18 pages • 36 minutes read
Gwendolyn Brooksthe rites for Cousin Vit
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1949A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“Sadie and Maud” by Gwendolyn Brooks (1945)
In her well-known lyric poem “Sadie and Maud,” Brooks also highlights unconventional women. In this poem, Sadie lives a life like Cousin Vit. Like Cousin Vit, Sadie is “one of the livingest chits / In all the land” (Lines 7 -8). Similar to “the rites for Cousin Vit,” Brooks uses peculiar language: A “chit” is a British word for an unruly, disrespectful young woman. The word could also apply to Cousin Vit. As with hysterics, it appears as if Brooks repurposes “chit” and makes the pejorative term a compliment. Maud, in a sense, is the opposite of Sadie and Cousin Vit. Maud abides by norms and winds up “a thin brown mouse” (Line 18) and “living all alone” (Line 19) in an “old house.” (Line 20). Her life is neat and lacks energy and, presumably, happiness.
“the mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks (1945)
“the mother” is one of Brooks’s more controversial poems. In “the rites for Cousin Vit,” Brooks arguably alludes to abortions. In “the mother,” Brooks explicitly addresses them. The first line reads: “Abortions will not let you forget.” In this poem, the speaker is the mother. Even though she has had abortions, she still considers herself a mom: “You remember the children you got that you did not get” (Line 2).
“Lady Lazarus” by Sylvia Plath (1962)
In “Lady Lazarus,” Sylvia Plath presents a speaker who has something in common with Cousin Vit. Both women possess the power to cheat death and live. Plath’s speaker compares herself to a cat: “I have nine times to die” (Line 30). Both women rise out from under death. Cousin Vit “rises in the sunshine” (Line 6), and Plath’s speaker rises “[o]ut of the ash” (Line 82) with her "red hair" (Line 83). Both poems utilize irony and alliteration. They each present powerful women who upend conventions and norms, with Plath’s speaker forcefully declaring: “I eat men like air” (Line 84). However, critics consider Plath’s presentation of death controversial due to her use of Holocaust imagery. Plath wasn’t Jewish and had no direct connection to the genocide of Jewish people in Europe during World War Two.
Further Literary Resources
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (2005)
In “the rites for Cousin Vit,” Brooks uses personification to give death a body and a bit of personality. Death is somebody who tries and fails to keep Cousin Vit under their domain. In Zusak’s novel about a girl trying to survive World War Two and Nazi-occupied Europe, death has a personality and becomes Death—the narrator of the book. Death is a person and, like a person, he has likes and dislikes. One of the things Death likes is color. He likes to “enjoy” the “multitude of shades and intonations” manifesting in everyday life. As with Brooks, Zusak employs irony. Contrary to expectations, Death is charming and affable.
“What It Really Means When You Call a Woman ‘Hysterical’” by Alison Espach (2017)
In this article for Vogue, the novelist Alison Espach provides an overview of hysteria. She shows how the term connects to the “history of authoritative men pitting a woman against her own mysterious, unruly body.” She explains its relationship to ancient philosophers, Freud, and other notable works of literature, like Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892). Espach argues that the term continues to negatively impact women “who do not conform to the traditional image of womanhood.”
“Overlooked No More: Earl Tucker, a Dancer Known as ‘Snakehips’” by Brian Seibert (2019)
In this article for The New York Times, Brian Seibert brings back Earl Tucker’s obituary to spotlight his allegedly scandalous life and the dance he invented. The article details Tucker’s brief fame and tries to paint a picture of the snake dance. The article features an embedded YouTube video of Tucker in action, and it mentions Zora Neale Hurston’s essay that features Tucker. Seibert links Tucker’s dance and the kind that made Elvis famous. In other words, Seibert spots cultural appropriation.
Listen to Poem
Listen to Brooks read her poem. You can also listen to her read “Sadie and Maud,” “the mother,” and a handful of her poems.
Related Titles
By Gwendolyn Brooks
