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Ben
Basil is Mattie Michael’s only son, the result of a casual sexual encounter with Butch Fuller in her youth. He physically resembles Butch, but whereas Butch has a carefree attitude, Basil is sullen. Mattie moves north while pregnant with Basil and decides to keep him with her rather than sending him back to his grandparents in Tennessee because she doesn’t want him growing up looking like his father in her disapproving parents’ house. As a baby, Basil is bitten in the face by a rat that creeps into Mattie’s apartment through a hole in the wall, motivating Mattie to find a new apartment immediately and leading to her moving in with Eva Turner. As Basil grows up, Mattie spoils him, teaching him to be irresponsible and dependent on her. When Basil gets in a bar fight as a young man and ends up accidentally killing the other man, Basil emotionally manipulates Mattie into putting her house up for bail even though his trial is only two weeks away and his lawyer promises he’ll be acquitted of manslaughter. While out on bail, Basil skips town. Mattie loses her house, and as of the novel’s end, she hasn’t heard from Basil again.
Basil Quotes in The Women of Brewster Place
The The Women of Brewster Place quotes below are all either spoken by Basil or refer to Basil. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
2. Mattie Michael
Quotes
It licked around the baby’s chin and lips, and when there was nothing left, it sought more and sank its fangs into the soft flesh.
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“Ya know, ya can’t keep him runnin’ away from things that hurt him. Sometimes, you just gotta stay there and teach him how to go through the bad and good of whatever comes.”
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“You sure it’s Basil who don’t want to sleep alone?”
The gentle pity in the faded blue eyes robbed Mattie of the angry accusations she wanted to fling at the old woman for making her feel ashamed. Shame for what? For loving her son, wanting to protect him from his invisible phantoms that lay crouching in the dark? No, those pitying eyes had slid into her unconscious like a blue laser and exposed secrets that Mattie had buried from her own self.
Whatever was lacking within him that made it impossible to confront the difficulties of life could not be supplied with words. She saw it now. There was a void in his being that had been padded and cushioned over the years, and now that covering had grown impregnable. She bit on her bottom lip and swallowed back a sob. God had given her what she prayed for—a little boy who would always need her.
5. Lucielia Louise Turner
Quotes
Serena gave a cry of delight and attempted to catch her lost playmate, but it was too quick and darted back into the wall. She tried once again to poke her finger into the slit. Then a bright slender object, lying dropped and forgotten, came into her view. Picking up the fork, Serena finally managed to fit the thin flattened prongs into the electric socket.
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7. The Two
Quotes
“They love each other like you’d love a man or a man would love you—I guess.”
“But I’ve loved some women deeper than I ever loved any man,” Mattie was pondering. “And there been some women who loved me more and did more for me than any man ever did.”
Get the entire The Women of Brewster Place LitChart as a printable PDF.
Basil Quotes in The Women of Brewster Place
The The Women of Brewster Place quotes below are all either spoken by Basil or refer to Basil. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
2. Mattie Michael
Quotes
It licked around the baby’s chin and lips, and when there was nothing left, it sought more and sank its fangs into the soft flesh.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“Ya know, ya can’t keep him runnin’ away from things that hurt him. Sometimes, you just gotta stay there and teach him how to go through the bad and good of whatever comes.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“You sure it’s Basil who don’t want to sleep alone?”
The gentle pity in the faded blue eyes robbed Mattie of the angry accusations she wanted to fling at the old woman for making her feel ashamed. Shame for what? For loving her son, wanting to protect him from his invisible phantoms that lay crouching in the dark? No, those pitying eyes had slid into her unconscious like a blue laser and exposed secrets that Mattie had buried from her own self.
Whatever was lacking within him that made it impossible to confront the difficulties of life could not be supplied with words. She saw it now. There was a void in his being that had been padded and cushioned over the years, and now that covering had grown impregnable. She bit on her bottom lip and swallowed back a sob. God had given her what she prayed for—a little boy who would always need her.
5. Lucielia Louise Turner
Quotes
Serena gave a cry of delight and attempted to catch her lost playmate, but it was too quick and darted back into the wall. She tried once again to poke her finger into the slit. Then a bright slender object, lying dropped and forgotten, came into her view. Picking up the fork, Serena finally managed to fit the thin flattened prongs into the electric socket.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
7. The Two
Quotes
“They love each other like you’d love a man or a man would love you—I guess.”
“But I’ve loved some women deeper than I ever loved any man,” Mattie was pondering. “And there been some women who loved me more and did more for me than any man ever did.”
