Cocoa & George (Due 11/25)

[Paul L. Hebert (he/him/his)]

While Mama Day is the titular character, nearly all of the book is narrated from George or Cocoa as their relationship progresses. It makes sense, then, to analyze their relationship. Do you think they are a good couple? Do you think they’ll end up working out in the end? What characteristics compliment each other or might cause problems. What do you think Naylor wants us to envy or disparage about the relationship?

[Mikaela Charalambous]

Coco and George aren’t a “good couple” but they are an honest reflection of most couples. Cocoa lashes out at George because she is insecure, afraid to lose him, and because she is stubborn and headstrong it is difficult for her to admit these things. George is closed off about his past and insecure in his own ways, focusing on his triumphs and ways that he has overcome his obstacles in an effort to never address the pain those obstacles caused him in the first place. When George cries on Cocoa’s chest, they “never spoke about the tears,” and we might use this to pass judgment on their relationship for lacking communication or honesty. We might also see it as a way of honesty and communication that is more subtle; every couple has their own way of comforting each other, knowing how the other is feeling, etc. as over time you get acclimated to someone’s mannerisms. It might be that they never openly communicated about these pains but in the ways that are unrevealed, they had their own ways of dealing with them.
Naylor certainly wants us to disparage them for getting into the relationship too quickly, but this is another very honest and real-life component of their relationship. Many people fall deeply in love, very quickly, and this impulse and deep emotion combined allow them to feel as if marriage is the necessary next step. A strong sexual connection is also a catalyst for this.
We can judge and shame their relationship as much as we’d like but ultimately, neither character is in a time period or context where couples therapy (or probably even individual therapy) is a thing, where they can openly speak about the pains of family, racism, insecurity, etc. in a space that is nonjudgmental or made for them. It is not an excuse for the negative aspects of their relationship but it certainly explains it. They complement each other in the way that they both have many shared experiences, and the ones they don’t share are ones that can complement each other in opposite ways (ex: George has no real home/family, but Cocoa has a very inviting one that accepts and loves him as their own). While I hope that their relationship ultimately prevails, it won’t for the simple reason that a) it’s foreshadowed often in the book that Cocoa is going to break George’s heart and leave him in Willow Springs and b) the attachment George feels to Willow Springs is combatted by Cocoa’s even stronger desire to leave it. The aspect of their relationship that could have been their salvation, that could have connected them, ultimately ends up being the one main thing that breaks them apart. Especially with all the spooky shit that happens down there.

[Sandra Bala]

Even though we can see the love and attraction between Cocoa and George, they aren’t really a good couple. There is always a sense of boundary that is present between them which keeps them apart from understanding or relate with each other. The boundary is due to their complete opposite backgrounds and rushing into a marriage without thinking it through. As George was raised in an orphanage unknown from his family history or roots, he grew up as a person believing that “only the present has potential”. Also as he went through a lot of crucial times, he only gave importance to the “facts” of the world and didn’t believe in any myths, superstitions, beliefs or emotions. Where on the other hand, Cocoa is all about her roots, emotions and mystery. Therefore, it is hard for Cocoa to explain the ways and mysteries of Willow Springs to George who has no belief in them. The couple is also unable to understand each other’s insecurities. Cocoa is anxious that she would appear different towards George after the visit as he only knows her as Ophilia who lives in New York, but not Cocoa who grew up in this mysterious island. Cocoa is also extremely insecure about her appearance as she thinks the people in the island always saw her as a freak due to her light skin appearance compared to other blacks. She was given the nickname “cocoa” by her family who hoped the name would put some color in her. We also see her that she is insecure about her breasts being saggy. However, George doesn’t understand her insecurities and points them out which makes Cocoa more hurt and insecure. In the same way, Cocoa doesn’t understand that George envies Cocoa because of her sense of belonging and family traditions as he never had those for himself. Therefore, she becomes frustrated by his questions and attempts to understand the rationale behind their mysterious traditions. Cocoa is unable to explain the whispers she hears in the Graveyard to George because he won’t be able to understand or believe her. Therefore, these explain a lot of miscommunication or lack of communication and understanding between the couple which should not be there. They are unable to express each other’s feelings and perspectives towards each other due to some kind of fear or the inability to relate with each other. These characters of them might cause problems or create more distance between the couple. I think there might be a big conflict afterwards in the story which might separate them from each other because both of them witness the same odd nightmare the first night, where George was drowning and he was trying to save Cocoa from something he couldn’t see but he wasn’t able to. I think this might be a foreshadowing of the death of one of the characters. I think Naylor wants us to disparage the communication gap and lack of understanding between the characters which is due to their sudden decision to get married and not giving each other the chance to properly know each other by heart.

