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8. The Block Party
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Women of Brewster Place, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Racism and Poverty
Sexism and Female Relationships
Sexuality
Motherhood
Religion
Summary
Analysis
No one mourns a street’s death. People aren’t there when it happens—they’re gone, because a street dies when the last vestiges of emotion fade from its material and its life fades from memory. When Brewster Place is condemned, its residents leave—a few to fight for access to a more privileged world, but more to inhabit another dilapidated neighborhood. Yet the women who lived in Brewster Place still dream, so Brewster Place isn’t dead yet.
After the block party, Brewster Place is condemned. This outcome suggests that the block party failed—the rain, which may have symbolized structural racism, prevented the tenants’ association from raising enough money to sue the landlord for better conditions. Nevertheless, memories of Brewster Place live on in the minds of its former residents.
Themes
