Character Analysis of Mama Day

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In New York City when he first meets Cocoa he is in awe of her and cannot quite explain it. She is very much a mystery to him and he is intrigued to learn more and try to figure her out. They bicker a lot on their first date, but still end up wanting to see more of each other. George takes Cocoa every Sunday through the city showing her the ‘real’ New York. They learn more about each other and he can see a change in her. He falls deeply in love with her and ask for her hand in marriage. He is so use to being alone that it is a big adjustment when Cocoa moves in. He is still unsure of a lot of her womanly ways and tries to read books to get a better understanding, he says “I did what I normally did when a subject was new to me: I bought books” (141). One of the things he loves about her is that she has roots and knows her family’s history, but at the same time he is a little envious as well.

After four years of marriage and never going with Cocoa to her home land, George finally decides to go with her in August. Upon arrival into Willow Springs George falls in love with the place. He thinks it is a beautiful paradise “…you had not prepared me for paradise” and loves the small town charm of it (175). When he first meets Mama Day and Abigail Day, he is surprised because they look nothing like he pictured. He says to himself, “looking like this, how could these women ever die?”, he cannot seem to understand how in age they are old, but in looks they are young (175). On his first night there he experiences the odd affect the island can have on you, he has a very weary dream about him and Cocoa. He is so rattled when he awakens that he goes for a walk to clear his head. He ventures out on his own and with Mama Day throughout his visit. He finds very strange things that happen on the island, but he just does not believe in that sort of thing. It is not until Cocoa’s sickness that he has to choose between his beliefs and those of the island to try and save her life. Mama Day offers him a solution, but he thinks the only way to save her is his way. He gives in and tries Mama Day’s way, but does not fully commit. His inability to see things the way the islanders do or believe in the powers Mama Day possesses caused him his life.

The characters become connected by family and the island. Ophelia (Cocoa) and Miranda (Mama) Day are related by blood and connected by their heritage of the island. When Cocoa marries George he becomes family, but when he dies he becomes a part of the island. George’s death saddens all, the remaining characters and the invested reader. It isn’t until his death that the readers realize his voice throughout the novel has been from beyond the grave. Cocoa spends a few months on the island to recover from sickness and George’s death. She then moves to Charleston so she is away from the island, but not too far so she can stay connected. She visits Willow Springs often and talks to George’s spirit that is still on the island. At the end of the story Mama Day is still alive, but feels it will be her last year alive. She is ready to pass on and leave the legacy and unanswered questions of the Day family to Cocoa.

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Work Cited

Naylor, Gloria. Mama Day. New York: Vintage Books, 1988. Print.