 

[Eric Mei]

Cocoa and George are not a “good” couple, but realistically they reflect a lot of relationships in that they are two different people who struggle to work together through each other’s flaws. They likely wouldn’t last due to their constant clashes and inability to accept each other’s insecurities (and their breaking up is mentioned earlier). They come from completely opposite upbringings where Cocoa experiences love and community in Willow Springs, but George on the other hand, experiences loneliness and isolation, lacking a family growing up. They never really opened up and shared about those pasts, and instead rushed into marriage based on impulses and immediate feelings. Since Cocoa grew up having all that love to ground her, she is more capable of expressing and owning her feelings, emotions and thoughts. Cocoa is extremely headstrong, and wants George to really just open up to her, but they hadn’t known each other for long to even let George really trust her and for them to get to know each other. George lacked the warmth and security that Cocoa had, so that makes it much more difficult for George to think about his past since it was a dark one. He never knew his family, so his childhood was all about rebranding himself and getting himself ready to be successful in the world. For the same reason, he is more curious about Cocoa, about her life in Willow Springs and about this mysterious island. Their difference in communication skills is largely due to how they grew up, causing many issues in their relationship. Naylor wants us to disparage their rushed marriage and inability to communicate with each other, which is why they will ultimately not last.

[Ashley Fils-Aime]

I believe that Cocoa and George, like any other couple, are not perfect. Their differences in characteristics and backgrounds make it very difficult for them to strive as a couple. I believe that this will ultimately be some factors that lead to the end of their relationship. One large difference between George and Cocoa is their childhood. Cocoa grew up in an environment that was very family like. She had been raised in a place that was inviting, supportive, and filled with an abundance of people who loved her. George, on the other hand, grew up in an orphanage. Not knowing his parents and living in loneliness at times affected him greatly, causing him to only focus on the present. Lastly, this missing piece from his childhood caused him to be jealous of Cocoa because she had something he never did.

Another issue between George and Cocoa were their differences in beliefs because of their upbringings. Cocoa was surrounded by beliefs in magic, ghosts, superstitions, and myths while George was not. This made it hard for her to explain where she came from because George would follow it with disbelief. Additionally, Cocoa and George had difficulty communicating with each other and understanding each other’s insecurities.

I think Naylor wants us to envy their great connection although they had many issues. George and Cocoa’s relationship had its ups and downs, but they filled each other’s missing pieces, which might have been something that caused them to be happy together.

[D’Andre Matos]

So far in the story, it would seem that George and Cocoa are not a great couple in more traditional manners. A lot of what drives their relationship seems to be the natural impulse of discovery. Namely for Cocoa, much like she’s “discovering” New York, she is also discovering a man who’s so willing to show the place to her. Naylor seems to go out of her way to paint the extreme differences between the couple. George is an orphan accustomed to city life and is rather blunt in the regard that he does not understand the emotional impact of his words, only the “logical” impact of them. This is evident a number of times, between his comments on Cocoa’s breasts as well as the bedroom incident in Willow Springs in which he wakes up “tented” and expects Cocoa to be as enthusiastic about it as he is. Cocoa instead is far more emotional inherently, coming from an actual background that has a family she could show her emotions to. Her inclination to be strong often creates tension in the relationship, as she ends up being a person of many assumptions to those around her and even George. While Cocoa is far more grounded in the supernatural and of presumptions, George is more involved with calculations and taking what’s at point-blank value, as shown with even trying to find Willow Springs on various maps before getting there.

These differences are not necessarily established to prove why they should not be together. Surely Naylor could have written these differences as a means of coming together, although, often do these differences seem to cause a lack of transparency in the relationship. Although they are open and even blunt with each other to a certain degree, it is clear that instead of these differences inciting emotional comfort in the other, it establishes distance and friction. Even when the relationship has positives and George states he wishes to explore Willow Springs for the sake of getting to know Cocoa and her home better instead of being skeptical about it, there’s a sense of hostility in their ideals that clash between George’s realism and Cocoa’s background of the supernatural. It does not help when George grows an attachment for the island due to his past lacking warmth and family, with Cocoa wanting to leave him. It’s unfortunate that the relationship lacks a means of being open, with emotions and feelings for the other simply not being able to come out, and if they do, they are met with questioning, doubt, and hostility.

I think, ultimately, the novel will end with the couple together despite the warnings that Cocoa leaves George. I feel this way simply because if the title of the book is Mama Day, yet the novel is mostly about their romance, it seems obvious that the relationship is meant to be the key struggle of the novel if its not about Mama Day and that Naylor will find a way for the characters to open up to each other. We could certainly say that Naylor wants us to disparage the hastiness they have in their marriage with their inability to communicate being such a potent factor in the relationship after. We could also say Naylor wants us to envy their sense of exploration and willingness, as they ultimately do explore one another in both mind and body even if there is friction along the way. At the end of the story, I either expect that one character sacrifices themselves for another, or that they simply end up together, though I cannot really say for sure if they will stay together in Willow Springs or back in New York.

