The Ties that Bind: Female Relationships in the Works of Gloria Naylor

The relationships between women, whether familial or based solely on friendship, are almost always complicated and complex. This is especially true when the women share common experience or goals. In the novels of Gloria Naylor she explores the relationships between women and gives insight into what makes them successful. In her first novel, The Women of Brewster Place , Naylor focuses on seven women, struggling to survive in a world that has never been kind to African-Americans or women.

Their environment further complicates their lives. Brewster Place is an impoverished and threatening neighborhood. Each woman, in her own way, plays an integral part in the making of Brewster Place. The women are forced to rely on each other when the world seems to shut them out. In Naylor's second novel, Linden Hills, the other half of the economic spectrum is explored. Linden Hills is an affluent neighborhood, in which everyone living there has reached some level of financial stability. However, despite their economic success, the people are emotionally and mentally empty.

Patterned after Dante's "Inferno," as the character reach farther for the American Dream and financial success, they sink lower and lower into the pits of hell. Both novels, although quite differently, explore the female relationship. They also explore the role that environment plays in either fostering or hindering these relationships. The female characters in The Women of Brewster Place are bound by a sense of community and sisterhood that enables them to deal with the everyday pressures they face in the male-dominated society in which they live. However in Linden Hills, more affluent female population of African-Americans suffer as a result of their environment and the lack of female connections

In The Women of Brewster Place, no friendship exhibits the powerful and preserving quality of female friendship than that between Mattie and Etta Mae. The two women are allies in a common struggle and are essential to each other's survival. Throughout the novel, Mattie serves as a friend and guide to Etta. She proves that true friendship knows its boundaries and limits, yet a true friend is always there in times of need. Mattie Michael's journey to Brewster Place begins when she is a teenager. She leaves her home in Rock Vale, Tennessee because of an unplanned pregnancy and for an uncertain future.

She flees to escape her overprotective father's rage over her refusal to disclose the name of her child's father. Mattie finds herself staying with a friend for a while, but it does not last long. She eventually leaves the oppressive South and journeys to the North. Mattie moves in with Miss Eva, a kind stranger who takes in Mattie and her son Basil. Mattie's attachment to Basil grows stronger with each passing day. She is extremely protective of her son. Everything she does is for Basil. She works, cooks, and cleans so that he will have a good life. Once Miss Eva passes away, Mattie has a difficult time raising Basil on her own.

She lets him do as he pleases without consequence. Like so many women, Mattie wants to be needed. Her only desire is for Basil to need her in his life: "God had given her what she prayed for-a little boy who would always need her" (52). This desire to be needed consumes Mattie's life. It drives her to reach out to people. When Basil reaches adulthood and gets into trouble, Mattie will do anything to make things better for him. However, her heart is broken when her one true love, Basil, leaves town and she loses her house as a result of it.

The one she wanted to protect, more than anything, is the source of her suffering. This event causes great pain and sorrow for Mattie. Inevitably she is forced to move. This turn of events leads Mattie to Brewster Place, to a new beginning and a place where through her nurturing, she impacts the lives of many others, especially Etta.

Etta Mae Johnson is a longtime friend of Mattie's. She is the first person Mattie meets in Brewster Place, but she soon leaves in search of a better life, one that includes a husband. Etta is a woman who refuses to play by the rules. She is a free spirit who "challenged the right of the game to exist" (59). She rebels against everything she does not believe in. Etta and Mattie are complete opposites, yet they remain friends. When Etta Mae returns to Brewster Place she seemingly does not have a care in the world.

She appears to be confident and independent: "Slowly she carried herself across the street-head high and eyes fixed unwaveringly on her destination" (57). Etta hides behind the fancy clothes and car and tries to convince the outside world that everything is fine. She is unlike anyone else in Brewster Place. To those who do not know her, Etta appears to have it all. But Mattie knows differently. Etta is aware of the fact that Mattie knows the "real Etta." Just being in Mattie's presence gives Etta a sense of calmness and liberty: She breathed deeply of the freedom she found in Mattie's presence. Here she had no choice but to be herself.

