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Part 3
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in God Help the Child, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Inherited Trauma
Racism and Colorism
Child Abuse and Healing
Arrested Development and Unconditional Love
Summary
Analysis
Brooklyn hasn’t heard a word from Bride for weeks. Then one day she gets a note scribbled on yellow paper. Bride has written to say she’s sorry she ran away, explaining that she had been falling to pieces. Brooklyn knows that Bride is trying to find Booker. Brooklyn thinks she has a talent for knowing what other people are thinking. She only missed the mark once: when she tried to seduce Booker, and he wasn’t interested. Back then, Brooklyn thought she and Bride were the same—they both ran away from home and tried to invent themselves from nothing. But Brooklyn can’t understand why Bride has thrown away everything she’s worked for, including the “best job in the world,” for a guy.
This section puts Brooklyn and Bride’s priorities in sharp relief. While Bride thinks of Brooklyn as her closest friend, Brooklyn doesn’t seem to consider or care how her actions might impact Bride. Further, while Bride has questioned her values throughout the novel to move closer to healing and self-discovery, Brooklyn has remained static. She still considers working at Sylvia, Inc. one of the best things one could do in the world and doesn’t understand why Bride would throw away material wealth and comfort for the chance of a relationship with Booker. For Bride, though, that relationship doesn’t just represent romance but a chance to heal from debilitating childhood trauma, to live fully and stop being controlled by fear. In comparison, for Bride, the job at Sylvia, Inc. isn’t worth anything near what love might be worth.
Themes
