“GIRL”

BY JAMAICA KINCAID Class Notes

Jamaica Kincaid

Jamaica Kincaid

 Jamaica Kincaid was born in 1949 as

Elaine Potter Richardson

on the island of Antigua.

Jamaica Kincaid

Mother: Annie Richardson Drew

…believer in

obeah

, a West Indian religion incorporating magic and ritual

Jamaica Kincaid - life

Kincaid was an only child until she was 9, and felt happy and loved.

Jamaica Kincaid - life

When Kincaid’s three brothers were born,

she felt that her mother rejected her

. This

betrayal and longing for a distant mother’s love

is a recurring theme in Kincaid's work.

Story Overview

Kincaid on her mother’s influence:

 ‘‘the fertile soil of my creative life is my mother. When I write, in some things I use my mother's voice, because I like my mother's voice ... I feel I would have no creative life or no real interest in art without my mother. It's really my ‘fertile soil’.’’

Kincaid lived with her mother and stepfather until 1965 when she was sent to Westchester, New York to work as an au pair.

Her first writing experience involved a series of articles for Ingenue

magazine .

In 1973, she changed her name to

Jamaica Kincaid

because

her family disapproved of her writing.



She worked for

New Yorker

magazine for 20 years.

 She now resides in

Bennington Vermont.

“I think in many ways the problem that my writing would have with an American reviewer is that Americans find difficulty very hard to take. They are inevitably looking for a happy ending. Perversely, I will not give the happy ending. I think life is difficult and that's that.” - Jamaica Kincaid

“Girl” - Publication Info.

First published in the June 26, 1978, issue of The New Yorker,

“Girl”

was the first of what would become more than a dozen short stories Jamaica Kincaid published in that magazine.

“Girl” - Publication Info.

Five years later,

“Girl”

appeared as the opening story in Kincaid's collection of stories,

At the Bottom of the River

(1983), her first book.

Story Overview

“Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid

Story overview

The story begins abruptly with words spoken by an unidentified voice

Story overview

The voice continues, offering instructions about how a woman should do her chores, and then about how she should behave

Story overview

At the end of the first third of the story, another

voice responds,

signaled by italics.

Story overview

It becomes clear that the

speaker

is an adult female, one in authority, probably a family member, and she is

speaking to a younger female

Story overview

“

Girl” is a

one sentence, 650 word dialogue

between a mother and daughter.

Story overview

The story is told in the 2

nd

person POV. The mother does most of the talking; she

delivers a long series of instructions and warnings

to the daughter.

Story overview

The daughter responds only twice, but her

responses go unnoticed

by the mother.

Story overview

There is

no introduction

of the characters, no action, and no traditional plotline.

Story overview

As the story progresses, the mother's tone becomes more insistent and more critical.

Story overview

The chores and behaviors are more directly related to

a woman's duties to men

, such as ironing a man's clothes.

Story overview

The mother warns the girl/daughter about being promiscuous—she seems to believe the girl is on her way to becoming a “slut”

Story overview

The story ends abruptly with the line:

“you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won't let near the bread?”

Story overview

There is no action, no exposition of any kind, and no resolution or hint of what happens to the characters after this conversation.

Story overview

Setting: Although no specific setting is named, Kincaid has revealed in interviews that it takes place in

Antigua

, her island birthplace .

“Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid

Characters

Mother :

The mother is a woman in Antigua who understands a woman's “place.”

Mother : She lives in a culture that looks to both

Christianity obeah, an

and

African-based religion.

Mother : Her culture holds women in a position of

subservience to men

.

Mother : She recites a

catalog of advice and warnings

to help her daughter learn all a woman should know.

Mother : Many of her lines are

practical pieces of advice

about laundry, sewing, ironing, sweeping, and setting a table for different occasions.

Mother : Other harsher admonitions warn the daughter against being careless with her sexuality, “ so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming .”

Mother

“Girl” is based on

Kincaid's own life

and her

relationship with

her mother.

Daughter: The daughter is an adolescent or pre adolescent

girl in Antigua

, learning from her mother how to be a proper woman.

Daughter: The girl speaks only twice in the story,

voicing impulsive objections

to her mother's accusations and warnings.

Writing Style

“Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid

Writing Style – “Girl”

“Girl”

is more like a

dramatic monologue

short prose fiction. than

Writing Style – “Girl”

The story could be the

girl's own internal monologue.

The advice could be from

a melding of many voices

in the girl’s memory.

Writing Style – “Girl”

Jamaica Kincaid’s fiction focuses on the

continuity and community

preserved and

kept alive by mothers

, through their stories and connection with their daughters.