The carefully erected decoys she was constantly shuffling and changing to fit the situation were of no use here. Etta and Mattie went way back, a singular term that claimed co-knowledge of all the important events in their lives and almost all of the unimportant ones. And by rights of this session, it tolerated no secrets. (58)

The friendship that they share is deep and real. They complement each other. There is nothing that the other does not know about. When she is with Mattie, Etta has no reason to pretend. And even if she did, it would be pointless. Mattie knows her inside and out. With Mattie, Etta is able to be herself, for a change.

Despite her ability to put her guard down and be herself with Mattie, Etta soon returns to the life she knows best. To Etta, love is like a game. She enjoys the chase and prides herself in being a "player." Etta only feels complete when she is with a man to provide her with security. She begins her search while at church with Mattie. Etta sets her sight on her newest conquest, Reverend Woods. Once again Etta is looking to a man for love and validation. She has been hurt in the past, but she continues to play the game. When Etta wants to go out with Reverend Woods, Mattie knows that it is not a good idea, but she does not say a word to her: "Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing.

There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over"(70). Mattie recognizes that at this point and time, Etta does not want her unsolicited advice. Mattie realizes that being a true friend sometimes means not doing or saying anything. Mattie allows Etta to throw herself into a false relationship with Reverend Moore. However, Etta is surprised that Reverend Moore also has ulterior motives and that he also likes to play games and he is better at it than Etta. In fact, he admires Etta's skill, but he knows the game better than she does:

He marveled at how excellently she played the game. A less alert observer might have been taken in, but his survival depended upon knowing people, knowing exactly how much to give and how little to take….Oh, yes. Let her win a few, and then he would win just a few more, and she would be bankrupt long before the sun was up. (71)
Both Reverend Moore and Etta try to use each other. However, Reverend Moore is the successful one because he leaves Etta emotionally bankrupt. When Etta comes to the realization that Reverend Moore has played her as she has played so many others in the past, she admits to herself that she is tired of the way things had been and tired of the way things continued to be. Although she appears to be looking for a man to provide for her financially, she is really in search of true love. The one thing she truly desires, to love and to be loved by someone, seems unattainable to her.

When Etta feels that she has hit rock bottom, Mattie is there to provide the love and guidance she needs. Etta knows that her night with Reverend Woods is nothing more than sex. Once again a man leaves her empty. However, with Mattie's friendship, she realizes that there is a light at the end of the tunnel: "She noticed there was a light under the shade at Mattie's window….Mattie was playing her records" (74). Mattie is waiting up for Etta when she returns from her date. She tries to listen closely to the song, but realizes that the song does not matter. It is the fact that someone is waiting up for her that brings her such joy. Etta then realizes that the love she often sought in a man was right upstairs in the love and comfort of her best friend.

Mattie cares enough to wait for Etta. The light in Mattie's window provided a way back for Etta. Etta and Mattie's lives have taken two totally different paths, yet they both find themselves and each other on Brewster Place. Mattie provides the security and comfort that Etta seeks in her meaningless relationships with men. Throughout her journey, Etta has lost herself, but when she sees the light in the window, she is led back on track. Mattie is there for Etta when she needs her. She is a true friend, and on that night, she makes a difference in Etta's life.

Mattie Michael has been hurt in the past and uses the knowledge she has acquired as a weapon of survival. She often shatters the idealistic fantasies that Etta has built for herself. Mattie often counsels Etta about her relationship choices. She tries to warn her, but in the end allows her to make her own mistakes. Etta Mae has loved one man too many. When she arrives at Brewster Place, she feels defeated. She tries to hide this by continuing to play the games that she always has, but Mattie sees through her façade. Naylor's portrayal of the friendship between Mattie and Etta exemplifies the sustaining power of the female friendship. When the love between man and woman fails, the friendship is still there. With Mattie's love and guidance, Etta Mae is forced into realizing that the love she longs for is attainable. Not only is in attainable, but it has been there all along. She finds light, love, and comfort in her friendship with Mattie.

In addition to Etta Mae, Mattie has deep bonds with other women in Brewster Place. The relationship between Mattie and Ciel goes back to a time when both were happy. As a child, Ciel lived with her grandmother, Mattie and Mattie's son Basil.. Now as an adult, Ciel also finds herself living in Brewster Place. Although they represent two different generations, Mattie and Ciel rely on one another and complement each other. Mattie has a special way with words. She does not have to say a lot or talk too loudly to get her point across: "It was rare that Mattie ever spoke more than two sentences to anybody about anything. She didn't have to.

