Character Analysis of Mama Day

Sharee Watts

Dr. Hait

ENG 375

17 February 2017

Character Analysis of “Mama Day”

In the novel “Mama Day” by Gloria Naylor there are several characters, but she tells the story in the voice of three characters. The three narrating characters are Miranda Day, Ophelia Day and George Andrews. The story is centered around them, their relationship and the Island of Willow Springs. Memory plays an important part in the role of narrations throughout the novel by each character. The reader gets invested in these three characters through their memories and the stories they tell. The reader can see their love for each other and their differences in how they love. Even though each character is different in their thoughts and ways, they are connected by family and the Island.

Miranda (Mama) Day is a descendant of Sapphira Wade who inherited the Island along with other slaves from her husband Bascombe Wade. Through the narration of what seems to be the voice of Willow Springs, it suggests that Sapphira had magical powers. It is believed by the townspeople that Mama Day inherits the ability of having intuitions and magical powers. She is a strong independent woman who can use her powers to heal or destroy, “… and nobody was gonna trifle with Mama Day” (6). As a midwife and homeopathic doctor, the townspeople think her intuition and powers are superior to medical doctors. She is a traditional southern woman, the matriarch of the Day family and informal leader of Willow Springs.

Who is Mama Day? Mama Day is a traditional southern woman. She can be harsh and stubborn, but she loves her family more than anything. She tends to a garden, raises chickens and uses natural remedies for all her well-being needs. She is very strong and passionate about her family and doing well by all. Another southern trait portrayed by Mama Day is baking, and she cooks throughout the novel for many occasions. She also has that southern hospitality and welcomes all into her home. She is kind and also likes to help insure others good health with her natural remedies.

Mama day attained her name because she is the oldest sister and she took on the mother role after her mother’s passing. Her younger sister, Abigail started it by calling her Little Mama. Then after she got older and became a midwife she delivered just about everyone on the island. Since she never married or had children of her own, she thought of all the children she delivered as being partly hers. The strong, caring, knowledgeable woman that she is has the respect of all the persons on the island. She is the matriarch of the Day family and the Willow Springs community. She is the eldest on the island and one of the few remaining in the bloodline of the Day family.

Ophelia (Cocoa) Day, is the grandniece of Mama Day and the last living Day of her generation. Like her great aunt she is strong willed and stubborn southern woman. She is born and raised in Willow Springs, but moves beyond the bridge to go to college. She starts out in Chicago, but then moves to New York. It’s in New York where she meets her husband George. She returns to Willow Springs every August for two weeks. The narration told in her voice is mostly about her relationship with George and her connection to the island. As the last of the Day’s, Mama Day tries to influence and guide her to take over the reins upon her passing. It seems as if Cocoa is caught in two different worlds, one world being New York and the other Willow Springs.

        In New York, she can be whoever she wants to be because no one knows her. She is very independent and likes to be in control. She is of a new generation and raised in a more modern time. While in New York she drags herself further and further away from the connection to her family heritage in Willow Springs. She likes living the more modern life and feels like Willow Springs is stuck in the past. When she meets George, she does not expect to fall in love with him. She finds him arrogant, “…what a bastard he was” and just different from the strong values that are instilled in her (58). Their first meeting is in George’s office for an interview and then they meet up again after he helps her obtain another job. He finds her obnoxious and petty, but is interested in showing her the “real” New York. She thinks she knows New York, but soon sees that she has been shallow in her perceiving of the city. They find love and quickly marry only to find out they do not really know each other after all. It takes years of marriage, but she finally gets him to come with her to her hometown, the island of Willow Springs,

        Cocoa is very excited, but anxious to show George off to her friends. Growing up in Willow Springs she was picked on for her light colored skin. Upon the first night Cocoa has dream that later seems to be a premonition. She wakes up from the dream rattled and notices that George is not there. For a few minutes she feels as if George himself was a dream, “…everything about you had been a dream” (189). She waits on the porch for his return. Mama Day and Abigail have decided to throw a belated wedding reception for Cocoa and George and introduce George to the town. Cocoa’s insecurities lead her and George into a fight. The fight leads her pray to Ruby, another woman on the island with powers. Ruby poisons Cocoa and she becomes deathly ill. Mama Day knows the way to save her, but she needs the help of George. She knows it will be hard to convince him that her way, he way of magic, is best.

George Andrews, is Cocoa’s husband who grew up in New York City. He is an orphan and was raised in a shelter for boys. Growing up in a shelter he was raised more by structure than by emotional connection. As an orphan he knows nothing of his family or their history. His narration talks about his perception on his and Cocoa’s relationship and visit to Willow Springs.  Through his and Cocoa’s narrated conversations you can see that being raised in an orphanage has shaped the way he does and sees things. He has a place for everything and wants everything to remain in its place. He is use to relying only on himself to get things done. He also has a bad heart and has to take precautions to keep it under control. Meeting Cocoa sends life as he knows it spinning out of control.

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