The first thing that is noticed when reading Gorilla, My Love is the use of nicknames for almost every character in the story. Peaches/Precious, Baby Jason, Big Brood, and Hunca Bubba to name some, are nicknames for the main character, Hazel, and her close family. All these characters are on the younger side, save for Hazel’s uncle Hunca Bubba, who adopts his given name Jefferson Winston Vale, and who is the main cause of Hazel’s distress. The adults in the story are referred to through normal names such as “Grandaddy Vale”, “Aunt Daisy”, “Uncle Clayton”, and “mama”, providing a clear identity gap in Hazel’s narration between the childish nicknames and the respectable adult names – the difference between a child and an adult. This difference between the child and adult names indicates a separation of identity for Hazel, and author Toni Cade Bambara uses this relationship between names and identity in order to show the importance of a name in life.
When talking about “Baby Jason” or “Big Brood”, Hazel narrates in a more informal tone, specifically shown in the movie theater when she states “With Baby Jason kicking the seat in front, egging me on, and Big Brood mumbling about what fiercesome things we goin go” (Bambara 14). Not only is this part narrated in an informal sense, but the denotative content explicitly shows a lack of maturity from all three of the characters. Hazel is clearly comfortable in this situation, and the nicknames of Baby Jason or Big Brood add to that sense of childish immaturity and comfort – creating a sense of identity for her.
Hazel narrates differently when speaking about adults in her life. The use of more formal toning such as “Aunt Daisy” and “Uncle Clayton” clearly shows a difference in comfort than the characters with nicknames. The separation of comfort between the older adult characters and Hazel’s more close relatives, was the main reason of her frustration of Hunca Bubba’s name change to Jefferson Winston Vale. Now that Jefferson chose to drop his nickname, he matures above the line of comfort in Hazel’s eyes and joins the adults. Without that nickname, without that sense of comfort, he minus well be a completely different person. The comfortableness of Hazel around these nicknames is immature, and Hazel’s childish sense of identity reflects within these names. Through losing the ability to call Jefferson “Hunca Bubba”, Hazel loses so much more than his name, she loses someone close, clearly showing the importance of a name to her.