George’s Life Sacrifice in Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day

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George’s Life Sacrifice in Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day

George and Ophelia, two characters in Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day, have a complex yet intimate relationship. They meet in New York where they both live. Throughout their hardships, Ophelia and George stay together and eventually get married. Ophelia often picks fights with George to test his love for her, and time after time, he proves to her that he does love her. Gloria Naylor uses George as a Christ figure in his relationship with Ophelia to eventually save her life.

While visiting her relatives in Willow Springs, Ophelia becomes deathly ill as a result of evil forces on the island. George tries to think of ways to save her, but he cannot get to a real doctor. The real doctors are across the bridge, which has been destroyed by the hurricane. George helps with rebuilding the bridge practically 24 hours a day, but eventually he becomes disgusted with the others who are working on the bridge, believing that they work too slowly. In his frustration, he speaks in his mind retrospectively to Ophelia: “If there was a boat ...

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