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Edgar Sanchez
Both Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day and Daughters of the Dust are both stories of the conflicts between change and tradition. Specifically, Daughters of the Dust was an account of the Peazant family conflicts. Nana Peazant desperately wants her and her children to retain the African traditions her ancestors fought so hard to keep as slaves. However, her family, which has reached four generations after her, vehemently want to move the mainland, where they hope for a better life. This conflict is further agitated with the return of Yellow Mary, who is considered a deserter, by most of her family. In Mama Day, conflict also arises between Mama Miranda Day and her granddaughter Cocoa and granddaughter’s husband George. Apparent by this parallel, these stories had other similarities between them, which include a focus on ancestors and children, a strong-willed matriarch who knows more than her family gives her credit, and hints on corruption of mainland world. Still, the structure of the stories are quite different and give each story a distinct uniqueness. Mama Day is a conglomerate of first person accounts given by several of the characters, including Cocoa, George, and even occasionally, Abigail. In contrast, Daughters of the Dust is told in a third person point of view, occasionally narrated by an unborn child. The importance of children and ancestors is stressed in both of these stories. Mama Day begins with Sapphira Wade’s family tree and a sale letter of Sapphira to Bascombe Wade, who eventually marries and frees Sapphira. The introduction was an account by Cocoa of her family history and the importance of 1823. Furthermore, several times throughout the film, Miranda and Abigail Day explain some other family stories. For example, George was intrigued to be explained the stories of the graveyard. In these, he learned that the absence of surnames meant that all of the dead were Days. Also, the significance of the sizes of the grave stones, especially on each of the Peace’s graves, who was separated by a generation. The importance on children was shown through Bernice’s compulsion to be impregnated. In fact, she actually took fertility pills given to her by Dr. Buzzard so that she can have this baby. Instead, it almost made her sterile. In Daughters of the Dust, the stress on children and ancestors was even more apparent and was stated. Nana Peasantz pleaded to Eli that he had to respect elders, family, and ancestors. She explained that "a man’s power don’t end with death, we just move on to another places, a place where we can watch over the living." In one scene, an old man explained that on crossroads drawn on a turtle that as Nana keeps the old African, they must also wherever they go. Also, there were numerous scenes without dialogue throughout the movie showed several children at play. The unborn child narrator even commented on occasion that she was almost too late to solve the dissension in Gullah. Also, both stories revolved around a strong willed matriarch. In Daughters of the Dust, the matriarch was Nana Peasantz. Nana did heed some respect from some of her family, but as her opposition to leave became more adamant, dissension amongst the Gullah women worsened. In one scene, they argue on the incompetence of Nana. Viola says that Nana should find Jesus, and Trula stated that Nana should stay behind because her old African ways were not suited for the mainland. Yet, she chose to stay by her traditions. For example, she explained to Trula that she knew that souls did not live inside the bottle jars. However, bottle trees remind "of those who have lived before" and was a source of appreciation. Before the family left, she gave them a lock of her hair and her mother’s hair, so that they would never forget their African roots. Although, in Daughters of the Dust, Nana’s power was always abstract and remained in her knowledge of heritage, in Mama Day, Marinda Day’s matriarchal powers and extensive knowledge was more literal. To be more specific, when Bernice becomes feverish by fertility pills, which she had been given, Mama Day interferes and claims it is caused by ovarian cysts, which a doctor later diagnoses. Also, George’s refusal to listen to Mama Day’s suggestions for Cocoa eventually leads to his death. Both stories also included stories of return from foreign lands. In Daughters of the Dust, Yellow Mary’s return from Cuba causes an uprising by many of the females, who consider her a deserter of the family. She compares her foreign home to Gullah life several times, exclaiming her annoyance of gnats in Gullah. However, when Nana starts to cry, she is the one that explained she needed Nana and her home in Gullah as part of her security. In Mama Day, Cocoa returns from New York and brings her husband George with her. Much of the conflict occurs in George, who even notes that he could not stand the noises in the wilderness, although he had lived in an urban city for several years. George constantly questions some traditions, rudely, in some occasions. For example, before entering the graveyard, he questions why they had to put moss underneath their shoes and even ponders not following the tradition. Indeed, the many similarities between the two stories can be accounted. Yet, it is the uniqueness that each genre allows that makes each distinct, interesting, and captivating.
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