She chooses her words with a grinding precision of a diamond cutter's drill" (91). Ciel, on the other hand, has trouble expressing what she wants to say. Her words "kept circling in such a confusing pattern before her that she couldn't seem to grab even one" (91). Naylor portrays Ciel as a child-seeking acceptance and Ciel looks to Mattie for knowledge and wisdom about how to handle situations in her life. She values Mattie's experience and often looks to her for motherly approval. And for Mattie, Ciel is like the perfect child. Mattie made many mistakes with her own son and now has the opportunity to correct those mistakes with Ciel.

Ciel's relationship with Eugene is a source of pain in her life. Ciel and Eugene have a child together, and Ciel dreams that one day they will be a real family and that Eugene will be a wonderful husband and a loving father to their daughter, Serena. Ciel's idealistic fantasy is crushed by the reality that Eugene has just lost his job and feels incapable of supporting her, Serena, and their unborn child. Ciel does not want to face the reality of her situation. She feels that she has no other options. In an attempt to keep her dream alive, Ciel aborts her unborn baby in hopes of keeping Eugene. This experience causes her tremendous grief, and she is unable to go back to her life and feel normal: The next few days Ciel found it difficult to connect herself up again with her own world.… She became terribly possessive of Serena.

She refused to leave her alone, even with Eugene. The little girl went everywhere with Ciel, toddling along on plump uncertain legs. When someone asked to hold or play with her, Ciel sat nearby, watching every move. She found herself walking into the bedroom several times when the child napped to see if she was still breathing. Each time she chided herself for this unreasonable foolishness, but within the next few minutes some strange force still drove her back. (95-96) Ciel becomes irrational and she lets her fears overtake her and consume her thoughts. Ciel knows that she has changed, but she is unable to stop herself.

Ciel reaches her lowest point when shortly after her abortion, Eugene announces that he is leaving town and is not taking her and Serena with him. She realizes that all she has done for him has been in vain. She is just about to get Serena and leave when she hears a scream. Serena has been electrocuted. While arguing with Eugene, she briefly takes her eyes off of Serena and her worst fears are realized. The death of Serena is a very tragic event that proves to be yet another shattered dream for Ciel, and once again it is caused, indirectly, by a man.

After Serena's death, Ciel is literally dying of grief and pain. She "was simply tired of hurting" does not want to live anymore (101). This is when she needs Mattie the most. Mattie and Ciel have a strong bond, similar to that between Mattie and her son Basil. The same nurturing nature that Mattie showed with Basil is apparent in her actions toward Ciel. She has a genuine desire to protect Ciel from hurt, harm, or danger: "Like a black Brahman cow, desperate to protect her young, she surged into the room, pushing the neighbor woman and the others out of her way" (103). The magnitude of Mattie's maternal love for Ciel is made evident in this single gesture. Seeing that Ciel is slowly dying, right in front of her, Mattie reaches out to her and forces her to realize what she is doing to herself. Mattie literally rocks Ciel back to life and gets her to release the pain that she has been holding inside: She sat on the edge of the bed and enfolded the tissue thin body in her huge ebony arms.

And she rocked.…Ciel moaned. Mattie rocked. Propelled by the sound, Mattie rocked her out of bed, out of that room, into a blue vastness just underneath the sun and above time….She rocked her into her childhood and let her see murdered dreams. And she rocked her back, back into the womb, to the nadir of her hurt, and they found it-a slight silver splinter, embedded just below the surface of the skin. And Mattie rocked and pulled - and the splinter gave way, but its roots were deep, gigantic, ragged and they tore up flesh with bits of fat and muscle tissue clinging to them. They left a huge hole, which was already starting to pus over, but Mattie was satisfied. It would heal. (103-4) Mattie is attempting to heal the wounds that Serena's death has left behind. Mattie then bathes Ciel and puts her to bed. This is another maternal action on the part of Mattie.

