"href":"https:\/\/georgianoori.com\/project-three\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions\/188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgianoori.com\/project-three\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgianoori.com\/project-three\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgianoori.com\/project-three\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgianoori.com\/project-three\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}