In William Faulkner’s short story “The Brooch,” Mrs. Boyd’s brooch is a clear symbol for the traditional aspects of her household, as well as the controlling, materialistic ties she has with Howard. As he comes of age and begins to seek autonomy from her household, Mrs. Boyd uses her brooch to undermine his relationship with his new wife, Amy. Amy, who seems to be of questionable background and moral standing, is given the brooch in a rite of passage manner, as many mother-in-law’s pass down heirlooms to their husband’s wives. During the morning Amy called Mrs. Boyd “Mother,” for the first time, was the same day “Mrs. Boyd formally presented Amy with the brooch: an ancient, clumsy thing, yet valuable.” Although Amy consigns the brooch to her top dresser drawer at first, Howard chides her that she “has to wear it sometimes,” and she concedes to his point. As Amy started wearing the brooch in a regular fashion, Howard’s feelings on the subject soon went from pleasure that his new bride honored his family traditions to concern over his bride’s motives.

Soon, it became evident that Amy wore the brooch “not for pleasure but for vindictive incongruity; she wore it for an entire week on the bosom of a gingham house dress, an apron.” Instead of honoring his mother’s symbol of Her authority and traditional edge, Amy wore the brooch in an act of defiance against the influence of Howard’s mother upon him. In wearing the tradition-laden brooch on an apron or on a house dress, Amy lowered the value associated with the piece of jewelry, also symbolizing the value Amy places on the relationship between Howard and his mother.

Toward the end of the story, when Amy leaves the brooch in the car, the relationship between Amy, Howard, and his mother strongly deteriorates, underscoring the symbolic relationship between the value Amy holds for the brooch and those she holds for Howard’s mother. As Amy would not go in to bid goodnight to Howard’s mother, she basically rejects the necessity for her presence in the Boyd household, and ultimately rejects the relationship between Howard and his mother. With the rejection of the brooch, and with the brooch as a symbol of Boyd family tradition, Amy does not prove to be able to commit to a life with Howard and his mother. In the end, the failure of this relationship puts Amy back into the line of her old life’s work and Howard in the face of suicide.