Due by class time on Tuesday, October 2
Alright, as we discussed in class, for this response you have two choices: either, you can write in response to the following prompt, or if you prefer, you can write in response to anything of your choice, whatever you find interesting as you read. If you choose the prompt, what I'd like for you to do is to write a character analysis of one of the characters in the novel. Using specific details from the text, paint us a picture of who this character is. Think through what you know about her/him based on what the novel tells us. One caution: don't just make a list of details and characteristics, make them mean something. Make sure you are telling us the significance of the details you choose.
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I want to take an in depth look at Coco. This character provides us with much insight on how the island is, was and will be. Through Coco’s eyes we begin to notice a conflict of love. How love changes grows and progresses to new levels but you always notice the common theme of her love and basis ending up on the island of Willow Springs. Coco is one of the three voices that is leading us on this journey and taking us so far but not too far into the history of Willow Springs. I’d say Coco aka Ophelia is something like 18&23. Coco was seen as the wander. She moved out to New York to go to school and find a career there but the one thing she did was write a letter every month to her grandmother and great aunt and she visited them every August. She kept her roots. The reason I choose to look through the eyes of Coco is because to me she has the greatest correlation to the reader. Since we the readers are outsiders the best eyes to look through and examine this little island is through the eyes of someone who has experienced both being in and being out.
Physically she is seen as the total opposite of her family members. She is light skinned and quite thinner than everyone else who in accordance with southern culture means she is malnourished. When Coco returns home to visit, you notice that among the islanders all of her book knowledge does her no good. The knowledge of the land has nothing to do with what you learn in some book or in some class, rather, what you experience and how you adapt that back to your own life and experience. Coco embodies family ties and family roots. When you look at the scene when she first meets George and see’s him at the dinner she mentions that she wants to offer him a mint flavored toothpick which is her subtle way of showing interest within that brief section Naylor is showing us that Coco still has a southern mentality and is not forceful despite the fact she is living in a dog-eat-dog town. Another example of her suave upbringing is while she is waiting in the interviewing room she notices another African American woman who rather than letting her resume or talents speak for themselves has decided to go in there and sell her physical assets something Coco talks against and refuses to do.
I believe that as the story continues on Coco is going to be a vital component to the story and to the fact that all her yearning and searching for more can only be found through her roots. Yes, she may be a woman of the new millennium but it is obvious that more lies behind her and as we get further into the novel we should see how the story unfolds into taking us into knowing more of Coco that Ophelia. Despite the fact she goes by Coco all the time I believe Ophelia is the New York version old her and when she gets to willow springs and kicks off her shoes then and only then is true essence of Coco
In the novel Mama Day, by Gloria Naylor, Cocoa Day is a central character. Through examination of her physical characteristics and her personality, a reader can determine the rational for incorporating this character into the plot.
Physically, there is only a small description of Cocoa. The description is stated by George Andrews while he is recalling his first impression of Cocoa. “Small strands of your reddish-brown hair have come undone from the bobby pins and lie against the curve of your neck. …skin that’s tinted from amber to cream as it stretches over the lean bone underneath. …high cheekbones, pointed chin, slender profile…” (p. 27).
Emotionally, Cocoa is viewed as strong and independent. Her personality is first shown through her job interview with George. “…and not to be rude, Mr. Andrews, but I really would like to talk about my credentials for working here. Where I was born and what name I was given were both beyond my control. But what I could do about my life, I’ve done well. And I’d like to spend the few minutes I have left of your time being judged on that” (p. 29).
The physical and emotional characteristics of Cocoa Day run parallel to one another. Her dialogue with George portrays Cocoa as a serious, strong, and independent woman. These characteristics can also be found through Cocoa’s physical descriptions, more specifically, her high cheekbones and pointed chin. Furthermore, the fact that Cocoa had to struggle to survive her own birth also shows strong will.