However, in his essay on Black sisterhood, Andrews points out that the bond between Ciel and Mattie is more than mother daughter; it is woman to woman. They share similar experiences. Andrews argues that "what Mattie and Ciel come to share in Mattie's act of primal mothering is their isolation, their burden of responsibility as mothers, and the loss of their children" (288). The entire process of becoming clean symbolizes Ciel shaking off her old life and all the negativity surrounds her. For so long, her life has been dependent upon what her man wanted, and it led to her destruction. With Mattie's help, Ciel is able to regroup and start over. Mattie also is able to help herself in the process: "To some degree when Mattie saves Ciel, she also saves herself, and the ritual bathing that she performs on Ciel becomes a testament to the healing powers of sisterly love and bonding, particularly in the face of a chauvinistic, male-centered world" (Wilson 48). The relationship between Mattie and Ciel exemplifies the powerful sisterhood and community that the women of Brewster Place share.

Whereas Mattie assumes the role of mother to Ciel and others, Cora Lee is a single mother struggling to raise her children. As a child, Cora Lee only wanted one thing for Christmas every year, a new doll. On her thirteenth Christmas, her father denies her a new baby doll. When her mother tells her that she already has too many in her room, Cora informs her that "they don't smell and feel the same way as the new ones" (109). Cora adopts this philosophy and soon after starts having babies of her own. She is obsessed with new babies and spends all of her time caring for the baby of the family. Once a baby becomes a toddler, she is tired of the child, and she is ready for a new baby. When her story starts, she has seven children, many by different fathers. Cora Lee has relationship with two of the fathers but both had negative outcomes, for one beat her and the other left.

The others are referred to as shadows: "And then only the shadows - who came in the night and showed her the thing that felt good in the dark, and often left before the children awakened, which was so much better…no more bruised eyes because of a baby's crying. The thing that felt good in the dark would sometimes bring the new babies, and that's all she cared to know" (113-4). In Cora's mind, the men are simply a means to an end. Cora Lee has no interest in anything except her babies. In her essay on Naylor and community, Barbara Christian suggests that Cora Lee lives "in a fantasy world, interrupted only by the growing demands of the human beings she has birthed"(112). She does not care about the men who impregnate her, only with the end results.

When Kiswana Browne comes to Cora Lee's door to tell her that one of her children has been eating out of a trashcan, Cora Lee is offended. She thinks that Kiswana is implying that she is a bad mother. However, Kiswana is simply trying to be a good neighbor. She invites Cora Lee to bring the kids to an all black production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Because she wants to impress Kiswana and show her that she can be a good mother, Cora accepts the offer. After the play, Kiswana is touched by Cora Lee's appreciation: "Kiswana was slightly taken aback by this burst of emotion from the woman" (127). After seeing the play, Cora Lee "begins to think of the possibilities for her children that are no longer babies" (Christian 113).

Kiswana's concern helps Cora Lee to see the importance of all of her children, not just the babies. She also "contributes to restoring Cora Lee's self-esteem both as a person and as a mother" (Andrews 289). Their relationship is another example of the ability of women to be there for each other in times of need when men are nothing more than "shadows." Cora Lee's new found sisterhood with Kiswana enables her see the possibility of a better and brighter future.

In The Women of Brewster Place, the women find themselves in situations in which they feel isolated from the rest of the world. They are forced to rely on one another. But they are also joined in community by loss. Every woman in Brewster Place has suffered or now suffers some loss. Yet the women Naylor writes about are not simply victims; one woman's knowledge of pain and ability to survive can be passed on to another, just as Mattie's understanding and strength help save Ciel and begin her healing. Also Kiswana's knowledge of a better life rekindles Cora Lee's belief in herself and her abilities as a mother. In The Women of Brewster Place, Naylor sets out tell the story of the African-American woman and the struggles that she endures. In each of the stories, we see a woman overcoming an obstacle with the help of the women around her.

Together the women of Brewster Place withstand the pressures of loss and pain that threaten to destroy their lives and overcome the barriers of living in a man's world. However, in Naylor's Linden Hills the female characters do not have the same types of relationships. But just as in The Women of Brewster Place, they are plagued by loss. Willa Nedeed has just lost her only child when the story begins. However, she lacks the sense of female community that exists in Brewster Place. In the Linden Hills neighborhood, every man is out for himself, in his quest for financial wealth. In her novels "Naylor understands the ways in which geography infiltrates the mind and how our identification with a particular landscape determines our understanding of ourselves and our connection to a history" (Jones par 1). Naylor establishes the importance of female relationships while showing how material success on money can prevent these relationships from flourishing.

