Mama Day

“The only miracle is life itself. And when it comes, it comes.” 

Miranda tells this to Bernice when the two argue over the viability of a new fertility drug, but the attitude of inevitability in the second sentence provides an interesting parallel to George’s logical, reason-based outlook on life. The sentiment illustrates how Miranda and George, despite being characters from very different backgrounds, share a concern with the rational: there is no sense worrying about things outside of our control. The quotation also illustrates Miranda’s stance on what is natural versus what is unnatural, and therefore what is safe to interfere with, and what is not.

“Home. You can move away from it, but you never leave it. Not as long as it holds something to be missed.” 

This quotation encapsulates one of the novel’s central arguments: people always retain their pasts, even if they try to escape them. Although many of the major characters of the novel undergo significant changes in their attitudes toward Willow Springs, the history of the place, as well as of the Day family line, remains a focal concern for them.

“All chickens come home to roost.” 

This message appears on George’s fortune cookie when he goes to lunch with Mr. Hopewell. He brushes it off as nonsense, but the quotation is meaningful for several reasons. First, it reiterates the novel’s argument that one can never truly “leave” home. The quotation also represents a sort of “crossing over” of elements from Willow Springs (i.e., the chickens) into the world of New York City. It also foreshadows George’s death in Miranda’s hen house at the end of the novel.

“Willow Springs was one place that’s best left alone.” 

The context of this quotation is ominous, as it comes when the narrator explains how Dr. Buzzard has managed to avoid the law. However, the quotation can also be read as a tribute to Willow Springs’ apparent ability to resist change and therefore preserve its own rich history. The town itself, frequently called “invisible,” seems almost immune to change, and Naylor argues that perhaps that is how it should be.

“We can get rid of the basket. But you can’t burn away memories.” 

Miranda says this to Abigail in reference to their mother’s old sewing basket, which reminds them of their deceased sister, Peace. The quotation underscores the novel’s theme that while physical objects may be destroyed, one can never truly forget who they are or where they came from: those memories are indelible.

“You weren’t becoming different, you were going back to the way you were.” 

George thinks this about Cocoa as the two continue to see each other in New York. To George, Cocoa appears to be returning to her true roots as a native of Willow Springs, echoing the novel’s sentiment that one always carries their personal history with them. Cocoa never lost the Willow Springs roots that made her who she is today.

“A person is made up of much more than the ‘now.’” 

 Here, Cocoa blatantly contradicts George’s sentiment that “only the present has potential,” revealing her contrasting viewpoint that a person’s character is made up of all the past experiences and history that person brings with them. The quotation succinctly illustrates Cocoa’s focus on the past with George’s perhaps over-rational concern with the present—at least at this point in the novel.

“I had no choice but to emphasize my nows, while in the back of all that stubbornness was the fear that you might think less of me.” 

Here, as George prepares to propose to Cocoa, readers get the impression that George may in fact be somewhat envious of Cocoa’s rich history: feeling he has none for himself, he resorts to dwelling in the present. This foretells a later shift in his character in which he becomes infatuated with the history of Willow Springs and even explores the possibility of staying there.

“Some things you don’t need to know, especially when you can’t do nothing about it.” 

Again, readers see an alignment of Miranda’s and George’s rationality when it comes to worrying about things one cannot change. The difference, though, is that Miranda seems perfectly content with not dwelling on her family’s history, but George later becomes infatuated with learning more about the Days’ almost mythic background. However, by the end of the novel, even Miranda is unable to move past her history, as she feels compelled to discover the identity of “Sa—” and uncover the well where Peace died.

“Leave things be, let ‘em go their natural course.” 

Thought by Miranda in the same scene as the previous quotation, this idea resonates with the novel’s theme of change, asking readers to think about when change is good and welcome versus when the status quo is preferable. It also again raises the novel’s question of what exactly is “natural.”

“Some things just couldn’t be boiled down to a formula that you could shove new elements into and have it all come out nice and neat.” 

Again, Cocoa defies George’s focus on the logical and rational. Her thoughts reiterate the novel’s clash between the explicable and the inexplicable, the natural and the unnatural. The novel constantly asks readers to consider what truly constitutes the natural order of things: who is to say that George’s “slide rule and graph paper” (244) are any more or less natural than the “hoodoo” workings of Miranda (88)?