Cocoa’s strong will is also an important parallel to Mama Day. The independence and self-pride in these women seem to be the only common grounds between them. Differentiation between Cocoa and Mama Day seems to be a more prominent element of the novel. The letter about the position at George Andrew’s corporation (p. 50) is one example of their altering viewpoints. Cocoa’s attempt to see the band Muddy Waters (p.156) also demonstrates the altering viewpoints between Cocoa and Mama Day.
Cocoa is the character that creates a link between two worlds. She connects the urban city life of New York with the rural life of Willow Springs. She also connects the two opposing lifestyles of George and Mama Day. Cocoa as a link is shown through actions as well as physical appearance. George described her skin as being both amber and cream. This shows the dichotomy of Cocoa. She belongs to two different worlds. She puts on stilettos to go out, but wears homemade lavender water as perfume.
Overall, Cocoa is a strong willed, independent, and stubborn character that is essential to the plot. She is the sole element that links the two worlds of Mama Day and links the characters of George and Mama Day.
In Naylor’s, Mama Day, the character George Andrews plays a major role in bringing about a shift in the life of every character through the changes in Cocoa. Without him, the story would have no plot. He is the one who causes the changes that occur within Cocoa and perhaps on the island.
George is a man who is set in his ways. He loves football with an energy that Cocoa will never understand, and will not miss any events for any reason. As he said in the novel, “It wasn’t a pastime, it was a passion.” (p. 124) Football was the one thing that he loved to do, and he knew that hiding this from Cocoa would be a problem. He feels that showing her who he really is, which means not hiding his desires for football, is the best choice, because he really does begin to love her. He grew up loving the sport. In high school he would help the coach design plays, who would listen because George “had a very rational mind.” He was unable to participate in the sport but is the kind of person to accept his limitations and get on with life. That is exactly how he has kept in such good shape with his heart condition. He attacks his problems head on and deals with them, which is quite a respectable quality in a man. Even though he has a heart condition which would seem to weaken him, he simply keeps within the boundaries he knows he should in activity. He has a very sound mind, one that loves football which is one of the topics Cocoa uses to start fights with him throughout their relationship.
This rational mind that George has is the same mind that keeps him in the day in, and day out routines that cause Ophelia such grief. In speaking to him she says, “George, you were always so exacting, and that made you pretty hard to live with.” She is not the type of person to plan out her life in simple numbered steps. She lives with much more spontaneity in her day to day life. George, on the other hand, plans everything from his shirts in his closet to the water bottle for his heart medicine being exactly where it needs to be. When Ophelia moves the bottle just a few inches, it sparks a fight after which George leaves the house. One comfort in these fights to the newly married couple is that they both knew what the outcomes would be. Ophelia says of George, “you were never able to stay angry with me for very long, even when you were justified.” (p. 146) Nevertheless, George knows that these routines are what brought him to the success that he has in his lifetime. His discipline that was brought on by his foster mother is what has allowed him to go so far in life, bringing him whatever he has wanted, within the means that he knows he has because of his heart condition. George’s routines bring him stability, and without them, he would not have had as much of an impact on Ophelia.
George Andrews brings contrast to Ophelia’s life that she would have never found anywhere else. He was not like the other men she was attracted to, which made it seem to her at first that it would never work out. Their first date was a total disaster to both of them, yet just by luck they decided to meet again so George could show Ophelia around the city. This relationship brings the majority of the plot so far through the novel, and seems to be on some importance near the end of section I. Ophelia feels that George coming to Willow Springs will cause some sort of event or change that seems to be bad. Either way, George Andrews is integral in the story that is Mama Day, which, without him, would be an entirely different one.
“Mama Day” is a story that contains numerous characters that greatly influence the story’s plot. However, I believe that Cocoa is the central character because the story focuses on the changes that occur throughout her life.
