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Part 1, Chapter 2: Bride
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in God Help the Child, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Inherited Trauma
Racism and Colorism
Child Abuse and Healing
Arrested Development and Unconditional Love
Summary
Analysis
Brooklyn meets Bride at an emergency clinic to pick her up and take her home. Bride is bloody, and one of her eyes is badly swollen. A nurse is startled at the appearance of Brooklyn and Bride together—one of them is a white woman with blond dreads, and the other is a Black woman with silky curls. Bride lies to Brooklyn and says a man beat her and tried to rape her before something scared him off. Brooklyn thinks it’s not even a good lie. Brooklyn knows she shouldn’t think it, but she does: if Bride is out of commission, higher-ups at Sylvia, Inc. might ask Brooklyn to take over the launch for YOU, GIRL.
Bride describes Brooklyn as someone she can trust completely, but Morrison depicts Brooklyn as self-serving and duplicitous. For example, when Bride is beaten and bloody, Brooklyn can’t stop herself from thinking about how Bride being out of work might benefit her. Brooklyn’s duplicitousness is underscored by her cultural appropriation. The way she uses Bride for her own advantage is similar to how she is willing to use Black culture and hairstyles for her own benefit.
Themes