[David rosario]

I don’t think that George and Cocoa work out to be a couple.  They are two opposites but they don’t attract as people say.  George is from New York City an urban area and Cocoa is from Willow springs a disclosed island so they have different upbringings which can make it harder for them to relate to eachother.   Their lack of  communication and understanding is also why their relationship probably wont work out in the end.  Cocoa’s insecurity and George’s lack of love and loneliness do not mix well.  Also the fact that they haven’t known each other a long time to fully understand each other also plays a big role.  I think Naylor’s Disparage of their “relationship” will foreshadow their falling out in the future.

[Daniela Kandkhorova]

I believe that George and Coco do not make an ideal couple. One reason I believe this is due to them coming from completely different backgrounds and being raised differently. Coco comes from Willow Springs and George from New York, their lifestyles were very different. They grew up in different ways and in the long run this is known to cause problems in relationships. They both have their own ways of dealing with hardships and are not the same. It is also known that those who come from similar backgrounds will eventually be a better match because those two coupes will relate to and understand each other much better. Yes, I do agree that there is a special love between them but that does not explain their communication styles. They don’t understand each others point of view I believe. This is because they both came and were raised differently. George is also the kind of person who does not believe in vodo and spiritual healing. He believes I things that are factual and proven. Coco on the other hand is all about the magic and vodo. Coco is very intelligent as well as George but Geroge was raised with needing to know that things have to be factual and magic is not. Here is another reason why I don’t think they make a good couple this will make them both get into arguments and one of them will end up getting misunderstood. Communication is very important in a relationship and I believe that they lack that in their relationship.

[Chris Georgiadis]

I feel that Cocoa and George are not really a good couple but at the same time they really are just different people who come from two different places in which they eventually bond through each other’s issues. The relationship may not really last due to how there is always conflict between their insecurities and that there is no agreement to anything as they argue. They come from two totally different societies where Cocoa experiences a community that is fulfilled with love in Willow Springs, but on the flipside, in New York City, George experienced loneliness along with isolation as he grew up with no family. George and Cocoa never really mentioned their past experiences to each other and instead they quickly went on to get married through their feelings they caught on in a short period of time.  Cocoa is more capable of expressing her feelings, emotions and thoughts based on growing up in a loving community of Willow Springs. She is extremely stubborn and wants George to really express his life that he is keeping to himself to her, meanwhile they’ve been together for a short period of time as George lacked on the warmth and security that Cocoa had along which then led him to have a difficult time on how he can express his past life experiences. As of not knowing his family, George was striving to make a new name for himself by working on to be successful in the world. Mainly the way George and Cocoa grew up with different traditions goes to the reference on how Naylor wants us to get the picture that communication is a significance in relationships and that George and Cocoa lack communication in their relationship.

[Daiana Vilorio]

I don’t believe Cocoa and George are a good couple because of the wall that they keep between each other. Cocoa preventing him from getting close to her emotionally and their communication is lacking. Due to their clashing backgrounds, they struggle to relate and understand one another.  With Cocoa’s upbringing of community and family is the polar opposite of George’s isolated environment he lived in New York. They tend to clash because of how these places molded them as adults. I don’t believe that they’ll work out in the end. Cocoa is headstrong and won’t let herself be vulnerable in front of George. Also, her beliefs are different from his, having to do with magic and superstitions. While George is more concerned about the reality that is technical. Naylor wants to disparage their relationship because they aren’t your typical “relationship goals”  even though not every relationship is perfect this relationship lacks communication which is essential.

[Annael Guadalupe Alvarez]

Mama Day seems to approve of George as Cocoa’s husband. In her eyes, she sees George as someone who would be able to handle Cocoa’s temper and attitude. She believes that he is the adequate partner for Cocoa based on his responses as well as Cocoa’s letters, where she realized that Cocoa met someone special without her explicitly stating it.

Because of our ability to look at how George and Cocoa perceive each other from their respective perspectives, we know that they both tend to misunderstand each other’s intentions (sometimes making us want to shout at them to communicate better).

In the beginning, they might not seem to have been a good couple due to the awkwardness that rose while they tried to make sense of one another’s actions. Both of them recognized how bizarre the act of going out for dinner had been when they barely made a connection until George found the opportunity to show Cocoa NY from his perspective. This is one way in which they bonded and started opening up to one another.