Cocoa recently makes a drastic change in her life when she moves to New York from a small, quaint island called Willow Springs. The move to New York is an advantage for Cocoa because it betters her education and career. Although the move has an advantage, it brings about disadvantages as well. The move seems to bring out the worst in her. Her true colors really start to come out when she is in public and is meeting new people. She comes across as being extremely judgmental. It is as though she “judges a book by its cover” because she looks at a person’s appearance and everyday actions in order to get a feeling about what kind of a person they truly are. Rarely does she take the time or make the effort to get to know a person. She adapts a habit of labeling people. For example, when she goes into the Andrews and Stein building’s waiting room, she immediately labels the four people waiting. She names them Patent Leather Hair, Cherry Vanilla, kumquat, and a very gay Oriental guy. Putting the right label on a person before finding out anything about them is like a game to Cocoa. By immediately putting labels on people, she will potentially be missing out on meeting some fantastic individuals. This labeling of people based on their appearance portrays her as a shallow person. I think that she develops these techniques to make her feel more confident about herself because she is struggling with some self-esteem issues. In my opinion, I think she is so overwhelmed by the largeness of New York and how many people live there, that she loses herself. She becomes timid and hates to step outside of her comfort zone. The big city is making her feel like a much smaller person.
Although Cocoa lives in New York, it is as though her heart is really in Willow Springs. It is Willow Springs and all that she has learned there that shapes her decisions and actions. She looks back on her life experiences in Willow Springs in order to help her with all of the difficulties she faces in New York. She has never truly felt comfortable in New York. She comments that just when you think you get a handle on things, something totally different occurs, whether it is someone new moving into her apartment building or the constant struggle to find a job. Cocoa had grown accustomed to all of the constants found in Willow Springs and therefore is mortified at the constant changes in New York. It is unsettling to her in that she never knows what to expect. In fact, she refers to herself as a bigot only because deep down she is as frightened of change as a bigot is.
One thing I find to be extremely funny about Cocoa is how she tries to meet men. She studies what they order and how they chew before approaching them. She states, ““The way a man chews can tell you loads about the kind of lover he’ll turn out to be.” Her tendency to study men leads me to believe that she is a very cautious person about whom she meets and is not very willing to try to meet many new people unless they meet her expectations. After studying the men and deciding whether they are worthy of meeting, she will jump at the opportunity to ask a man if they need a toothpick, which she always carries around with her. She views it as “a foolproof to start up a conversation.” It seems as though she does not meet new people well and instead feels that she must have something to rely on in order to strike up a conversation. That way, if the conversation goes south, then she will just see herself as being polite by offering a toothpick. I think that the use of toothpicks to start a conversation further shows her insecurities. She is not confident in her ability to communicate with other people, therefore making her think that she must use toothpicks to start a conversation. I believe that she is truly scared of rejection and falls back on different methods that she has picked up on over the years.
The best thing that has happened to Cocoa in my opinion is her relationship with George. He helps her “see New York for the very first time.” He takes her all over the state so that she can see outside the one foot radius of her apartment and her work. He tells her, “So that’s why you felt like a stranger to this city after seven years.” George openly speaks his mind and by doing so he helps Cocoa by pointing out some of her faults. For example, he asks, “Ophelia, why are people food to you?” He bluntly says that is ignorant of her and that her “whole litany has turned the people in this city into material for a garbage disposal.” He makes her aware of her insecurities and tries to help her change them. He is able to connect with Cocoa and in return she finally feels more like a native of New York and less like a stranger.
What I found most interesting in the novel was the mentioning of someone doing "hoodoo voodoo." It starts in the introduction when the book begins to talk about Sapphire Wade walking through a lightning sotrm and being un-touched. And it doesn't end there either. The book goes on to hint that Mama Day has magical powers that let her control lightning. The point that I am trying to make here is that the deeper you read in to the book, the more you see the mysterious hintings of magic yet to come, that I am not sure are going to be there.
I have only read to the stopping point for today's class, but the more that I read in the book, I seem to be being led on that there is some big finale yet to come. I do not personally believe in magic, but I do not find it hard to imagine having an elder in the village that everyone looks up to, having magical powers, because I have a good imagination. It seems like a fairly humorous idea to me, having an old, bewitched woman running around town able to heal people and cause lightning storms. Who wouldn't want that? I mean you would never have to worry about fires, or robbers or anything, because everyone would know that ya'll have your old lady who will hurt them. That is a fun idea to entertain. Thanks for listening.
