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Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Another Brooklyn, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Loss, Denial, and Grief
Friendship, Womanhood, and Support
Religion, Tradition, and Death
Racism and Classism
Summary
Analysis
August reflects that for a large part of her life, her mother wasn’t dead “yet.” Thinking back, August realizes that she and her brother could have had it worse than they did—their father could have become a heroin addict and run off with another woman, leaving them in the care of New York City’s child services. This, she knows, would not have been a happy life. She now wonders if knowing about jazz would have helped her cope with the difficulties of her childhood and adolescence, wanting to know if it would have been helpful to know that there was a “melody to [the] madness.” She notes that she came together with her friends Sylvia, Angela, and Gigi like a jazz improvisation and that it seemed like their collective song had always been playing. And yet, they knew nothing about jazz at the time.
The beginning of Another Brooklyn isn’t particularly straightforward, since August’s style of narration is often fragmented and deeply metaphorical. Because of this, it’s hard to tell what, exactly, she’s talking about when she says that for a long time her mother wasn’t dead “yet.” However, the word “yet” does tell readers that her mother dies at some point, imbuing the narrative with a sense of anticipation of the loss August will inevitably undergo. What’s more, her thoughts about jazz are somewhat elusive at this point, except that she seems to see the genre as representative of her friendship with Sylvia, Angela, and Gigi, using it to illustrate their intuitive and fluid bond. In turn, she signals to readers that her connection to these girls still looms large in her mind as an adult.
Themes
When she turns 15, August is quiet and moody, so her father sends her to a therapist named Sister Sonja. He found her through fellow members of the Nation of Islam; Sister Sonja herself is a devout member. Looking at Sister Sonja’s black hijab, August finds it hard to answer her questions—August isn’t comforted by Sister Sonja’s attempt to make August feel like her suffering is universal. Looking back, August notes that she and her brother grew up “motherless yet halfway whole.” Whereas her brother invested himself in the Nation of Islam like their father, August turned to Sylvia, Angela, and Gigi. Together, the girls helped each other navigate the challenges of growing up as girls in Brooklyn.
August and her brother grew up “motherless,” which seems to have had a significant impact on August’s entire life. To that end, her father sends her to a therapist to help her work through her emotions, but this proves unhelpful because August is unwilling to open up to Sister Sonja. This is perhaps because she doesn’t feel connected to the Nation of Islam, a cultural, political, and religious movement in which her father and brother have invested themselves. Because Sister Sonja is affiliated with this organization, it’s hard for August to relate to her. Instead, August tries to distract herself with her close bond to Sylvia, Angela, and Gigi, implying that friendship can be a vital source of support.
Themes
It has been 20 years since August last lived in Brooklyn. She has returned because her father was dying of liver cancer and he has now finally passed away. Sitting in a diner in New Jersey after burying his body, August and her brother talk about how they’re coping with the loss. Her brother offers to let her stay with him and his pregnant wife, but August declines, saying that she has no problem staying in her father’s apartment until she leaves the city once more. August asks her brother if he’s scared to become a father, and he admits that he is a little afraid, though he adds, “But I know with Allah all things are possible.”
The response August’s brother gives to her question about being afraid underscores the extent to which religious faith often emboldens people. Although he is frightened, he has committed his life to serving Allah (God), and this means that he feels comfortable opening himself up to life. Simply put, his faith gives him courage, something to lean upon in moments of uncertainty. This is an important dynamic to keep in mind as the novel progresses, since Another Brooklyn centers on August’s relationship with uncertainty and loss—two things she has to figure out how to deal with from a secular standpoint, since she isn’t religious like her brother.
Themes
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Although August declines her brother’s invitation to sleep at his apartment in Queens, she privately dreads the prospect of returning to her father’s empty apartment. At the same time, she knows that both “deep relief and fear” come along with death, and this makes her think of the ways other cultures deal with the passing of a loved one. In India, she notes, Hindu people spread the ashes of the deceased on the Ganges river, whereas the Caviteño population in Bali bury people in tree trunks. August has spent her adult life as an anthropologist studying the traditions that people from other cultures have surrounding death. Accordingly, she has seen quite a bit of death and therefore isn’t afraid of it anymore. Watching her father die didn’t frighten her, she upholds, but simply being back in Brooklyn seems unbearable.
Although August doesn’t have religion to turn to like her brother does, her anthropological interest in the traditions surrounding death in other cultures seems to help her process the idea of loss and mortality. In turn, readers see that her academic studies have—in some ways—supplanted the role of religion in her life, giving her a balanced perspective of what it means to lose a loved one. However, the notion that she finds returning to Brooklyn so unsettling suggests that there are certain areas of her life that her studies haven’t helped her process, though it’s not yet clear what these are.
Themes
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August’s brother playfully tries to convince her to settle down and devote herself to the Nation of Islam, but she sidesteps his insinuations. Focusing again on their father’s death, August begins to say that it’s good he’s no longer suffering but she’s unable to finish the sentence. She wants to comfort her brother but she can’t bring herself to say more. To fill the silence, then, her brother says, “Allah is good. All praise to Allah for calling him home.”
Again, it’s overwhelmingly clear that religion helps August’s brother process his grief. That he’s capable of accepting his father’s death by turning to his faith suggests that religion is a very powerful tool for dealing with loss, though this doesn’t help people like August who aren’t religious and must grapple with the mourning process in different, less spiritual ways.
Themes
August takes the subway back to Brooklyn. At one point, she realizes with a start that Sylvia is sitting directly across from her. While Sylvia reads the newspaper, August studies her, noticing how gracefully she has aged. Soon enough, Sylvia looks up and gazes directly at her, and for a moment, August has a flashback to the last time she saw Sylvia, when Sylvia was wearing a private school uniform and her stomach was just beginning to bulge beneath her shirt. Then, as Sylvia excitedly greets her and asks when she returned to Brooklyn, August realizes that her friend’s daughter must now be a grown woman. Unthinkingly, August stands and walks toward Sylvia, who is clearly happy to see her. Without saying anything, though, August dashes out the open subway door, getting off the train even though she knows she hasn’t reached her stop yet.
It’s not yet clear what happened between August and Sylvia. At this point, all readers know is that August has been away for 20 years, a period during which she apparently hasn’t spoken to Sylvia. At the same time, readers also know that August once looked to Sylvia and her other friends for support, turning to them to process the loss of her mother instead of depending on the Nation of Islam. However, August and Sylvia have apparently grown apart over the years despite their supportive bond—an unfortunate reminder that even the closest friendships can end.
Themes
August loses herself in memory. She remembers Angela calling her when she was in college, saying, “I only just heard about Gigi. So awful. Were you there?” Next, August recalls sitting with Sister Sonja and she remembers telling her that she spent the majority of her childhood and adolescence waiting for her mother to come back. “She’s coming,” August recalls saying to herself. “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.” She then thinks about how people treat their dead loved ones in Indonesia, where they don’t consider them fully gone until the family has saved enough money to hold a funeral. In the meantime, families dress their deceased loved ones and take them along if they go on trips, hugging them and making sure they still feel loved.
Again, August provides incomplete amounts of information about her friend group, this time insinuating that something tragic happened to Gigi, though she doesn’t elaborate further. August also recalls what it was like to deal with her mother’s absence, and though she doesn’t clarify the details surrounding this dynamic, it becomes clear that she has a hard time letting go of the people she loves. This is made especially evident by the anecdote she provides about people dressing up and doting on their dead loved ones in Indonesia—a tradition that aligns with August’s unwillingness to give up on the idea that her mother will someday return.
Themes