While they try to analyze one another, they also try to understand the other better. Though sometimes, they end up testing one another. For instance, Cocoa initially wanted to make George choose between her and football. She tends to question whether or not he is willing to give up things he loves like his passion for football. While testing him, she also tries to understand George’s love for football by trying to sit down and watch a game of football, though she fails to catch any interest in the process or develop the same fondness George has for the sport. George tried to get to know Cocoa better after they had gotten married and tried to find sources explaining menstruation that were more personal accounts and less detached like the way he had been explained by his instructor Mrs. Jackson. These little details are what pulls these two different individuals. The fact that they put effort into getting to know one another and break the friction that occurs between them is something commendable. This is what some people would pull as evidence to pair these two together or “ship” them. Their little arguments also can appear amusing or relatable from an outsider’s perspective. These should be expected in a relationship no matter how well two people get along.

Naylor seems to want us to think that these two are a working couple. Of course, they have their differences in their backgrounds and interests; despite those differences, they have gotten to the point where they have opened up about themselves despite their own fears of appearing vulnerable to one another. They tend to jump to conclusions before consulting one another properly, which is a problem lots of relationships face. This could be detrimental to their relationship in the future, and it is possible that something might pass their way and break their relationship. Like most things, effective communication here would help avoid the problems that they tend to run into.

[Madenisse Vargas]

I believe that Cocoa and George would work out to be a good relationship. There’s a saying that opposites attract and I feel like Cocoa and George could end up being each others Ying and Yang. George helps Cocoa discover New York which is kind of like he’s the missing piece and she’s the puzzle. George is very outgoing and so is cocoa but in very different ways he’s outgoing for adventures and exploring, Cocoa is more outgoing in a demanding way like when she applied for the job she expected to get it or if not she didn’t care how she came across to George. Another reasons why I think they would be a great couple is because Cocoa and George grew up differently therefore they have different experiences and understandings of life that could end up complimenting eachother in a relationship. Cocoa grew up in a small familiar town and George was a orphan which can maybe make him desire family and value it as much as Cocoa does. I think Gloria Naylor wants us to envy how George and Cocoa are so different but little things really tend to bring them close and that’s something we should pay mind to in real life. George is a very patient person which I think will help the relationship last longer since he’s able to be more understanding while Cocoa is more of a micromanager.

[Sheldon Chan]

I think that Cocoa and George make for a bad couple but I feel like they could make it work. Their backgrounds are much different, with George being from New York which means his life is very fast pace and he’s constantly on the go. He grew up isolated because he is an orphan so he never had parents who loved and raised him. He does, however, wanna reverse it with Cocoa by getting to really know Cocoa. Cocoa is, however, a much different person than George as she grew up in Willow Springs which is a small community of people who all knew each other. She grew up with a family who loved her so she didn’t feel the need to explain her insecurities and open up her feelings for a man who’s much different than her. I feel like if they went to counseling they could work it out.

[Victoriya Kushmakova]

Thus far throughout the novel both George and Cocoa just like any other couple cannot be perfect. They do have distinct differences, especially when it comes to where they feel at “home” (George finds himself at home in NYC, while Cocoa finds Willow Springs her home). Since Willow Springs is a place of family and closeness Cocoa is used to that, while George on the other hand grew up in a very fast paced city and without a biological family which he lacks the family aspect which his significant other has. Another large difference between the two which would be something usually to get through as a couple is their different traditional beliefs. George is more of a realistic idealistic believer while on the other side of the spectrum Cocoa beliefs the more supernatural side. Something which happens in the story is George finding attachment to the Island that Cocoa calls home while she wants to leave him which makes it very difficult do have a healthy relationship. However, the two seem to be that couple who would end up together despite their differences because they do communicate. The couple does get married in a rush and Naylor wants to portray the strong bond that the two share despite their differences and different beliefs.

[Shamila Kunwal]

I believe that George and Cocoa, they both are a good couple because they both love each other. The entire structure of Mama Day is fitting to the telling of multiple love stories intertwined. The most obvious example is the relationship between George and Cocoa (arguably the main love story). Through the book we see them meet, fall in love, and go through excitement and hardship; all that love is.

Love is one of the major themes in this book. Love has the unfortunate nature of being objective and the best way to tell love stories is from every point of view. How else can one understand from the outside? On page one she starts with Cocoa telling her side of things and on twenty-two; here comes George’s side. And it continues on like this, back and forth, telling both sides of certain events through the fog that is each character’s own perception of things. This is a brilliant manipulation of points of view and one of the saving features of the book.

Even in their most disagreeable moment, when it all boils down they both see it the same, the blowout to end all blowouts. Argue as they did, argue as they may, in the end, they were one person of one mind, just what a marriage should be.

So when Cocoa treads that thin line between life and death, she makes herself living proof of George’s love for her. A kind of extreme representation of language, but effective none the less. Deep and rich is the characterization for everyone, it doesn’t matter how insignificant the character may seem.

 

[Author]

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