I am going to write a blog according to the prompt. I will give a character analysis of the character George and how I can see a lot of people relating to him. Right from when George enters the story, he seems to be this nice, warm-heartd guy who is simply interested in being nice amd a gentleman. He comes into the story interviewing Cocoa for a job opportunity, and simply speaks to her as a human being, trying to help her become more comfortable in sich a stressful situation. Coca immediately takes his candor as something that it is not and refutes quickly to simply interview her. George was somewhat offended. Later, he askes her on a date. This has some significance because many people are like that. He seems to have wanted what he did't think he could have. Later this is reaffirmd as their first date goes terryibly wrong, and they relize that, at first, they do not have much to talk about. George is a genleman and does not want to simply allow that to be it between them. He feels incomplete and feels compelled to show her around NYC because he sees that she is such a close minded person. I believe that he wanted her from the very beginning, and was not going to stop until he got her, even though he had a previous 5 year reltionship with Shawn that was still not completely over. I liked how he showed her around the city because this shows that he is simply a gentleman, and that h knows that there is so much more to NYC that meets the eye. I believe that his heart murmur helped him become such a person because he doesnt take beauty for granted. I like how he described a magnificant NYC day. He mentioned that one would remember a crushed Pepsi can on the side of the street because a person couldn't ignore any little detail in sich a perfect day. He sees life for what it is. e describes how a lot of people are and how a lot of peopel think this day in age. A lot of people don't want to get to know someone before they can become intimate with them. I do not mean this in a one night stand type of way, rather i mean this in such a way that people meet people and want to show gratitude for their beauty and allow them to be free. Overall, I like George the best because he seems to point out and say what a lot of people think and are ashamed to come out and say. This is so good for Cocoa because sh transforms so much in this story, going from a close mided small-town girl who doesn't leave her neighborhood and hasn't even seen all of NYC after 7 years to someone who can laugh about things and open up to a person like George.
Gloria Naylor introduces many important characters in the beginning of her novel Mama Day; however, Cocoa is, to me, so far the most influential and central character in the novel. She is not only the narrator of the story, but also a major part in it. Naylor presents many characteristics of Cocoa throughout the novel, but I feel that the traits that stand out most about her are her constant use of stereotypes and her “patriotism” towards her hometown.
I found that there were several criticisms on each page about the employed people of New York. She tells of the women, for example, with their Gucci appointment books and a clipping of the classifieds so “you’d think she was expected wherever she was heading instead of just expected to wait”. Cocoa considers this clever notion; which means of course that they are employed and successful. She also comments on the hair. She judges breaks it up into the pampered blonde hair of the whites, the jerri curls of the African Americans, and the “perfect” Asian; in which they “frizz or chop all of it off” so everyone else knows they get their hair done. Cocoa thinks that just by looking at a person’s appearance tells you everything about them. As the cliché says - judging a book by its cover. I think her curiosity of how people’s appearances could be connected to their employment and success really weakens her argument when she starts to follow people around. They take her places she does not expect. One woman whom she assumed would bring her straight to a tall cement building brought her to a fruit stand. This kind of shows that you may be surprised how different a person’s life is from the way they come off in a first impression. To me, the fact that Cocoa is so judgmental and critical of all other New Yorkers is because she misses her home; Willow Springs. She is so accustomed to the island that she hasn’t yet opened up to the culture of New York; which brings me to my next point.
When you think of someone who is patriotic, you think of someone fighting for their country in terms of military, or verbal defense and pride in one’s country, and so on. Cocoa, in my opinion, is extremely patriotic to her home, yet it comes off in a negative way. She compares everything in New York to Willow Springs; the people, the places to eat, the buildings. She has been in New York for seven years now, yet still feels she can’t call it home, and as another cliché goes – there’s no place like home. But home is still Willow Springs even though she has not lived there for almost a decade. Cocoa was very close to Mama Day and very fond of Sapphira, but she had not taken the chance to get to know anyone or get close to anyone in New York. You could almost say that it is unfair to compare the two because she surely has not given New York a fair chance to make her feel comfortable and at home.
