Comparing novel themes, The Comet and Mama Day, both contain a spirituality, relationship theme. Each embodied the ethics of inclusion that displayed the democratic promise at the core of American identity. Both characters, Jim Davis, a black man and Ophelia Cocoa Day, a black woman embark on a journey of discovery as each establish a new understanding when it comes to traditional notions about honor and courage within their relationships. The Comet discusses the relationship between Jim Davis, a black man and Julia, a wealthy white woman that contain several religious themes. As the novel begins, the narrator refers to Jim as the messenger rather than by his first name, which is later learned. At first, this title seems to describe his employment, …show more content…
As a consequence of him working there, he was spared the toxic smell of the comet's tail. Julia, a young wealthy white woman who had also been working was also spared. Jim later discovered the death spell that had conquered New York City and immediately headed home to Harlem to check the status of his family. On his way, he saw Julia too needed to e saved from the toxic. Before they met up close, Julia could not tell what race he was. Saving Julia, her reaction to being saved by Jim, him being a black man highlights the continuing influence and effects of racism. Relating to Adam and Eve, Jim and Julia seem to be the only people left alive in the world. Later in the novel, Julia begins to view herself as the mother of all men. She then begins to view Jim as her brother of humanity. With the interpretations, she in a sense portrays herself as Eve and Jim Adam. Julia's, being of Eve, and portrayal of Adam, being of all humanity, is enhanced by the …show more content…
Cocoa, whose real name is Ophelia, is a young southern woman who is loved by those she associates herself with. George is an orphan who grew up in an all boys home. As he becomes an adult, he then manages to open hiss own business, an engineering company. Dealing with employment, his first meet and greet with Cocoa was during her interview to begin working at his company. As a business man, George needed a new hire immediately. It was unfortunate for Cocoa as she is obligated to visit Willow Spring Island every August to spend time with Mama Day and her family. Still wanting the job, Cocoa write a letter to George. Later on, the two finally marry, relocating to her home town. With jealousy and hatred in the air, Ruby, an insecure family friend plants spell onto Cocoa in hopes that she too will be bitter. Such spell leaves Cocoa physically and psychologically ill. As she is sick, a huge hurricane comes in destroying the bridge which is the entrance and leaving route to the Island. Without the bridge, no one can leave or enter. As George attempts to save his wife, he realizes the only way to do so is by following Mama Days instructions. The only way to save her is in the hunt of a red egg. As he attempts to retrieve such egg, he is then attacked leading him to die. Eventually, Cocoa heals and without her husband, moves out of her home grounds and begins a new
1) The major theme of the book is respectability. In the 1950 's Rosa Parks became the symbol for black female resistance in the
In Cold Sassy GA, the town is filled with gossip surrounding the town’s newest newlyweds. Will Tweedy finds himself eyewitness to it all. Grandpa E Rucker Blakeslee has ‘tied the knot’ with the young milliner, Miss Love Simpson. With it being only three weeks after the death of his last wife, the family and town alike are shocked. Confused but curious about it all, Will observes what it means to be husband and wife and what it really means to love. Puzzled by the secrets shared between the two, he tries to figure out just why Grandpa Blakeslee asked Miss Love for her hand in marriage and why she even agreed. While Grandpa Blakeslee is experiencing his second adolescence, Will is trying to make it through his first. When Will gets hit by a train and is still alive to tell about it, Grandpa Blakeslee gives him a lesson on God’s Will. And Will starts to realize not everyone interprets things the same way. When the mill child, Lightfoot crosses Will’s path his heart skips a beat. With all Will’s new found attractions and desires he decided to try his luck with the girls. That’s when he experiences his first kiss, and also his first heartbreak. After the innocent Uncle Camp kill’s himself due to Aunt Loma’s constant criticism, Will starts to question how he treats people. He starts to wonder if maybe he helped his uncle pull the trigger. Soon after that Grandpa Blakeslee’s store isn’t doing all that well. Two unidentified strangers come and rob Grandpa Blakeslee blind, in the process beating him up ‘something awful’. With his weakness effecting his immune system, he catches a bad case of pneumonia and soon passes away. But not before Miss Love could tell him what he had been waiting to hear his whole life…. He would soon have a son to carry on the family name. Not at all scared of death or the unknown, Grandpa Blakeslee orders a letter to be read concerning his funeral and remains. But to everyone’s surprise he orders the cheapest and lowest class funeral and orders himself nothing, but a wooden box. Wanting no one to mourn over him and everyone to know that he was dead...
