The book is divided into seven stories or chapters that are named Mattie Michael, Etta .
Mae Johnson, Kiswana Browne, Lucielia Louise Turner, Cora Lee, the Two, and the .
Block Party. This book is about the women who live in the community of Brewster Place, .
a poor Neighborhood on a dead-end street. The book displays the struggles of all African-.
American women. Throughout the novel there is a sense of sisterhood and although they .
had many differences, this is what helps them all to deal with the men who creates their .
problems. Together they can withstand the pressures of loss and pain that threaten to .
destroy their lives. In the first chapter, Mattie Michael, she refused to reveal the name .
of her unborn child's father to her parents, so to as refuge she lives with her friend, etta .
mae. Her other obstacles included living in the home of Eva Turner until she died and .
gave the house to Mattie. But mattie then loses the house when her son, Basil, jumped .
bail after Mattie used their home as collateral for his bond. Kiswana, moved to Brewster .
place with her boyfriend to organize special activities for the neighborhood and to .
protest their rent. One of the most powerful scenes is when between Kiswana and her .
mother. when her mother comes to visit they begin a conversation that turns into an .
argument about Kiswana's name change. Mrs. Browne tells why she named her .
daughter Melanie (after her grandmother), and tells the story of her grandmother's .
strengthwhen facing a group of angry white men. Other women from the building reveal .
bruises inflicted either by the men in their lives, or by the world in general. Cora Lee .
continues to have children because she wants the dependency of infants; once they .
become toddlers, neglect them. She begins to see the importance of all her children after .
she attends the neighborhood show of a black version of one of Shakespeare's plays. Miss .
Sophie is an unhappy woman that spreads gossip about her the lesbians living in the .