I think that Cocoa will be the character who changes the most as the story continues. Although she has undergone many external changes with being in a different place, I think that very notable internal changes will occur before we turn the last page of the book.
One thing that has interested me since the beginning of the novel is the constant references to Shakespeare. I wanted to research these allusions and see if any parallels are found from them. One of the most glaring references to Shakespeare is the proper names of Cocoa and Mama Day. Ophelia is a very well-known character in Hamlet, and Miranda is the Duke�s daughter in the Tempest. In beginning of Hamlet, Ophelia seems to be Hamlet�s possible love, but her brother and her father keep warning her against getting involved with him in fear that Hamlet �is not earnest for her�. This is interesting because in Mama Day, although George has nothing but sincere love for Cocoa, she still doubts this. With the absence of a brother and father, Cocoa takes the cautious role upon herself and distances herself from George. Another exciting thing about the plot of Hamlet is Ophelia�s transformation possibly foreshadowing Cocoa�s future in Mama Day. In Hamlet Ophelia goes mad after the death of her father, and drowns when she is climbing a Willow tree, because the branch breaks. Her death later on in the play is said to be suicide. I have to wonder if Ophelia�s plot provides any foreshadowing for Cocoa�s fate. Also the fact that Ophelia drowns because of the age of a Willow tree, seems to be particularly relevant to Willow Springs.
The character Miranda of the Tempest is a classic example of naivety in Shakespearian Literature; this is incredibly odd because this is nothing like Mama Day at all. Miranda is the Duke�s daughter who has lived an incredibly sheltered life; only socializing with her father and with Caliban, her father�s slave. She is very passive throughout the play, with the exception of a few events where she scolds Caliban. This is such a departure from Mama Day�s role. Mama Day is one of the strongest characters in the novel. Her extensive common sense and knowledge of medicine and healing is anything but ignorant. Miranda was given a well-rounded education by her father, but her real-world experience is extremely limited. Is this blatant juxtaposition supposed to confuse the reader? Also, it is interesting that Miranda is one of the key characters from the Tempest, because of the many parallels this play has to Mama Day. They both take place on an island, and are cut-off from others by storms, or tempests; in Mama Day the lightning storms cause the bridge to fall apart and keep them from the mainland. Also, the heir of fantasy is present in both novels. The Tempest has spirits and ghosts, while Mama Day has the presence of �haints� and conjure women.
The presence of references to King Lear is unquestionable in Mama Day. It is one of George�s favorite novels which he has read multiple times. He in turn passes this love onto Cocoa the first time he comes over to her apartment. From my very limited knowledge of King Lear, seeing as I have only read a synopsis, I devise that the play is mainly about love and devotion among the generations from father to daughter. In Mama Day, George seems to become closer to Cocoa upon finding out about the tragedy of her parents. Before discussing King Lear, George thought Cocoa to have a whole island of family. In truth she was not close at all to what would be her typical closest family members, her mother and father. The tragedy in King Lear and in the history of their lives seems to unite them. Ultimately, I believe that by studying the allusions a novel has to such famous works as Shakespearean Literature, you can deepen your understanding of both novels in turn.
There is no doubt that Gloria Naylor is the type of author that can create such an intense and detailed description of a character that we feel as if we truly know them from the inside out; we feel as if we can actually predict what they would say and/or how they would act in any given situation. While there are many central characters such as Cocoa and Mama Day in which we can make this connection, I have found a great interest in one of the more minor characters so far in the novel, the character of Bernice.