...nt to those generations. Dee is educated and represents a modern generation that portrays freedom because she chooses to leave her rural home and start a different lifestyle, where she represents the African culture and plans to marry a man she selected. However, Mama represents an older generation where she is not a confident, educated, African-American, but deeply believes in her heritage because it is one of the last valuable possessions that she owns and represents the labor her family experienced. Despite this, heritage is beautiful remembrance of where people came from and distinguishes the struggle their family made to continue their legacy, but create a new life, as well.
In the beginning of the novel, Jim had a family but was soon abandoned by them do to both of their deaths. He was then on his way to his grandparents house in Nebraska to begin a new and different life. At this point, he began a union with both his grandparents as well as Antonia.
Lily’s idea of home is having loving parent/mother figures who can help guide her in life. Because of this desire, she leaves T. Ray and begins to search for her true identity. This quest for acceptance leads her to meet the Calendar Sisters. This “home” that she finds brightly displays the ideas of identity and feminine society. Though Lily could not find these attributes with T. Ray at the peach house, she eventually learns the truth behind her identity at the pink house, where she discovers the locus of identity that resides within herself and among the feminine community there. Just like in any coming-of-age story, Lily uncovers the true meaning of womanhood and her true self, allowing her to blossom among the feminine influence that surrounds her at the pink house. Lily finds acceptance among the Daughters of Mary, highlighting the larger meaning of acceptance and identity in the novel.
Living in Maryland, the narrator and her little brother Joey lived a very simple life. There mother had job that required many hours, and her father was unemployed and still in the process of trying to find a job. They lived in a very run down house in a very small poor community. One summer day, the narrator , Joey, and a group of kids from the community were bored and wanted to do something different. So,the narrator and the kids went down to one of the elders home, Miss Lottie. Miss Lottie was the old woman that everyone made stories about and for the kids they knew her as the witch. In the summer time Miss Lottie would always be in her front yard planting marigolds, which were an easy target to destroy. The kids all took part in throwing rock at Miss Lottie's marigolds, and the narrator was the coordinator. After they sprinted back to the oak tree, the narrator started to feel guilt for what she
Janie's Grandmother is the first bud on her tree. She raised Janie since she was a little girl. Her grandmother is in some respects a gardener pruning and shaping the future for her granddaughter. She tries to instill a strong belief in marriage. To her marriage is the only way that Janie will survive in life. What Nanny does not realize is that Janie has the potential to make her own path in the walk of life. This blinds nanny, because she is a victim of the horrible effects of slavery. She really tries to convey to Janie that she has her own voice but she forces her into a position where that voice is silenced and there for condemning all hopes of her Granddaughter become the woman that she is capable of being.
Although this story is told in the third person, the reader’s eyes are strictly controlled by the meddling, ever-involved grandmother. She is never given a name; she is just a generic grandmother; she could belong to anyone. O’Connor portrays her as simply annoying, a thorn in her son’s side. As the little girl June Star rudely puts it, “She has to go everywhere we go. She wouldn’t stay at home to be queen for a day” (117-118). As June Star demonstrates, the family treats the grandmother with great reproach. Even as she is driving them all crazy with her constant comments and old-fashioned attitude, the reader is made to feel sorry for her. It is this constant stream of confliction that keeps the story boiling, and eventually overflows into the shocking conclusion. Of course the grandmother meant no harm, but who can help but to blame her? O’Connor puts her readers into a fit of rage as “the horrible thought” comes to the grandmother, “that the house she had remembered so vividly was not in Georgia but in Tennessee” (125).
In 1988 Gloria Naylor wrote the novel Mama Day in hopes to show the world that one can either accept the hand they are dealt and make it come out to the advantage of themselves and others, or one can hide from their pain and live a life scared of what may come in the future. Mama Day is set on an island off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia that is inhabited by the descendants of a slave population. The main characters in the novel; Ophelia, Abigail and Miranda, also called Mama Day, all experienced a lot of pain in their lives; it is how they chose to deal with their experiences that sets them apart from each other.
George and Ophelia grow up in significantly different environments with exposure to vastly dissimilar experiences; their diverse backgrounds have a profound impact on the way they interpret and react to situations as adults. George and Ophelia both grow up without their parents, but for different reasons. George grows up at the Wallace P. Andrews Shelter for Boys in New York. The Shelter’s strict surroundings did not provide the warm and inviting atmosphere that a mother strives for in a home. The employees at the Shelter are not “loving people,” (p. 23) but they are devoted to their job, and the boys. At a young age, Ophelia loses her mother. We learn 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 role of mother figure. Mama day, Ophelia’s great aunt, acts more as a father figure. “If Grandma had been there, she would have 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 small island of Willow Springs. Everyone knows each other and their business, in the laid-back island community. The border between Georgia and South Carolina splits down the middle of the island. Instead of seeing any 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 many facets of their adult lives.
