Ethno-Graphing The Pastoral: Gloria Naylor's Mama Day
Journal Title: International Journal of English and Literature (IJEL) - Year 2018, Vol 8, Issue 2
Abstract
Afro-American slave history and its socio-cultural apparatus remained unrecognized owing to the white man’s burden as most slaves were illiterate and not allowed to speak out. Consequently, their narratives were a frantic struggle to maintain or claim their cultural legacy, identity, and humanity in a racist system that had denied them these. Gloria Naylor’s literary novels are rooted in southern heritage in pastoral tradition. Mama Day marks Naylor’s departure for new geographic and thematic terrain. The novel strives to re-establish the importance of southern culture and nature in Afro-American identity. This article focuses on the intricacies within Afro-American’s culture in nature and nature in culture by creating an environment in which the richness of folk value system can be explored. The novel provides close portrait of everyday black folk and reveal the richness of the black culture and inherent strengths of the black community whose lives are sometimes reduced merely to the struggle for survival. The southern land holds such a prominent position in Mama Day that these characters are narrated as a part of the pastoral landscape. Her characters George, Cocoa and Mama Day present a larger social framework
Authors and Affiliations
POONAM PUNIA
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- EP ID EP344165
- DOI 10.24247/ijelapr20181
- Views 100
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