Willaim Faulkner's "The Brooch"

William Faulkner’s short story “The Brooch” is about a man who is desperately trying to escape his mother’s control over his life. Because the story is told from the point of view of Howard, the son, the reader is able to see the mother through the eyes of Howard and get a sense of his desperation. Howard sees his mother as a controlling, possessive person who gives him no privacy. His description of Mrs. Boyd gives the reader a sense that she is not human. Mrs. Boyd knows and hears everything “that happened at any hour in the house.” Throughout the story, her words show no emotions and she is never described in any way that would allow the readers to associate an emotion to her. Her words are cold and emotionless. The description of Mrs. Boyd and her room adds to this impression that Mrs. Boyd is inhuman, Mrs. Boyd is described as “a thick woman with a face the color of tallow and dark eyes apparently both pupil-less and iris-less beneath perfectly white hair.” Just like the clock that sits on her nightstand, she has a “dead face.” The lamp beside her room gives off a “stale glow of sickroom lights.”

In comparison to Mrs. Boyd, Howard and Amy are described as emotional and human. Unlike Mrs. Boyd, the description of their actions and their words gives the readers a sense of how they feel. Readers can clear imagine how angry Howard is when he exclaims “With the—Hah!” and the actions he takes. “He stepped back and jerked the door open with something of his father’s swaggering theatricalism.” In this story, Amy is also portrayed as someone with emotions. Amy “spoke through the weeping in the choked gasping of a child, with complete and despairing surrender: ‘Oh, Howard! I wouldn’t have done that to you! I wouldn’t have! I wouldn’t have!” Unlike his mother’s room, the light in his room is not cold and stale. The fire which he makes gives off a “pulsing and gleaming” quality to his furniture. With this fire, Howard and Amy are warmed.

The narration allows the readers to get into Howard’s mind and read his thoughts. His sense of desperation is shown through the conflict between his mind and himself and his attempts to avoid his problems. Howard feels that he has no way out; he cannot escape his mother’s control. The inhuman and all-knowing description of his mother adds to this impression that Howard cannot hide or escape. Howard finally decides to commit suicide because he knows of no other way to escape his mother.