Africans’ Clinging To Willow Springs’s Traditional Culture In Mama Day

Gloria Naylor is a prominent African American woman writer of the twentieth century. Based on textual analysis, this thesis studies blacks‘ clinging to their traditional matriarchy, religious belief and communal values in Willow Springs in Gloria Naylor‘s Mama Day, and points out that it is significant for ethnic groups including African Americans to cling to their traditional ethnic culture.This thesis consists of five parts: Introduction includes a briefing of Gloria Naylor‘s biography and her work Mama Day, a literary review on Mama Day from home and aboard, and major arguments as well as a summary of the thesis. The main body explores how blacks in Willow Springs cling to their matriarchy, religious belief and communal values. Conclusion summarizes the arguments of the thesis and points out its academic and social value.Chapter One analyzes the initiation of black matriarchy in Willow Springs and how blacks cling to it. Through the analysis of the ancestress Sapphira, it explores black women‘s subversion of white patriarchy reflected in Sapphira‘s substitution of herself for God, which makes her become the creator and leader of the black community. Similar to God who creates the world in seven days, Sapphira gives birth to seven children in a thousand days. Spphira‘s fertility indicates that blacks in Willow Springs are her descendants. Besides, Sapphira‘s obtainment of the ruling power from the white slave owner signals her final establishment of the black matriarchy. The black female character Mama Day‘s maintenance of the black matriarchy of Willow Springs makes her become the matriarch of the community. She protects the interests of islanders, and cures blacks of their mental and physical illnesses. In addition, the absence of the father in the Day family contributes to Mama Day‘s role as mother of the family. The ancient ancestress‘s establishment and the present matriarch‘s maintenance of the black matriarchy make the inheritance and development of it possible.Chapter Two analyzes blacks‘ beliefs in their religion Voodoo and conjuration in Willow Springs. Blacks‘ belief in Voodoo is presented in their worship of their ancestress Sapphira. Islanders in Willow Springs practice ―Candle Walk‖, the festival that signifies independence and emancipation of blacks in Willow Springs, to convey their commemoration of and blessings for their ancestress Sapphira. Different from Christians, Blacks in Willow Springs have their faith in immortal spirit and believe that their deceased relatives will accompany them in another form of life. Therefore, Voodoo unites the ancestress and the offspring, the deceased and the living together. Both heir traditional festival and the funeral ceremony contribute to helping blacks identify with and remember their history so as to cling to Willow Springs‘s traditional culture. Under the circumstance where Bernice‘s infertility cannot be cured by western medicine, Mama Day performs conjuration to help her become pregnant. Likewise, with the help of Mama Day‘s conjuration, Cocoa recovers from a serious disease which medical science fails in providing an effective treatment. In this respect, blacks‘ clinging to their traditional belief brings Willow Springs hope and life.Chapter Three analyzes blacks‘ clinging to their communal values in such activities as card playing and bridge repairing. Blacks pay less attention to the time which they take to repair the bridge but are concerned with whether all the people in the community take part in it. Likewise, for them the purpose of card playing is to enjoy the pleasure of being together rather than winning the game. Willow Springs‘s communal values are also shown in their familial values. The Day family‘s loyalty to their history helps George identify himself with the black community, unite the Day family as a whole, and brings them final peace. Besides, the Day family‘s loyalty to their past endows them with strength from their ancestress, which saves Cocoa‘s life. Their clinging to communal values brings them a peaceful and pleasant life.The thesis not only provides a new perspective for the studies of Mama Day, but also points out that only by clinging to their traditional culture can African Americans maintain their cultural identity.