The Imagery of Bernice
Naylor elucidates, “Bernice has been same way from a child: thin as a stick and always in motion…Her hands play with the buttons on her blouse, the ends of her sleeves, run across her collarbone. When she’s sitting, the muscles in her calf and knees move with a will of their own.” The allegorical skin highlights Bernice’s evident leanness. Besides, she is always on the run; hence, she barely settles at a single position. The positioning of her hands depicts her omnipresent nervousness. Voluntary movement of her muscles amplifies her edginess.
Cocoa’s notion of Home
Naylor recounts, “Home. Folks call it different things, think of it in different ways. For Cocoa it's being around living mirrors with the power to show a woman that she's still carrying knees, a runny nose, and socks that get walked down into the heels of her shoes." The imagery of Cocoa's idyllic home depicts her fascination with mirrors for they inform her of the imperfections on her body which she should rectify. The utility which Cocoa derives from mirrors exceeds value from being in the conventional home with her kin.
“Ads and listings”
Naylor expounds, “Mama Day and Grandma had told me there was a time when the want ads and housing listings in newspapers-even up north-were clearly marked colored or white. It must have been wonderful easy to go job hunting then.” The markings which underscore the required skin color of the applicants allude to deep-rooted racism. One would disqualify himself or herself from an application by assessing the required skin color. The overt racism would save the applicants from making applications where they would be disqualified due to their colors. The listings surmise that employment and housing opportunities are not equal for all people regardless of their skin colors.
“Second Sight”
Naylor reports, “By that August I had it down to science, although the folks here would say that I was gifted with a bit of Mama day’s second sight: in March of that year coats started coming off, and it was the kind of April that already had you dodging spit from the air conditioners along the side streets.” The ‘second sight’ underscores Mama Day’s instinctual endowment which differentiates her. The sight is imperceptible but it guides Mama Day’s perceptions. Ordinary humans possess a single physical sight. Accordingly, Mama Day is an exceptional woman with attributes which would be deemed superhuman.
Boys at 'Wallace P. Andrews'
Naylor affirms, “All of us were beneath poor, most of us were black or Puerto Rican, so it was very likely that this would be the first and last time in our time in our lives anyone would call us sir.” Most of the boys at Wallace P. Andrews are deemed misfits due to their personalities. Moreover, being ‘poor or black or Puerto Rican’ amplifies the odds of being there. Therefore, their categorization as misfits is influenced by the ethnicities and poverty.
