Gloria Naylors Mama Day Essay -- Gloria Naylor Mama Day Essays

Gloria Naylors mammy daytime George and Ophelia grow up in significantly different environments with exposure to vastly dissimilar experiences their diverse backgrounds fool a profound impact on the way they interpret and respond to situations as adults. George and Ophelia both grow up without their parents, notwithstanding for different reasons. George grows up at the Wallace P. Andrews Shelter for Boys in New York. The Shelters relentless surroundings did not provide the warm and inviting atmosphere that a niggle strives for in a home. The employees at the Shelter are not sweet hoi polloi, (p. 23) but they are devoted to their job, and the boys. At a young age, Ophelia loses her mother. We encounter very little about her apparently absent father. Mama Day and Abigail raise Ophelia. Abigail provides a source of comfort and love for Ophelia as she fulfills the intent of mother figure. Mama day, Ophelias great aunt, acts more as a father figure. If Grandma ha d been there, she would constitute held me when I broke down and cry. Mama Day only said that for a long time there would be something to bring on tears aplenty. (p. 304). Ophelia grows up on the humble island of Willow Springs. Everyone knows each other and their business, in the laid-back island community. The border surrounded by Georgia and South Carolina splits down the middle of the island. Instead of seeing each advantage to belonging to either state, the townspeople would prefer to operate independently. For George and Ophelia, the differences in their backgrounds will have a tremendous impact on umpteen facets of their adult lives. George and Ophelia interpret their chance meetings based on their backgrounds. George grows up with the manner of speaking only the present has potent... ...with the flow of things. She took care of her belongings, but she did not recognize them in an exact manner. She did not understand why he was so angry about a fract ion of an inch. George and Ophelia accept their differences and enjoy their years together. No doubt, they had to check out how to react to each other. The incident with the make-up could have ended in bitterness, but Ophelia realized that George said his comments for her benefit, not to injury her. We all have to learn from the interactions that take place in our youth. As adults, we can choose to continue those same methods of interacting and reacting or we can learn to modify our exchanges and reactions in order to get along with the new people in our life. Just as George and Ophelia, we cannot escape the influence of the personalities and environment of our youth, but we can learn from it.