Bernice is a character which the reader holds certain sympathy for, and I believe this is not only due to the passion she possesses but also the fact that Mama Day feels sadness for her as well. Passion is a quality that I have definitely come to admire in someone, and if anyone knew what she wanted and was willing to do whatever it took to gain it, there is no denying that it was Bernice. She wants it so deeply that it almost makes her a weak and vulnerable character. Nevertheless, here we have a young woman married to a husband, who is the most respectful, devoted, loving, and caring young man anyone could hope for, and they are denied the gift of a child. If anyone deserves such a blessing, it is the two of them, and the selflessness that accompanies them is so beautiful. It doesn’t matter which sex the baby is, Bernice simply wants a child to adore. “Miranda’s gotta swallow a little hard when she remembers Bernice’s voice. ‘Ya know, Mama Day, folks always carrying on about wanting a boy or girl. But I done told God and I’m telling you, just give me anything.’” While it may seem that her means to achieve what she wants are a tad extreme, it is Mama Day’s assessment of the situation that makes it okay with the reader. Throughout the novel, Mama Day is the voice of reason; she draws the line between what is right and wrong, she sets the norms for the character’s actions. At first Mama Day is thinking how foolish Bernice is, but, then, she finds the baby room which has had the utmost care and attention devoted to it. She changes her mind, and we, as the readers, are allowed to do the same.
Once Bernice finally conceives, it is her passion and uncontrollable longing for a child that consumes her life. She shuns Mama Day’s herbal means of medicine for Dr. Smithfield. I believe that was another indication of the extreme desire she felt. Bernice owed a lot to Mama Day and only had reason to trust her judgment, and, especially in Willow Springs, relationships like that didn’t change. However, Bernice was consumed with her pregnancy and all else mattered none. Her check-ups bordered obsession, and, when her son is born, nothing is taken for granted. She doesn’t miss one step or one smile. While “Little Caesar” is also revered by Ambush, it is a healthier depth of caring, but, then again, Ambush didn’t yearn for him as Bernice had.
Naylor sheds light on a character full of zeal and unwavering devotion. This comes across as an almost compulsive obsession, but the reader can’t help but to feel for and sympathize with such a good-hearted woman.
Ophelia is strong, confident, and unnerved as it would appear. But the deeper we get into Mama Day I think Ophelia’s true colors are shown. Ophelia is a woman of doubt, of fear of what could be, and of loneliness.
One thing that really stands out for me with Ophelia is how she purposely tries to push George away sometimes. Calling him son-of-a-bitch when she knows he hates it, asking him to skip his beloved football games just to see what he will do, or interrupting George’s long hot showers to ask if he would marry again after she dies are just a few examples. Ophelia likes to push George’s buttons just to do it. I think these examples show a lot about Ophelia in the fact that sometimes she would rather push George away then get even closer to him than she already is. On page 119, Ophelia says “George, I was frightened. Can’t you understand that? Things were going so well between us that I dreaded the day when it would be over.” This shows readers that Ophelia is scared of being vulnerable. Although she loves what she has with him, she knows her life is going to be ten times worse when it’s over. Ophelia tends to have the glass half empty approach to life. Instead of enjoying the safety and joy Ophelia feels towards George, she can only think of how life will be when he is gone. Ophelia speaks about how much space George takes up in her life, and when he is gone that space is going to feel so big and void. It makes me question whether Ophelia has been hurt like this before. The question must be asked if something happened to Ophelia in Willow Springs, or has she has her heart broken before. The way Ophelia acts sheds some light that there is more to Ophelia that readers still must learn.
I find it humorous that Ophelia had eyed George before she had even met him. She had even thought of a way to go over and start a conversation with him to maybe get a date out of him before she changed her mind. After all of this, when she finally met George she was very rude towards him. Again, I think this shows that Ophelia tends to look towards the negative. Personally, if this had happened to me I would think it was fate that I was in George’s office just after I had been eyeing him. But Ophelia immediately thinks she will be taken advantage of or not given the job because she had seen George earlier. Even before she met George at his office Ophelia compared the other candidates and one by one put them down before she went into the interview. I think this is another example of Ophelia feeling insecure about herself. The only way she is able to survive in New York City confidently is to put down others. The woman people see on the outside is someone who is proud and confident, when really Ophelia is still just Baby Girl in the small town of Willow Springs.
I think what we have learned about Ophelia, Cocoa, or Baby Girl is a small amount compared to what we will learn in section 2. I find it very interesting that different people call her different names. I think these different names can be symbolized as different people Ophelia can be. Some of these include a granddaughter, a great-niece, a girlfriend, a wife, a student, and an employer. There is so much more to Ophelia than meets the eye and I believe this “strong and confident” woman that has already had some doubts in her life will be challenged even farther as the story continues.