In Linden Hills, Willa Nedeed is literally cut off from society. Her husband locks her in the basement of their house because he suspects that their child is not his biologically son. As a result of Luther Nedeed's cruelty, the little boy has died. While in the basement looking for materials to give her son a proper farewell, Willa, whose identity remains undisclosed until the final scenes, comes across remnants from the lives of other Nedeed wives. Willa first discovers the journal letters of Luwana Packerville Nedeed. It is revealed that Luwana, like Willa suffers from the isolation imposed upon her by her husband. Luwana is purchased as a slave by her husband and is considered his property. Even after they have children, he still treats her like a slave: Luther told me today that I have no rights to my son. He owns the child and he owns me. He grew terribly enraged when I ventured a mild protest, and showed me the papers that were signed over to his agent on Tupelo.

Foolish creature that I am thought my sale to him was only a formality. I thought in the name of decency my husband would have destroyed the evidence of my cursed bondage. (117) The Nedeed men have a long history of oppressing the women in their lives. Just as Luther mistreats Willa, his ancestors treated their wives with the same contempt and oppression. Willa is able to relate to the oppressiveness that Luwana encountered. Like Willa, who has just lost her son, Luwana is not allowed to be a mother to her son. Willa connects with Luwana and forms a bond with her. Although she is not physically present, the relationship between the two women provides a sustaining will for Willa.

In order to deal with her own oppression, Luwana writes letters to herself in the form of an imaginary sister. By showing the relationship that Luwana has with her "sister" and the relationship that Willa has with Luwana's letters, Naylor is depicting the need for female companionship. Because she has essentially been isolated from all of the people around her, no one bothers to notice that she is missing. Willa has no outside connection in Linden Hills and like Luwana, Willa has been kept silent by her husband. The Nedeed men desire for their women to be silent because it keeps the men in a position of power: "As Willa Prescott relives the herstory so carefully exhumed from the Nedeed's official records, we realize how the experiences of the women are a serious threat to the men's kingdom" (Christian 115)."
To minimize the threat, the women are treated as second-class citizens.

In addition to Luwana, Willa discovers the recipes of Evelyn Creton and Priscilla Maguire's photo albums. She learns how each Nedeed woman was able to cope and survive while facing insurmountable odds and very few connections to the outside world. All of the previous Nedeed women suffer at the hands of the male dominanted environments in which they live in. Through their strength, Willa is able to gain a better perspective. The ancestral links with the past become Willa's sole means of survival: "Willa finds peace when she realizes that each of her predecessors, in rejecting the status of victim, found a means of emotional survival, whether it was perfecting recipes, maintaining a journal, or merely reveling in her own beauty. Willa decides that she, too, must regain a measure of control over her life" (Wilson 65). It is then that Willa refuses to be a victim. She goes and confronts Luther. Eventually, the house catches on fires and both Willa and Luther perish as the neighbors look on without saying or doing anything.

Despite their differences, the women of Brewster Place are bound by a sense of community and sisterhood that enables them to deal with the everyday pressures they face in the male-dominated society in which they live. Friendship is perhaps one of the greatest relationships between two women. We have no say in the matter when it comes to family. But with friends, we choose who we want to let into our lives. Friendship is essential to the ties that bind the community together. Having someone that you know and trust can make difficult times easier to deal with. In Gloria Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place, all of the women have faced struggles that have led them to Brewster Place.

Despite the trials, tribulations, and adversities that these women faced, they proved to be strong-willed and determined: "They were hard-edged, soft-centered, brutally demanding, and easily pleased, these women of Brewster Place. They came, they went, grew up, and grew beyond their years. Like an ebony phoenix, each in her own time and with her own season had a story" (5). However, in Linden Hills the women are isolated from each other, resulting in their downfall. Naylor's decision to reflect the positive effects of friendship in Brewster Place, a place of low-income living, instead of Linden Hills exhibits her personal beliefs about bonding and the female relationship. Naylor is suggesting that the desire for financial gain and material wealth is detrimental to the forming of meaningful female relationships.