34 pages • 1 hour read
Gwendolyn BrooksMaud Martha
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1953A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 28-34Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 28 Summary: “brotherly love”
World War II means that “now meat was jewelry” (152), and Maud finds herself having to butcher and dress a chicken herself. She recalls happier days before the war, when a chicken was properly cleaned for a person. She convinces herself that even the fainthearted can gut and dress a chicken, so she can do it too. She considers that chickens could be safe if people got to know them, got to see them loving their chicks, got to see them in human-like relationships, but when finished preparing the animal for cooking, Maud quickly dismisses her philosophical thoughts on chicken families and smacks her lips in anticipation of her meal.
Chapter 29 Summary: “millinery”
The scene shifts to Maud in a hat shop. The manager tries to convince Maud that a hat is just right for her but struggles to find words to compliment Maud’s appearance. They haggle down the price, but Maud decides to leave without purchasing the hat, choosing to walk away from the milliner’s shallow attempts at flattery for the sake of a sale.
Chapter 30 Summary: “at the Burns-Cooper’s”
Paul loses his job, and Maud picks one up in a hurry, taking a job as a maid for a wealthy white family. She is quickly employed by Mrs. Burns-Cooper, a woman who prefers her maids to wash the floors upon their knees rather than with mops. After giving initial instructions for the cleaning position, Mrs. Burns-Cooper then shows Maud how agreeable she is by talking at Maud about her own life, her travels, and the cost of her material possessions. When Maud is reprimanded for paring potatoes too thick, she suddenly realizes and understands what Paul has put up with daily at work. She hangs up her apron at eight that evening determined not to return despite the good wages.
Chapter 31 Summary: “on Thirty-fourth Street”
This short vignette follows Maud as she walks toward Cottage Grove. The trees are in bloom, and Maud reflects that life is generally more comic than tragic, and that “sooner or later one could find something to laugh at in almost every situation” (165). Overall, she muses, even experiencing one real tragedy in life means that a person is still doing pretty well.
Chapter 32 Summary: “Mother comes to call”
Belva comes to visit Maud, and comparisons with Helen resume immediately. Belva reveals that Helen doesn’t like to visit Maud because Maud’s lack of material objects depresses Helen. Belva also insists that Paul could likely do better for himself and find Maud a nicer apartment, but Maud insists she has everything she needs to be happy.
Helen is still beautiful but also still unmarried. She’s considering settling to marry the family doctor, who is significantly older than her and who used to be her own doctor when she was younger. Maud observes that it’s funny how siblings born of the same parents can be as different as she and Helen are, to which her mother struggles to find a sincerely complimentary response. The two women fall into general gossip.
Chapter 33 Summary: “tree leaves leaving trees”
It’s Christmastime, and Maud takes Paulette to visit Santa at a local department store. The department store Santa is rude and dismissive toward Paulette. His behavior is a clear contrast to the jolly interactions he shared with the golden-haired children ahead of her. Maud removes Paulette from the situation before the girl can finish telling Santa her wish list.
Paulette notices that she is treated differently but doesn’t draw a connection between her race and the way Santa treats her. Maud wonders how Helen or Paul would have handled seeing Santa treat Paulette so rudely. She is unable to dismiss the incident from her mind, but she is also frustrated that she hadn’t resolved it. More than anything, she hopes Paulette is not old enough to fully understand and internalize Santa’s behavior, because Maud herself isn’t ready to have that conversation with her daughter.
Chapter 34 Summary: “back from the wars!”
The war is over, and Harry returns home safe. Grateful for another beautiful day, Maud heads outdoors with Paulette. Maud is pregnant again and feeling full of life, ready for anything as the novel closes.
Chapters 28-34 Analysis
World War II is mentioned a couple of times in the novel, including the final chapter when Harry returns from battle. Knowing that Maud is born in 1917, this places her somewhere in her late 20s or early 30s as the novel ends. The vignettes near the end of the novel also return to simple slices of life. Major themes like race and status are still addressed, but the novel’s major conflicts have passed.
Working for the Burns-Cooper family is not Maud’s choice; she takes the job because she must, as filing jobs aren’t coming in quickly enough. She’s in a position where she must start working immediately to keep the family fed and rent paid now that Paul is out of a job. Her interaction with Mrs. Burns-Cooper highlights the drastic differences between the lives of wealthy white families and working-class African American families. While Mrs. Burns-Cooper talks at—not to—Maud about her own life, Maud reflects upon her own situation: “There is a pear in my icebox, and one end of rye bread. Except for three Irish potatoes and a cup of flour and the empty Christmas boxes, there is absolutely nothing on my shelf” (158).
Maud takes this job because she needs to provide for her family. Paul has failed to deliver on the lavish dreams he once promised Maud, and now he cannot even maintain their humble existence. Maud endures the situation—being talked at and forced to work on her knees—out of necessary, smiling at Mrs. Burns-Cooper but also hating her “just some” (159) for the position she’s in. Ultimately, Maud decides that the money is not worth such degradation and resolves to quit that same day. This demonstrates Maud’s bourgeoning ability to stand up for herself. While she still struggles to use her voice, such as when she reacted with silence in Sonia’s shop and in the department store, she does have the resolve to act in her own best interest. This maturation is also glimpsed at the hat shop, where Maud opts to walk out rather than passively condone the prejudice against her by buying a hat.
The sudden shift to Maud enjoying her walk down the blossoming street sharply contrasts with the tone in Burns-Cooper home, signifying that Maud has successfully left the experience behind her. The novel’s final chapters bring the focus back to Maud’s immediate family, with the penultimate chapter title hinting at a new season, foreshadowing Maud’s second pregnancy. With this revelation confirmed in the final chapter, the novel ends on a hopeful and expectant note.
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By Gwendolyn Brooks