“Living in a place like Willow Springs, it’s sorta easy to forget about time. Guess ‘cause the biggest thing it does is to bring about change and nothing much changes here but the seasons.” 

This quotation showcases Willow Springs’ almost supernatural ability to resist change and perhaps even time itself: it is a liminal place, a place both literally and figuratively stuck between states and resonating with a hauntingly rich history.

“But Dr. Buzzard says Ruby knows better than to mess with him. He’s got a ying for her yang, a do for her don’t—and anything else she can come up with.” 

The quotation sets up Dr. Buzzard and Ruby as counterparts: both are supposedly capable of using “hoodoo” powers, but in different ways. However, the quotation can likewise be applied to other counterpart character pairs, such as Miranda and George, George and Cocoa, and Miranda and Ruby, as well as the juxtaposed settings of New York and Willow Springs.

“Stay plain, no pain, Daddy always said.” 

Miranda reflects on her father’s motto as she prepares a cake for Cocoa and George, but the sentiment again raises the question of when consistency is preferable to change. It reminds readers of previous quotations, many of which come from Miranda, about leaving things be, letting things follow their natural course.

“I’ve always made my own luck.” 

George says this in response to Miranda’s superstition that “there ain’t a serious fisherman on this island who would speak to any old woman before he casts” (337). The conversation illustrates another clash between Miranda’s superstition and George’s rationality. George, rational to a fault, insists that everything happens for a logical reason.

“The whole night was boiling down to that: how quickly do you fold—give up the dream—a battle between yourself and the possibility of the ever elusive royal flush.” 

George thinks this to himself during the card game with Dr. Buzzard, but the metaphor extends to an important question of the novel: when is it best to accept the inevitable, instead of trying to force change? Again, readers see an alignment of Miranda and George’s rationality.

“I didn’t understand the rhythm and I refused to spoil it by attempting to join in.” 

As the other card players begin singing, George recognizes himself as an outsider; not privy to the spiritual and/or supernatural history of Willow Springs, he finds himself a man without a history. His earlier realization that “the pure strategy [he had] been using wouldn’t work” (347), once he knew that Dr. Buzzard was cheating, applies here as well: he is an absolute foreigner to this ritual.

“You live a Day and you die a Day.” 

The quotation reiterates the novel’s argument that one can never truly leave their history behind; there is always something of it that remains and becomes a permanent part of who a person is. The quotation could also be read with a double meaning on the word “day”: some things, such as birth and death, are naturally inevitable and therefore not worth trying to change.

“Things is always been done different in Willow Springs. First off, it ain’t never crossed nobody’s mind to leave.” 

Even under the threat of a hurricane, the natives of Willow Springs stay where they are, suggesting that they are indeed “tied” to the land. Even if they wanted to, they could not leave their personal histories fully behind, nor the supernatural history of Willow Springs itself. The quotation also further characterizes Willow Springs as temporally liminal, a place that resists time and change.

“You can live without anything you weren’t born with, and you can make it through on even half of that.” 

Miranda’s thoughts here are interesting for their implication: one cannot live without things they were born with. This reveals her belief that such things, including one’s name, family, background, and home, remain a constant and necessary part of a person’s character, despite any changes that person may undergo over the course of their life.

“Some things go beyond curiosity. Some things you just can’t watch.” 

As Bernice drives through Willow Springs with her deceased son in the passenger’s seat, the narrator reiterates the idea that some things, such as death, should simply not be reckoned with. The natural order of things—life, death—should not be subject to change or interference. Miranda follows this mantra—albeit arguably inconsistently—in the text.

“Metaphors. Like what they used in poetry and stuff. The stuff folks dreamed up when they was making a fantasy, while what she was talking about was real.” 

When George accuses her of speaking in metaphors, this is Miranda’s internal response. The novel again asks readers to grapple with the question of what is real and natural: is Miranda’s “hoodoo” just as real as the rational explanations George insists on applying to them?

“There are two ways anybody can go when they come to certain roads in life—ain’t about a right way or a wrong way—just two ways.” 

In many ways, Mama Day is a novel built on dichotomies and contrasts, and here again the characters are confronted with the splitting path between the supernatural methods of Miranda and the rational approach of George. However, as Miranda tells George here, one cannot say with certainty which is the better option.