MAMA

• 'seems like God didn't see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams - but he did give us children to make them dreams seem worth while.' pg29 


  Negation 'nothing' juxtaposes the endlessness of 'dreams' highlighting the deference of AA dreams

  Syntactic parallelism

  Solace in nurturing the next generation.
• 'if this little old plant don't get more sun than its been getting it ain't never going to see spring again.' pg23


  Plant symbolism / extended metaphor represents the family's health and dreams

  Personification emphasises the importance of nurturing ones dreams

  Lack of sunlight = obstacles and challenges, dreams will wither and die like the plant

  'Old' = fragility
• ''say you got the flu... cause it sounds respectable to them.' pg26


  Illness is a privilege only WA can have, flu is not 'just a black person disease.'

  Euphemism

  Assimilationism + white privilege + prejudice of built in attitudes that associate AA with filth, violence and criminality.
• '(she shakes her head at the dissolved dream)' pg28


  Adverb 'dissolved' conveys their 'deferral' of dream: loss + Langston Hughes

  Internal struggle + weight of disappointment in the continuous fight
• 'they frightens me … one done almost lost his mind thinking 'bout money and the other done commence to talk about things i cant seem to understand... what is it that's changing?' pg 35


  Poignant moment - fear = vulnerability

  AAVE reflects her falling behind

  Vague HF lexis
• ''she' - what doctor you went to?' pg40

  abortion = illegal in 1950s america.

  disaproval>
• 'ten thousand dollars... put it away somewhere, Ruth (she does not look at Ruth, her eyes seem to be seeing something very far off) ten thousand dollars they give you. ten thousand dollars.' pg49 


  Anaphoric quantitative language shows the impact of the monetary value on the family.

  Like G, her 'seeing' of the past / future encapsulates dreams

  Kinesics show her envisioning a distant, abstract future - the potential the money brings, as well as lost in her memories of Big Walter.
• 'oh - (very quietly.) so now it's life. money is life. once upon a time freedom used to be life - now its money. i guess the world really do change.' pg54


  Exclamative 'oh' mitigated by dash and short declarative

  Paradox of money and life, highlighting shifting societal values

  Fairy-tale temporal adverbial
• If you a son of mine, tell her! (WALTER picks up his keys and his coat and walks out. She continues, bitterly) You…you are a disgrace to your father’s memory. Somebody get me my hat!' pg55 


  Ellipsis = hesitation, knows the gravity of the reference to 'father's memory' the threat

  Semantic field of family 'son, father' questions his loyalty + betrayal.

  Imperative 'tell her' and 'get me', the matriarchy of the house
• 'when the world gets ugly enough - a woman will do anything for her family. the part that's already living.' pg55


  Metaphor challenging broader society with HF adjective 'ugly'

  Irony to 'living', dual meaning in caring for existing family and the challenges to bringing new life into cruel world.
• '(Quietly, woman to woman)He finally come into his manhood today, didn’t he? Kind of like a rainbow after the rain…' pg 120


  Prosodics - feminist lens in solidarity in having witnessed family's struggles

  Masculinity = having the strength to stand up for what is right.

  Finalising idiom shows dignity = beauty.

  Sense of impermanency: history of AA oppression, no struggle = no dignity
• ''heaving... she comes back in, grabs her plant, and goes out for the last time.' pg120


  Prosodics of sobbing emotional fear for future, yet embracing the change

  Symbolism of carrying dreams with her

  Mama's departure - end of an era, a bittersweet link to the great migration

  Unlike T + D who retreat to their home in struggle, the younger leave it.
• 'You making something inside me cry, son. Some awful pain inside me.' pg113


  Metaphor + symbolism of personified pain as emotional burden and conflict: sacrifice as a mother

  Dynamic verb 'cry' elicits pathos, to generate empathy and understanding of her perspective in mothers across America.
• 'sometimes you just got to know when to give up some things... and hold on to what you got.' pg 111


  Accepting realism and assimilationism, losing dignity

  Defeat
• 'she goes to her plant, which has remained on the table, looks at it, picks it up and takes it to the window sill and sits it outside, and she stands and looks at it for a long moment.' pg110


  Proxemics

  Symbolism of her nurturing of her family

  Pacing = slow and deliberate, emphasising her contemplative actions
• 'I've helped you, haven't i son? Walter, i been wrong...Listen to me, now. I say I been wrong, son. That I been doing to you what the rest of the world been doing to you' pg81


  Her deference of his dream adds to his limitation in life, realisation of this seeing her son's nihilism.

  Chiasmus 'that i been... what the world...' she has been no different to society

  Anaphora

  Plead through direct address
• 'lord ever since i was a little girl... you aims too high all the time...' pg110


  Diction of 'lord'

  AAVE

  Over-ambition = hubris.
• Mamas’ speech ‘there’s always something left to love, if you ain’t learnt that you ain’t learnt nothing.’ pg115



  chiasmus