In Gloria Naylor’s The Women of Brewster Place I found Etta Mae’s character to be most interesting. Etta is constantly seeking male companionship, despite knowing “They were all the same” (72). She lives in through the blues songs she invokes in order to avoid the reality of her life. At best, Etta is obsessed with sex and at worst, she is a prostitute. Therefore, moving into Brewster Place and befriending Mattie, Etta no longer needs to live vicariously through song lyrics.
I especially liked her description of entering the neighborhood. As Etta looks at Brewster Place, she sees “it crouched there in the thin predawn light, like a pulsating mouth awaiting her arrival” (73). The neighborhood takes on animalistic qualities as Etta imagines it devouring her. However, it is Mattie’s companionship that encourages her to remain.
Notably, Mattie is listening to Etta’s music, which is also what Etta sees as her biography. Unlike the men who were “all meshed together into one lump that rested like an iron ball on her chest…they were breathing masses,” Mattie was a friend. At First, Etta can only see Mattie’s shadow through her window. However, this shadow gives Etta more “light and love and comfort” than any man she had slept with.
Although Etta and Mattie are not explicitly in a lesbian relationship like Theresa and Lorriane, Naylor seems to suggest that the most fulfilling relationships that a woman has are with her female friends. I think this is an important point for two reasons. First, Naylor highlights that female unity is the only means that women can improve their social position. Second, she also implies that it is difficult, if not impossible, to have a successful and positive relationship with a man.
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