34 pages • 1 hour read
Gwendolyn BrooksMaud Martha
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1953A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Maud Martha
Maud is the main character and protagonist. The plot follows vignettes of her life from childhood through adulthood. She is black, “the color of cocoa straight” (53), and her everyday life experiences contribute heavily to the novel’s theme about race.Maud enjoys life’s simple joys, such as eating apples in the family kitchen or watching sunsets from the back porch. She is sympathetic and often understands where others are coming from in their thoughts and actions. Her appreciation for everyday simplicities is overshadowed by disappointment in the early years of her marriage to Paul, but Maud’s endearing positivity returns by the end of the novel.
Paul Phillips
Paul is Maud’s lighter-skinned husband. He describes his own appearance as lacking fine features: “They aren’t regular. They’re heavy. They’re real Negro features. I’m light, or at least I can claim to be a sort of low-toned yellow, and my hair has a teeny crimp. But even so I’m not handsome” (54). Paul never claims to be handsome, and in this way he and Maud are similar.
Paul dreams of improving his social status. Maud recognizes him as an admirer of “the gay life, spiffy clothes, beautiful yellow girls, natural hair, smooth cars, jewels, night clubs, cocktail lounges, class” (55). He desperately wants to ascend to the social class just beyond his reach, but he proves to be a poor provider, leaving Maud to take the first available housekeeping job when he is laid off.
Helen
Helen is Maud’s lighter-skinned sister with “cool and gentle eyes” (38). Helen is two years older than Maud, and she is dainty and graceful in ways that Maud is not. She often criticizes their childhood home, although she is still proud to flaunt that her family owns a home.
Helen is a foil to Maud, meaning that their differences highlight aspects of their characters. Helen is fair-skinned and has smooth hair; Maud has darker skin and is pointedly never referred to as pretty. Maud appreciates the family home for its sentimental value; Helen mocks their father’s attachment to their old family home. Despite Helen’s beauty and charm, she’s still unmarried at the end of the novel, while Maud has a happily ordinary family of her own.
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By Gwendolyn Brooks
