Brown Girl, Brownstones" by Paule Marshall explores problematic love relationships between characters. The novel follows Selina Boyce from age 10 to her early 20s as she develops and struggles with her identity between her father and mother's influences. Selina receives little love from her mother Silla, who is ambitious and works hard to own a home and provide for her daughters, causing tension. Selina also experiences failed love relationships, including with her father Deighton, who neglects the family, and her boyfriend Clive, who chooses his mother over Selina. Through Selina's journey of self-discovery, the novel examines the complexities of identity, love, and the immigrant experience amid poverty and war.

1. “Authors carefully craft there narrative to address problematic love relationships.”
With reference to Paule Marshall “Brown Girl, Brownstones”, discuss the extent to which you agree
to the statement.
"Brown Girl, Brownstones" is the first novel by the internationally recognised writer Paule Marshall,
published in 1959. It is about Barbadian immigrants in Brooklyn, New York. The New Yorker
magazine comments on the novel as “Remarkable for its courage, its colour, and its natural control”.
“Brown Girl, Brownstones” is also one of the first African American novels to accurately portray the
complexities of African American mother-daughter relationship. Marshall does not limit her
narrative to the exploration of one specific theme; however, is deployed in the treatment of other
specific concerns such as the searching for identity, love relationships, the effects of poverty, religion
and war. She also uses the literary and structural devices to reinforce and deploy her themes and
concerns.
“Brown Girl, Brownstones” is a bildungsroman, a novel about the creation of a person's identity, in
this case, young Selina Boyce is followed from the time she's about 10 until her early twenties.
Marshall engages in the third person omniscient narrative technique which allows the reader to
glimpse inside the minds of all the various characters. Marshall organises the novel into four Books;
namely, ‘A Long Day and a Long Night’, ‘Pastoral’, ‘The War’ and ‘Selina’. Within each book, expect
for ‘Pastoral’ there is a minimum of 6 chapters. Such chapter organisation systematically shows the
development of problematic love relationships between Selina and Silla, Deighton and Silla, and
Selina and Clive.
Selina Boyce, born to Deighton and Silla Boyce is caught between a rock and a hard place as she
searches for her individual solidarity. Essentially, through this technique we’re allowed to enter her
mind to understand the factors that cause her such a search for her solidarity. They also have an
older daughter, Ina Boyce who is much of a flat character to the narrative. Selina fears her mother
and as a child did not get much attention because was always working and coming in late. In an
interview with Melody Graudlich and Lisa Sisco where Marshall was questioned about her works she
mentioned ‘Daughters’ and made reference to ‘Brown Girl, Brownstones’ as both narrative share a
protagonist who receives insufficient mother-daughter love and seeks it elsewhere. In Selina’s case
she received motherly guidance from Miss. Thompson the lady who rents a room in the
Brownstones house she lives in. Miss. Thompson is the character that supplies unconditional love to
the protagonist who has derived from Marshall’s own experience as a child. Also during Silla’s
absence Selina looks to her father for love .Silla wishes nothing but the best for her children,
especially Selina as she wants her to become a doctor. However, Selina refuses this dream her
mother has and it causes problems between her and Silla’s, surpassingly mother to daughter love
relationship.
Silla embodies the American dream of Barbadian immigrants which is to own a Brownstones house.
She's ambitious, independent, strong and determined to provide a better future for her daughters.
Deighton loves his daughter, especially Selina because she does not question him, at least not at
first. He wants to be a big man above everything else so he can return to Barbados a rich man. To do
so he routinely studies various correspondence courses in hopes of landing a job that pays big
money. Marshall deliberately structures differences between Silla and Deighton to reveal the

2. conflicting models on which Selina struggles to shape her own identity, both through acts of alliance
and rejection. As the novel progresses, Selina develops both physically and mentally and becomes
torn between love and loyalty to her father and the fear of understanding her mother. Once she
recognises the complexity of her mother’s motivation for her actions, however, neither one of these
models of ethnicity is the one she adopts.
In the book entitled ‘The War’, Marshall reaches the climax of the conflict between Silla’s and
Deighton’s dreams and aspirations. First, Silla schemes against Deighton and sold a piece of land he
had received from a deceased family member. Later, Deighton neglects his family and his patriarchal
duties as he blindly follows the preaching of a cult leader, Father Peace. It is here Selina loses her
love for her father. In an interview Marshall states that “‘Brown Girl, Brownstones’ is about, the
death of love.” This is so as Silla schemes against Deighton and sell the only piece of wealth he had,
acquires a Brownstones house which she turns into a high price rooming house after chasing out the
old tenants. Eventually, this will cause her to lose her daughters, husband and her spirituality.
Through her growth, Selina becomes more and more like Silla, she's as smart and is as driven to
achieve her goals. After losing her father Selina gives in to her mother’s dreams and attends the
Barbadian Association which was form. Selina’s intimate relationship with Clive an ex-solider comes
to an end when a problem between he chose his mother over Selina when she most needed him.
Although, this was foreshadowed when Selina first met him and in failing to read his palms said “you
have no fortune”. In an act of developed rebellion, she effectively destroys her relationship with
her mother by admitting she intended to run off with Clive after winning the scholarship prize. This
leaves Silla alone with her newly acquired brownstone as well as her guilt, and Selina with the task of
coming to terms with strong, ambivalent feelings toward her mother and her own West Indian
American heritage.
Throughout the novel Marshall allows the readers to see major problematic love relationship
between Deighton and Silla, Selina and Silla and Selina and Clive which is caused by the effects of
poverty, religion and war. Marshall has carefully crafted ‘Brown Girl, Brownstones’ as not only
limited to the exploration of one specific theme but has deployed it in the treatment of other
specific concerns.