The Brown Girl
The title character is a young African American girl who has died. No information is provided which lends any context to the manner of her death. Nor, for that matter, is there any explicit information about just how young she was other than the reference to her in the title as a girl.
The first stanza refers to her as a Dark Madonna, however, and the allusion to the Virgin Mary along with the imagery of white candles, roses and attire strongly hint that she was still young enough to be completely innocent of the darker experiences of life, including still being a virgin.
The lack of any specific name results in her identity being integrally connected to race. That she is referred to simply as a brown girl who has died carries very strong overtones of racism even if subtly implied. The lack of a name or any other identification is indicative of her anonymity within white society. The specific referencing of her by the color of her skin serves to further underline the unspoken racism being addressed.
The Mother
The girl’s mother is the only other character mentioned explicitly. She is also nameless, and the only contextual information provided is that she pawned her wedding ring in order to raise the money to afford the two white roses and two white candles ritualistically displayed during the funeral services.
Significantly, she is characterized as believing that her daughter would have been proud of the way that her mother chose to present her for the funeral service. The very fact that she was willing to pawn such a deeply personal item as a wedding ring to afford an ostentatious burial presentation illuminates the depth of love the mother feels for her daughter.
The vision of the daughter dancing and singing at this portrait of her burial service can be interpreted as the mother imagining what her daughter’s reaction would be if she could somehow see it for herself. In this interpretation, the mother views the expensive white additions to the scene as a positive attempt at a symbolic integration of the race. It may well be that her choice to specifically juxtaposes the brownness of her daughter with the whiteness of the candles, roses, and dress is a naïve but optimistic expression of hope for the future.
The Speaker
The speaker remains completely unidentified and anonymous, but his presence is contextually integral to understanding the poem’s allusive meaning. In the absence of any direct description of the speaker in a poem, is natural and logical to assume the speaker’s voice and perspective are a stand-in for the poet. Thus, interpretation of such a poem is appropriately commenced from whatever information about the poet is useful for developing the speaker’s perspective.
Countee Cullen is an African American poet whose work is defined by his focus on race relations in general and specifically the way in which racism impacts black society. Within this historical context, the focus on the mother sacrificing her wedding ring to buy specifically white roses and candles for display should be viewed ironically rather than optimistically.
The interpretation of the speaker as a voice of ironic commentary resituates the image of the girl dancing and singing at the sight of her mother’s inclusion of so much whiteness accompanying her funeral. Instead of this image originating in the mother as a sincere belief in the pride her daughter would exhibit, it becomes a vision originating in the narrator, and his use of the word “proud” becomes sardonic, Thus, the image of the girl dancing is a sarcastic negative commentary on her own recognition of her mother’s misguided acceptance of the superiority of white society.
