Prompt 9 on Water by the Spoonful

            I believe that a scene which shows the blending of two realities is scene 10. In this scene, Yaz and Elliot are at Mami Ginny’s funeral giving her eulogy. At the same time, we see Odessa in her home pouring out spoonfuls of water on the floor in her house. These two occurrences appear to be totally disconnected from each other.  However, they are in fact bound together not only by family, but by emotion. Odessa, for one is not attending the funeral. This is important because it shows that she does not feel comfortable in her sister’s shadow. The fact that her sister, who is seemingly perfect, is dead instead of her is unbearable for her to think about. We see Yaz and Elliot describing all the great traits about Mami Ginny and all the wonderful things she has done for her family and community. It is obvious that Odessa has not accomplished as much as her sister has. She has been a letdown to the family and will never be given the same respect as Mami Ginny. For every good quality about Mami Ginny, Odessa scoops a spoonful of water on the floor, reminding herself of all her mistakes with this one simple symbolic action. I believe this scene shows us that Odessa thinks she should have been the one who died, not Mami Ginny. As a result of this thought, she is heartbroken and depressed and regretful of her decisions. I believe this scene holds a lot of insight and importance in the play, especially in regards to how Odessa feels. This is, in fact, the first time we see regret from her past life. It is the first time the real Odessa is shown. Also, Elliot cannot get through the speech. I think this is important because it shows that Elliot considers Mami Ginny to be her real mom, which is a huge blow to Odessa.