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Chapter 1
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Another Brooklyn, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Loss, Denial, and Grief
Friendship, Womanhood, and Support
Religion, Tradition, and Death
Racism and Classism
Summary
Analysis
August’s mother starts hearing the voice of her dead brother, Clyde, when August is eight years old. The family still lives together at SweetGrove, which is what they call their property in Tennessee. Soon, though, their father brings August and her brother to live Brooklyn, leaving their mother behind. From their third-floor apartment, the two siblings look out the window, gazing down at the streets as other black people go about their lives. Although Tennessee becomes a distant memory, August continues to think about her mother, confident that she will soon join them. To comfort her younger brother, August assures him that their mother will be coming soon, saying that she’ll be there “tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.”
In this passage, August goes back in time to narrate the circumstances surrounding her mother’s absence. She implies that her father takes her and her brother to Brooklyn because of their mother’s mental instability, which is why August hopes as a child that her mother will someday become well enough to join them, though there’s no indication that her father has told her this is a possibility. This is why she promises her brother that their mother will come “tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow,” a phrase that—though comforting in some sense—acknowledges the fact that she might ever arrive. Still, August clings to the idea of her mother’s return as she settles into life in Brooklyn, which is undoubtedly different than her experiences in rural Tennessee. It’s worth noting that everyone in August’s new neighborhood appears to be African American like her and her family—although Woodson doesn’t emphasize the point very much, readers will perhaps notice the novel’s subtle interest in Brooklyn’s racial dynamics. The novel takes place in the 1970s, a time during which Brooklyn experienced shifts in the racial demographics of its population. That August lives in a predominantly black neighborhood reflects these shifts, and Woodson will continue to subtly explore this dynamic as the book progresses.
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Themes
The first summer that August and her brother live in Brooklyn, their father doesn’t let either of them leave the apartment on their own, so they press their faces against the window and watch as other children play in the streets. In particular, August notices Sylvia, Gigi, and Angela and she becomes envious of their close friendship, wanting badly to join their tight-knit group. This makes her think about how her mother always told her to be wary of cultivating close female friendships because other women can’t be trusted. Despite this, August can’t help but feel as she watches Sylvia, Angela, and Gigi that there is something meaningful about their bond. In keeping with this, the closeness August observes between these three girls makes her painfully aware of the lack of connection she has to her father and brother, who are themselves intimately connected to each other.
When August envies the closeness between Sylvia, Angela, and Gigi, she laments the absence of meaningful interpersonal connection in her life. This is partially the result of her father’s unwillingness to let her leave the apartment to forge new friendships, but it’s also a byproduct of the unfortunate fact that she has been deprived of a strong mother-daughter bond. Whereas August’s father and brother enjoy a close relationship, she finds herself on her own. Though August’s mother has warned her about becoming close with other women, she can sense that this is an unwarranted worry, one that clearly wouldn’t stop her from reaching out to the girls on the other side of the window if given the chance.
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While watching Brooklyn from the window that summer, August notices a number of white families packing up moving vans and leaving the neighborhood for good. Meanwhile, August and her brother continue to pass the time while their father works at a department store. Sometimes, a young boy outside winks at August as she peers out at him, and she wishes more than anything that she could go outside. Still, August’s father doesn’t let her, afraid that the world outside the apartment is simply too dangerous for his children. Having grown up in Brooklyn himself, he is confident that they shouldn’t be on the streets without him, insisting that the world isn’t as safe as people think. “Look at Biafra,” he says. “Look at Vietnam.” Still, August can’t help but think that Sylvia, Angela, and Gigi look safe when they walk by with linked arms.
While walking to church one morning, August, her father, and her brother are stopped by a man in a suit who tells them that he has been sent to them in the name of Allah. He says he has a message for August’s father, whom he calls his “beautiful black brother.” Looking at August, he notices that her clothing doesn’t cover her legs and says she should be fully covered because she is a “black queen” whose body is a temple. At this, August feels incredibly exposed, thinking that her legs are too long and her dress too short.
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One evening, August’s brother leans so hard against the window that the glass shatters, slicing open his forearm. Instantly, their father swoops into the room and picks up him up, and they rushes to the hospital where a nurse gives August wafers while she waits. Thinking back, August remembers that her mother insisted Clyde didn’t really die in Vietnam, believing that the military was wrong when they told her he’d been killed in the war. When the nurse at the hospital tells August that her brother is going to be fine, she remembers her mother saying, “Clyde is fine.” In the days after August and her brother return from the hospital, August no longer wants to look out the window, even when her brother yells to her that the girls are outside again. Instead of paying attention to this, she thinks about how badly she wants to see her mother.
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