The book begins as a mystery novel with a goal of finding the killer of the neighbor's dog, Wellington. The mystery of the dog is solved mid-way through the book, and the story shifts towards the Boone family. We learn through a series of events that Christopher has been lied to the past two years of his life. Christopher's father told him that his mother had died in the hospital. In reality she moved to London to start a new life because she was unable to handle her demanding child. With this discovery, Christopher's world of absolutes is turned upside-down and his faith in his father is destroyed. Christopher, a child that has never traveled alone going any further than his school, leaves his home in order to travel across the country to find his mother who is living in London.
Every time the family comes to a confrontation someone retreats to the past and reflects on life as it was back then, not dealing with life as it is for them today. Tom, assuming the macho role of the man of the house, babies and shelters Laura from the outside world. His mother reminds him that he is to feel a responsibility for his sister. He carries this burden throughout the play. His mother knows if it were not for his sisters needs he would have been long gone. Laura must pickup on some of this, she is so sensitive she must sense Toms feeling of being trapped. Tom dreams of going away to learn of the world, Laura is aware of this and she is frightened of what may become of them if he were to leave.
She takes a job in a white lady named Ms. Cullinan’s home as a maid, who calls her Mary for her own convenience and lack of respect. This enrages Maya and in order to get away she smashes the finest china to get her fired. At her eighth-grade graduation, a white man comes to speak in front of everyone and he states that black students can only become athletes or servants which makes Maya furious. Later, when Maya develops a nasty toothache, Momma decides to take her to a white dentist who refuses to work on her. Momma claims that she lent him money during the Great Depression so he owes her a favor but he says he’d rather stick his hands in a dogs’ mouth. Lastly, one day while Bailey is walking home he sees a dead black man rotting in a river and a white man present at the scene says he will put both the dead man and Bailey in his truck. This terrifies Bailey and Momma wants to get them out of Staples so she sends them to Vivian’s again in San Francisco. There they live with Vivian and her husband Daddy Clidell who is a nice man to Maya, and has a lot of money from his businesses. One summer Maya goes to live with her father Big Bailey and his girlfriend Dolores, who are poor and live in a trailer. Maya and Dolores do not get along and constantly fight, so Maya runs away and lives with a group of homeless teens
Taylor, Turtle, Lou Ann, and Esperanza all develop because of their relationship with and to others. An iron is sharpened when it rubs against another piece of iron. Similarly, it is through contact and relationships that character is developed. The characters discover that they need each other to survive, just like the symbiotic relationship between the wisteria and the rhizobia. Taylor learns to depend upon the help of her friends. Turtle overcomes her emotional shock through Taylor’s love and care. Lou Ann finds her self-confidence through Taylor’s encouragement. Esperanza finds hope through her love for Turtle. All the characters learn how to be like the people in heaven. They are “well-fed” because they help and serve each other. The interaction among the characters provides nourishment and life. They develop into better people through this interaction.
Over the course of several months, August guides, teaches, and helps Lily to accept and forgive herself. August once knew Deborah, and she knows that Lily is her daughter, but she does not confront Lily about the issue. Instead, she waits until Lily puts the puzzle pieces together and discovers for herself the relationship between her mother and August. August knows she is not ready to learn the truth about her mother when she and Lily first meet, so she waits for Lily to come to her. When Lily finally realizes the truth, she comes to August and they have a long discussion about Deborah. During this discussion, Lily learns the truth about her mother; that her mother only married T. Ray because she was pregnant with Lily, then after several years she had enough of living and dealing with T. Ray, so she left. Lily is disgusted by the fact that her mother would've done something like this, she did not want to let go of the romantic image of her mother she had painted in her mind (“‘The Secret Life of Bees’ Themes and Symbols of The Secret Life of Bees). Lily struggles to stomach the fact the her mother truly did leave her and she spends some time feeling hurt and angry, but one day, August shows her a picture of Lily and her mother. As Lily looks at the picture she is comforted and thinks, “May must’ve made it to heaven and explained to my mother about the sign I wanted. The one that would let me know I was loved” (Kidd 276). Seeing