48 pages • 1 hour read
Gloria NaylorMama Day
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1988A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaSymbols & Motifs
“Crossing Over”
This phrase appears with some frequency in the novel. The Prologue mentions that the single bridge is the only way of crossing into or out of Willow Springs; similarly, George ominously asks himself at the end of Part I, “And as we crossed over the bridge, squeezed into the front of Dr. Buzzard’s truck, was that the time to turn everything around?” (277). Cocoa later reflects:
My bond with [her family] was such that even if hate and rage were to tear us totally apart, they knew I was always theirs. And I sensed that knowledge dawning on you from the moment we crossed over the bridge: you were entering a part of my existence that you were powerless in (293).
This motif undergirds the novel’s theme of liminality, as it represents the moment at which a character passes from one “space” to another. Just as Cocoa and George must literally cross over the bridge to make the transition from the world of New York City to the world of Willow Springs, they must also figuratively cross over in the sense that they must adapt to their new surroundings. The motif also allows Naylor to strengthen the contrast between New York and Willow Springs, as the idea of crossing a threshold implies that the settings are distinguished by more than just their geographic distance. They are also distinguished by their very nature: New York is the world of the present and the prudent, whereas Willow Springs is the world of the past and the supernatural.
Additionally, the phrase “crossing over” is sometimes used as a euphemism for death. When someone crosses over, the implication is that they have moved onto another plane or entered a new phase of their existence. Taken this way, the motif foreshadows George’s demise, as it suggests that he was doomed as soon as he crossed over into Willow Springs, since he was not born into its traditions. This resonates with the novel’s exploration of fate; it asks readers to consider whether there was truly anything George could have done to save himself, whether he was ever in control of what rituals he did and did not believe in.
The Works and Characters of William Shakespeare
Mama Day contains many references to the works and characters of William Shakespeare: Ophelia is a major character in the tragedy Hamlet, Miranda is a sorceress character in The Tempest, Cocoa and George bond over their reading of the tragic King Lear, and, in some ways, the two represent the “star-crossed” lovers Romeo and Juliet. Although the novel does not replicate the plot of any single Shakespearean play in particular, all of these associations have symbolic importance to the text. In Hamlet, Ophelia increasingly suffers from a mental deterioration which culminates in her drowning. Like Cocoa, Ophelia suffers an affliction not just of the body, but of the mind: she finds herself slowly losing her identity and slipping into madness. Miranda, in The Tempest, shares Mama Day’s penchant for supernatural powers, as well as her tendency to use those powers for virtuous purposes.
The plot of King Lear involves the titular character suddenly finding himself in a new world: once a powerful king, Lear is forced out into the wilderness by his traitorous daughters and is reduced to little more than a wandering madman. Like George, Lear occupies a state of liminality. He is king but in name only, and he is unable to adapt the rituals that once served him well on the throne to the demands of the storm-swept heath he must now occupy. Finally, Cocoa and George have parallels to Romeo and Juliet, two lovers from vastly-different backgrounds who nonetheless seem fated to come together. By invoking the story of the “star-crossed” Shakespearean characters, Naylor again raises the question of fate, asking readers to consider just how much we are in control of our own destinies.
Names
Names are an important motif in Mama Day. They allow Naylor to underscore the novel’s argument that we cannot escape our histories. A good number of the novel’s characters have more than one name: Cocoa is also Ophelia, Miranda is also Mama Day, Charles Duvall is also Chick or Little Caesar. When Cocoa and George visit Bernice and Ambush Duvall, the four have a lengthy conversation about names and nicknames, and George and Ambush later talk about Little Caesar’s name in particular: “But you try to tell [Bernice] a Charlie Duvall won’t be fit for nothing but designing ladies’ panties while a Caesar Duvall is gonna be welcome into many of ‘em, and she won’t get the point” (331). Besides simply being a human ritual, one that seems especially popular in Willow Springs, giving people nicknames is a way of giving them an identity. Ambush’s comment that being called “Charlie” or being called “Caesar” could mean the difference between being a ladies’ man or not being a ladies’ man shows just how important names are to our identities. In fact, it is perhaps Little Caesar’s nickname that leads him in part to grow into the cute but spoiled child he is. However, we are the sum of all of our names, and there is no getting away from them: Cocoa is both Cocoa and Ophelia, Miranda is both Miranda and Mama Day. Names are a part of our past and therefore our identity, and we can never completely move past them.
Rhythm
The motif of rhythm surfaces repeatedly in the town of Willow Springs. The narrator states that “Miranda’s small fingers place themselves around the rhythm of Abigail’s breathing” (63). When Miranda inserts the chicken egg into Bernice at the other place, “A rhythm older than woman draws it in and holds it tight” (236). Naylor uses this motif to further characterize Willow Springs as a special place, a place with a rhythm and pulse all its own. The town moves to its own music, so to speak, adding to its supernatural, magical, inexplicable atmosphere.
The most prominent rhythm in the novel, however, is the rhythm of the spiritual that Dr. Buzzard and the other card players sing after George wins the game. It is a rhythm that George confesses he does not understand but refuses to spoil. Here, the fact that George fails to understand the rhythm is symbolic of his larger failure to understand Willow Springs. He knows only the “rhythm of sterile music that came from the bars and clubs spread from the Village to the Upper West and East sides” (105). Interestingly, George seems self-conscious of his inability: “Perhaps if I had known that I only had to listen to the pulse of my blood“ (352). To his detriment, though, he does not know to do this; instead, he remains locked into his own rituals, closed off to trying to understand the rhythm of Willow Springs and thereby is a victim to his own stubbornness.
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By Gloria Naylor