"Who is George Andrews?"
I think that George is just as much of a central character as Ophelia and Mama Day are. One third of the book is written from his perspective and perhaps the most fascinating thing about him is foreshadowed from the beginning of the novel. It is mentioned in the first few pages that Cocoa gets married and when she brings her husband to Willow Springs, he stays and she does not. Even though we don’t know right away that this is George, we are able to keep this in mind throughout the time that we are getting to know him. Why would George, the city boy, stay behind in Willow Springs? We can find clues along the way based on what we learn about George, but we won’t know until the end of the story, at perhaps his most defining moment, why he stays in Willow Springs.
The key to understanding George is first to understand where he comes from. He is the orphan son of a 15-year-old whore and he grows up at a state-run orphanage called the Wallace P. Andrews Shelter for Boys. Later in the novel, George admits that he doesn’t even have a real last name, so we know that George actually adopts his last name from this orphanage where he lives until he is eighteen. His only family growing up would have been the other boys around him and, in particular, the stern disciplinarian who ran the orphanage named Mrs. Jackson. George makes her out to be a very strict influence in their lives who borders on cruel, but George feels that he owes a lot of his success to her. Her favorite thing to tell the boys is “Only the present has potential, sir” and at least until he begins dating Ophelia, he is still living by this motto many years after he has moved out onto his own.
We learn that the strict discipline at Wallace P. Andrews usually makes productive citizens out of the boys who grow up there and George is a banner example of this success. George is a true New Yorker. He is not a true New Yorker because he grew up in Manhattan or because of how much time he has spent there, but because he really knows the city inside and out and recognizes that even though Ophelia has lived in the city for seven years, she is still a tourist. This is important because George got to know the city by wandering around it alone. He is not married well beyond the age that most “good” black men are married because he has commitment issues.
George is obsessed with football. He explains this carefully in a paragraph later in the novel when he describes his love for football: “It produces a high that is possible only when a man has glimpsed the substance of immortality.” Part of the reason that George embraces the physical nature of football is that he could never play the sport. He has a heart condition that keeps him from competing in any types of physically demanding sports. Since he can’t play, he has developed a fascination with the role that the crowd plays in a packed stadium. He loves being able to join the other fans to have one heartbeat, one voice, and to be able to affect events on the field without actually playing the game. This really seems to thrill George more than anything else in the world.
The things that George has been through have shaped him into a simple and very rational adult man. He developed a tenacious work ethic, perhaps out of necessity, at Wallace P. Andrews and because of this, he is successful. The only aspect of his life that he can’t rationally work out is Ophelia. More than anything, she keeps him on his toes. As a man who always seems to be in careful control of everything, this makes George’s life with Ophelia very stimulating and something that he has to work at every day. Their romance is so fascinating because they seem to compliment each other perfectly. Because of this, they help each other grow. Ophelia is the one person George is finally willing to open up to about the circumstances of his birth.
Ultimately, George Andrews is a strong and good man. There are some crucial aspects of life that the shelter did not prepare the boys for, like romance and relationships. However, through George’s determination and positive approach to the world, he has adjusted to social communication magnificently. He is fair and honest to Ophelia from the second he meets her. When she irrationally accuses him of deceit, he replies: “I’ve never lied to you”. He used his power and influence to get her a job and had the honor to conceal this form her, even though he was interested in dating her. Clearly, George is disciplined, intelligent, and sincere. He is truly a great “catch” for Ophelia. Hopefully there will be some interesting things yet to learn about George once we get to see him through Mama Day’s eyes in Willow Springs.
There are many characters in Mama Day that intrigued me as I was reading. George’s character in Gloria Naylor’s novel is in a lot of ways a “typical guy.” He watches football every Sunday and Monday and he, like most guys, finds it difficult to open up to people. In his relationship with Ophelia, his character is revealed. She pries him open piece by piece. Although his character is not as central as some of the other characters, to me, George’s character is unique and is worth a deeper look.
