Dancing around "The Brooch"

I was very interested by the way that Faulkner uses dancing to illustrate and describe the relationships between his characters. From the first page of the short story, the mother and son are paired off together. The first description of their relationship makes that clear; "She was a widow, he the only child" (647). Both characters are given equal treatment, 5 syllables and 4 words, and it is emphasized through the use of "widow" and "only" that all the two have is one another. The exchanges (or battles) between them have a back- and- forth quality similar to that of pair dancing. Never do the exchanges consist of more than a few sentences apiece, most often, each has one sentence and then the other responds in kind. They are fighting for control, for the "lead" if you will pardon the pun.

Howard's relationship with Amy also has many similarities to dancing. They pair up for a while, but when he proves to have "little co-ordination" (650) she finds other partners who can dance in the way that she needs and their relationship comes to an end. This is a great metaphor for their relationship. Howard turns from his partnership with his mother for a more "daring" (648)pairing with Amy, but his mother ultimately has control over their relationship. Howard and Amy have to sneak around his mother to be happy. Howard cannot leave her, and Amy cannot stand the control she has over him. The characters begin their own solitary dances. The mother tries to break up the couple. Howard sneaks around without his shoes on, and Amy further implicates herself as a loose woman by sneaking around on Howard.

None of the characters seem to be able to function without a pairing. Howard and his mother are very dependant upon one another. She needs to be taken care of and he needs her money. He never really leaves her until he kills himself but he does find temporary shelter with Amy. Amy sneaks around with others even when Howard does take her dancing, making her own pairings outside of their marriage. When faced with being forced to be alone with his mother again, he kills himself instead.