Writing Style – “Girl”

The mother is maintaining an

oral tradition

whereby

cultural traditions and survival skills are passed down from mother to daughter.

Writing Style – “Girl”

Throughout the story, Kincaid manipulates the reader by juxtaposing:

 positive / negative  benign/ ominous  virtue / sin

Writing Style – “Girl”

As the contradictions draw closer --as

nurture

and

condemnation

increasingly intertwined— become the language seems to become more rhythmic.

Writing Style – “Girl”

The story begins with manipulative rhythm and repetition

Writing Style – “Girl”

It begins with the mother's voice giving

simple , benevolent ,

and

appropriately maternal advice .

Writing Style – “Girl”

Like the girl to whom the mother speaks,

the reader is drawn in by the chant of motherly admonitions.

Writing Style – “Girl”

Readers are

caught unaware by an admonition

that suddenly veers the story in a

new direction

.

Writing Style – “Girl”

Inviting

nurturing advice with

Repelling

condemnation with

vs.

Writing Style – “Girl”

The mother's speech, not only

manipulates

but also

teaches the art of manipulation

Writing Style – “Girl”

 

Manipulation…

Mother

scolds

Mother tells the girl

how to hide

condition the girl's impending sluttishness that

“this is how to hem a dress… to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming.”

Writing Style – “Girl”

Being a “slut” is

taken for

granted; the advice is aimed at

preventing others from realizing it

.

Writing Style – “Girl”

Toward the end, the mother's voice continues with

domestic instruction be

.

+ comment on a world in which nothing is ever what it seems to

Writing Style – “Girl”

The tone of motherly advice

lightens the sinister nature

of the information and then

makes the disclosures even more frightening

.

Writing Style – “Girl”

Eventually we see that, in a world in which a recipe for stew moves on to a recipe for the death of a child,

nothing is safe

.

Antigua “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid

Antigua

Kincaid grew up with a mix of

European and African

cultural influences, and these cultures are both present in “Girl.”

Antigua Colonized by the

British Portuguese

 port for British commerce and  producer of sugarcane

Antigua

Sugarcane plantations

were established and

African slaves

were brought to the island.

Antigua Most Antiguans are of

African slaves

lineage,

descendants of

brought to the island centuries ago to labor in the sugarcane fields.

Antigua

Slavery left a bitter legacy on Antigua:

Freedom came on August 1, 1834, but the lack of transition period left former slaves instantly impoverished.

Antigua

They had no choice but to continue working on the sugar plantations, where conditions and wages

kept them dependent on their former masters

.

“Girl” -

Setting “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid

Cultural Setting "Girl” clearly has a Caribbean setting .

Cultural Setting

Kincaid grew up in a home

without electricity or

running water. These conditions were fairly common among the poor and working class people.

Cultural Setting

Laundry ‘‘on the stone

heap’’

and

‘‘on the clothesline to dry” indicate a way of life without electrical appliances .

saltfish

Cultural Setting

pumpkin fritters Foods she mentions help place the story in the Caribbean: 

pumpkin fritters



saltfish



okra



dasheen

(also called taro, a tropical starchy root) 

pepper pot

pepper pot

Cultural Setting

Most families, like the mother and daughter in "Girl,"

grew most of their own fruits and vegetables

and ate little meat beyond the

fish they caught themselves

.

Cultural Setting

The lessons reflect

Western behaviors

,

traditional island culture,

and

African influence

.

Cultural Setting

To be a good Antiguan woman means then to know how to maneuver appropriately within a Eurocentric culture .

Cultural Setting

The mother’s speech is a

conscious initiation into the expected behaviors of a

woman in this culture.

Cultural Setting Public appearances are very important

and subtle

differences among those appearances

are also significant.

Afro-Caribbean Heritage “Girl”

Afro-Caribbean Heritage

The family lives simultaneously in two cultures: Traditional African Western/Christian

Singing

benna ,

calypso music

(but not in the European church. )

Practicing

obeah

(but also attending Christian Sunday school.)

Cultural Setting

"Girl" also contains

confusing and contradictory messages

about the daughter's relationship to her

African heritage

and culture.

Cultural Setting ‘‘Is it true you sing benna in Church?’’

the mother asks.



