Mothering modes: analyzing mother roles in novels by twentieth-century United States women writers

Brown Girl, Brownstones emphasizes how the black community, its customs and 
mores, affects the process of the black woman’s exploration of self. But 
Marshall’s novel also stresses the importance of culture and language as contexts 
for understanding society’s definitions of man and woman. She veers sharply 
away from much of the preceding literature, which emphasized advancement for 
black women in terms of white American values. She portrays the Barbadian-
American community both as a rock her characters can stand on, and as the 
obstacle against which they must struggle in order to understand and develop their 
own individuality. (“Trajectories” 240)
When no common ground can be reached in her struggling relationship with Deighton, 
the ethnic community becomes Silla’s “saving grace.” She knows that she can depend on 
their support as long as she acts within their system of beliefs, especially their economic 
beliefs. 
Silla’s ability to provide her children with a home of their own is hindered by the 
stressful situation that her husband Deighton causes for their family. Similar to Katie’s 
marital problem, Silla’s problem with Deighton is also financial. However, Deighton is 
not unemployed by any means. Mary Helen Washington points out: "These transplanted 
Barbadians are an employed, literate, ambitious, property-owning, upwardly mobile, 
tough community of first-generation immigrants. Not one person in this novel is 

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unemployed" (“Afterword” 312). Silla does not like the financial decisions that Deighton 
makes at all. He works at the mattress factory steadily but squanders much of his money 
on his mistress and on his wardrobe and cologne, while Silla works as a domestic in the 
homes of rich whites (and later in a machine factory) and struggles to save money in 
order to buy the brownstone in which they live. Silla describes Deighton as “ ‘one man 
[who] don know his own mind. He’s always looking for something big and praying hard 
not to find it’” (Marshall 22). Barbara Christian writes the following about the Boyce’s 
marriage and the external forces by which it is negatively affected: “Marshall shows that 
racist and sexist ideology are intertwined, for Silla’s and Deighton Boyce’s 
internalization of the American definition of a woman and man runs counter to their own 
beings and to their situation as black people in American society, and precipitates the 
tragedy that their relationship becomes” (“Trajectories” 239). The American ideal of 
economic upward mobility is to what Silla clings, but Deighton does not. Because of this 
conflict, Silla ignores his beliefs and desires and denies him the right to make any 
decisions regarding their family’s financial state. She eliminates his position as a 
marriage partner and as a parent. Her treatment towards him results in a more intense 
conflict between Silla and Selina. 
What initiates the tragedy that their relationship becomes is their battle over 
Deighton’s land. He inherits land from a relative in Barbados and wants to keep it. Silla 
schemes to sell his property and use the money to buy the brownstone. Deighton’s 
retaliation is never forgotten. Different from Johnny, Deighton is totally disregarded by 
the community because of his actions. Selina closely witnesses the community's rejection 
of her father. After Deighton squanders the money from Silla's sale of his land, he is 

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literally excommunicated from the Barbadian community. As he attempts to join his 
family at Gatha Steed's daughter's wedding, "[Their] eyes condemned him and their 
voices rushed full tilt at him, scourging him and finally driving him from their presence 
with their song, 'Small Island, go back where you really com from!'" (Marshall 150). He 
is considered a hindrance to his family's financial progress, so the community supports 
Silla, regardless of the fact that she steals Deighton's land. Marshall scholar, Joyce Pettis, 
accurately comments on Deighton’s expulsion: “The New York Barbadian community, 
united in its absorption in the American dream, symbolically rejects Deighton as does the 
capitalist system” (228). Silla becomes a perfect symbol of “the destructive might of the 
West over [the] noncompetitive geographical entity,” which Deighton’s Barbadian ideals 
represent (Pettis 228). The Barbadian community acts like a gang of communal judges, 
and they convict and sentence Deighton for his actions. 
Their battle goes from community involvement to Selina’s involvement. The land 
battle, which would seem to destroy the family, actually reshapes the family. Selina and 
her sister are literally dragged into the middle of this battle between marriage partners. 
Here, the issue of the mother-daughter conflict and how it shapes the relationship of Silla 
and Selina is important. Concerning Selina’s struggle, Carole Boyce Davies writes in 
Black Women, Writing and Identity: Migrations of the Subject