There are small details about George that help paint a clearer picture of him. His job tells us a little about him. He is a mechanical engineer and for someone who started from nothing, that is quite an achievement. This shows how determined he is to succeed and how intelligent he must be. He may have felt that he wanted to make more of himself, considering he was the product of an accident and had no one in the world who thought he was “worth” anything. When Ophelia went into George’s office for her interview, George was painted as a nice guy. He treated Ophelia as an equal and not just a nobody. He took Ophelia to see New York City when nothing was in it for him. He even claimed that he did not have feelings for Ophelia at that time. George wants Ophelia to appreciate even the little things which he has learned to do because of his heart condition.
Naylor reveals early that George grew up in a shelter for boys. His past was based on a saying, “keep it in the now, fellas” (22). He lived his life trying to forget the past and only concentrate on the future. This detail is the reason for many events throughout the novel. For instance, it is the reason George has difficulty opening up to Ophelia and is the reason he hits Ophelia after she stayed at another guy’s house. George was hurt because his mother was a prostitute and for a brief second, he felt like Ophelia was acting like one as well. George’s past is not something he feels comfortable discussing. It upsets him greatly. It would seem that George’s past would make it more difficult to succeed at relationships, but he was able to commit to Ophelia, so he must have really cared for her.
A lot is shown of George’s character that he fell in love with Ophelia. George was good to Ophelia, but he had certain things he would not give up for her, like his football events. He had to go to the Super Bowl every year. He had to follow his schedule every year to travel to Philadelphia and to San Diego. It seems to me initially that he does not want to fully commit to Ophelia because he is scared of getting hurt. Holding on to football, something that could never fail him, was the safe thing to do. He did eventually commit to Ophelia after he become aware that he could spend his entire life with her. After they were married, Ophelia realized how set in his ways George was. Everything had to be done in a certain way. This detail goes back to his days at the shelter. He wanted to have control over whatever little things he could. The way his clothes were organized was probably one of the few things George could control when he lived at the shelter. Now that he is on his own, he does things in the same specific way and also does things he couldn’t do when he lived in the shelter. It is his way of compensating for his time there. George’s past was difficult, but he was a strong person; he could ignore his past in order to live in the present. Again, his life motto comes up.
George’s character is more complex than what is on the surface. Ultimately, Ophelia opens George up, and we find out he is more than just a football fan. He is a good person who tries his best not to let his past control his future. Each and every day, George just “keeps it in the now.”
George andrews is basically the central character in Gloria Naylor's Mama Day. Abandoned by his mother who was a prostitute, George was raised in a white orphanage. Early on he learned to be emotionless and had no reason for any sort of beliefs or luck. Once he was on his own he said " I may have knocked my head on the walls figuring out how to buy food, supplies, and books but I never knocked on wood". This statement lets the reader know that george is interested in nothing but tangible facts. This attitude had by George could most definitely be considered a source of problems in his marriage with the grand niece of the very old school Mama Day, Cocoa Day.
Throughout the dialog between George and Cocoa, there seems to be a gap between each of their individual mindsets. Although Cocoa acts as a bridge between Mama Day and her African- American Mysticism, and George and his straight western rationalism, it is evident that Cocoa wishes to get back to her roots a bit, and would love it if George would follow her in that and learn about the history of Willow Springs. A good example of this disconnect is how it takes George four years to finally make the trip to Willow Springs with his wife. When he finally does come down, disastrous events occur. His wife cocoa falls ill as a result of being poisoned by Ruby, somewhat of an extremely jealous enchantress who lives on the island. The villagers then seem to spring into action with George in a effort to save Cocoa. The bridge leading to the island is out and George's original plan to row across the sound is thwarted by the villagers so he has no choice but to help Mama Day even though his strong opinions against that sort of nonsense. Mama Day ends up giving him a simple direction and George misunderstands it and ends up dying due to his weak heart. All of these events that simultaneously occur as George first visits Willow Springs and seem Quite ironic as the "magic" that he so denies played a huge part in his eventual downfall
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