Benna songs are African folk songs



African cultural practices are not compatible with traditional Christianity.

obeah

Many Antiguans practice a woman-

centered, African-based religion

called

obeah

, similar to voodoo.

obeah

Caribbean Christians will often also practice

obeah

,

using spells and secret medicines

when the situation calls for them.

obeah

Because

objects may conceal spirits,

the mother warns about the

blackbird

being something other than it appears

obeah

The blackbird might be a “jablesse”

(

La diablesse, “she devil”

).

 a shape-changing spirit that often takes the form of a

beautiful, deceptive

, and

deadly

woman.

obeah

The

jablesse lures

men with her beauty but then isolates and devours them. (Note how the folklore reflects attitudes about female gender roles)

obeah Kincaid on obeah: ‘‘…it was such an everyday part of my life, you see. I wore things, a little black sachet filled with things, in my undershirt. I was always having special baths. It was a complete part of my life for a very long time.'' --Jamaica Kincaid

Cultural Setting Fish

myths. appear in many Caribbean

Cultural Setting

Fish are caught with various foreign

objects inside them

, revealing a truth, foretelling an event, or invoking a curse.

Cultural Setting

The toxic venom of the

puffer fish

has been used in

Caribbean voodoo

to create a zombie-like state.

Cultural Setting

According to Caribbean folklore, when

a pretty woman spits

on the lure, the fish will surely bite.

Cultural Setting

The “good medicine” is most likely

folk medicine

, much of which is based upon natural cures and/or

spiritual combined with physical

remedies.

Cultural Setting

The medicine to

prevent pregnancy

and/or

induce abortion

would have been kept by the women and passed by word of mouth generationally.

Cultural Setting

In much folk medicine, the

power of nature to do harm

is taken for granted, thereby requiring various remedies to counteract malevolence.

European traditions:

help the daughter be

successful

turn her against her

true self.

Resentment about this dichotomy

may account for the mother's

growing coldness

throughout “Girl.”

Cultural Setting

The mother becomes angry because, however dutifully she passes along her knowledge, her heart may not believe in its usefulness.

What is

NOT

Said

“Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid

What is

NOT

Said

Sometimes what is said

(but reasonably expected )

NOT

…is as important as what

IS

said.

What is

NOT

Said

There are no instructions for

how to make beautiful things

, or how to

make

oneself happy. No mention of Caribbean… 

colorful folk art



rich textiles



local crafts



exuberant music

What is

NOT

Said

No mention is made of Antigua’s

flowers

and birds.

beautiful The mother refers to flowers only once: ‘‘don't pick people's flowers…you might catch something.’’

What is

NOT

Said

 She gives no advice about

how to be a friend

, or how to sense which women to confide in.  Women are suspect – no mention of

positive female relationships

.

What is

NOT

Said

No tips about

nurturing a child

in any way  The mother mentions children only when she shows

"how to make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child.’’

What is

NOT

Said

No self improvement; no dreams.

 Nothing about

possibilities beyond home and domestic duties

.

What is

NOT

Said

She does not speak of school or books, nor of travel or a career.

What

the girl may want

is not important .

Kincaid wanted more than what she was offered on Antigua:

"I did not know what would happen to me. I was just leaving, with great bitterness in my heart towards everyone I've ever known, but I could not have articulated why. I knew that I wanted something, but I did not know what. I knew I did not want convention. I wanted to risk something.’’ –Jamiaca Kincaid, on leaving Antigua

Women’s Roles & Sexuality

“Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid

Women’s Roles & Sexuality

The warnings and the assumptions behind them indicate the importance of the

suppression of female sexuality

, at least in any form not authorized by the society.

Women’s Roles & Sexuality

The mother's function is to condition a new generation of young women to experience themselves as

guilty because of their gender

rather than their behavior.

Women’s Roles & Sexuality

If the mother feels that the tasks allotted to a woman are

demeaning or subservient

, she also does not say so. But she describes NO satisfaction with her life.

Women’s Roles & Sexuality

When she thinks of sex, and of her daughter's supposed or real flirtation with it,

her tone becomes colder

, even

angry

.

Women’s Roles & Sexuality

The instructions in "Girl'' are a far cry from the advice given to American women today, which may include:

“

creative outlets

” ‘‘

making time for yourself

”

“

balancing family with career aspirations

” “

smart financial planning for your future

”

Discussion Questions

“Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid

Discussion Questions

    How do you classify the mother’s advice? IS it nurturing and supporting? Is it condemning and admonishing? Is it both? What does the nature of the mother’s advice tell you about growing up as a woman in Antigua?

Why do you think the author titled this story “Girl” and not a specific name? “Girl” is written in only one paragraph, made up of a run-on sentence. What is the effect of this style? What effect does it have on the reader? What impression does it make?

Is there a particular moral code implied in this story?

Discussion Questions

 A. Choose a line that stands out to you, underline it, and write it on your paper.

B. Why did you choose this line?

C. What does this line say about the Girl’s life/childhood?