Analysis Of A Bronzeville Mother Loiters In Mississippi By Gwendolyn Brooks

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Often worn by women and girls, makeup is uses to hide or cover up what is really there. The cosmetic industry makes billions of dollars producing and advertising to women a false sense of reality. Is it more than just being beautiful or does truth lie behind the makeup? In Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem "A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon" makeup symbolizes more than a cosmetic product like lipstick or mascara; it is the representation of the fairy tale imagery. Fairy tale imagery plays a very significant role and is a reoccurring theme seen throughout the poem. Similar to makeup, it present the image of protection and maintenance for many people, however, this is especially portrayed through the …show more content…

Rescued by the Fine Prince./ The Happiness-Ever-After” (Brooks, 6-9). Every protagonist needs an antagonist. Carolyn Bryant of course being “milk white maid”, her husband Roy Bryant the “fine prince”, which leaves the young boy, better known as Emmett Till as the “dark villain.” From the beginning of the poem the fairy tale imagery is being used as a metaphor and is sustained during the whole poem. Particularly in the south, the fairy tale is seen as romantic and an adjuring imagination. By honoring the beauty and pureness of the “white” women, the white man needs to protect her from the violence or any advances from the black male, ultimately, defining the ability to maintain chivalry. Nevertheless, towards the ending of the poem there was a dramatic shift in the character Carolyn Bryant; this is when makeup begins to come into correlation with fairy tales. “The fun was disturbed, then all but nullified./When the Dark Villain was a blackish child./Of fourteen, with eyes still too young to be dirty,/And a mouth too young to have lost every reminder./Of its infant softness.”(Brooks, 24-28). Realizing the boy isn’t really her idea of a bad guy, her tone changes from being excited and happy to anger and resentment, especially towards her …show more content…

/The beautiful wife. / For sometimes she fancied he looked at her as though, / Measuring her. As if he considered, had she been worth it? […] Whatever she might feel or half-feel, the lipstick necessity was something apart.” (Brooks, 48-53). It wasn’t as though she was afraid of her husband distinctly killing a young boy or even her being partially the cause of it; it was a feeling of guilt she was trying to cover up. Her entire fantasy is distributed and destroyed, she retreat inwards and uses her makeup to create a wall to maintain the foundation of her life based upon the fairy tale imagery. For many women, makeup is an extension to certain parts of themselves. Carolyn worked so hard to maintain this ideal image of having the perfect family, being an obedient housewife, looking after her children and basically being beautiful, than watching it all fall to ruins because of individual actions. One can only put on so much make up, like a placebo, it is harmless but it really only hides and masks the reality behind it. Eventually the truth will show, whether it is someone’s natural appearance, the qualities of a family or an individual’s true

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