Mama Day :: essays research papers

The entire structure of Mama Day is fitting to the telling of multiple cut stories entertwined. Like the most heartfelt episode of Seinfeld ever Gloria Naylor doesn&8217t tell a dearest story, but rather lays out in detail the events of everyday life for all of the central characters. In the process the love stories of the characters are all told at once. The most obvious example is the relationship between George and drinking chocolate (arguably the main love story). Through the book we see them meet, travel by in love, and go through excitement and hardship all that love is. There is also the love story of Mama Day, Abigail, and Cocoa. Even though Abigail is Cocoa&8217s grandmother and Mama Day is her great-aunt, they both take on the role of mother through their mutual love for her. There is also the love story between Bernice, Ambush and Little Caesar. Despite their squabbles, they love each other. Love is one of the major themes in this book.Gloria Naylor steps aside and le ts the characters do her devise for her. Love has the unfortunate nature of being objective and the best way to tell love stories is from every point of view. How else can one understand from the outside? On page one she starts with Cocoa telling her side of things and on twenty-two here comes George&8217s side. And it continues on like this, back and forth, telling both sides of certain events through the fog that is each character&8217s own perception of things. This is a brilliant manipulation of point of views and one of the saving features of the book. The reviewer&8217s attention is caught when they have to re-associate themselves to a new point of view. In the ultimate representation of what love is this point of view switch is used to head likeness of thought between Ophelia and George toward the end of the novel. The words &8220OUR WORST FIGHT EVER appear twice in the novel. Once at the beginning of Cocoa&8217s account of the event and again at the beginning of George&821 7s (Naylor 230-232). Even in their most disagreeable moment, when it all boils down they both see it the same, the gala affair to end all blowouts. Argue as they did, argue as they may, in the end they were one person of one mind, just what a marriage should be. A slightly different form of this same technique is used to give example of the mother-daughter love relationship between Mama Day and Cocoa.