“Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid

1. “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid Class Notes

2. Jamaica Kincaid • Jamaica Kincaid was born in 1949 as Elaine Potter Richardson on the island of Antigua.

3. Jamaica Kincaid Mother: Annie Richardson Drew …believer in obeah, a West Indian religion incorporating magic and ritual

4. 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.

5. “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

6. “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.

7. “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. https://youtu.be/AHr1HYW0mKE Kincaid reads “Girl”

8. Story overview “Girl” is a one-sentence, 650-word dialogue between a mother and daughter. It is based on Kincaid's own life and her relationship with her mother.

9. Story overview The daughter responds only twice, but her responses go unnoticed by the mother. As the story progresses, the mother's tone becomes more insistent and more critical.

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

11. Story overview Mom talks more at Girl than to her, and she seems to totally ignore Girl. But to Mom, it seems like Girl is totally missing the point. If she follows all of Mom's advice, then obviously the baker will let her squeeze the bread. It's all connected: what seems like a totally random list of advice is actually summed up by this: be the kind of woman who gets to squeeze the bread.

12. Story overview Setting: Although no specific setting is named, Kincaid has revealed in interviews that it takes place in Antigua, her island birthplace.

13. Mother : She lives in a culture that looks to both Christianity and obeah, an African-based religion.

14. Daughter: The girl speaks only twice in the story, voicing impulsive objections to her mother's accusations and warnings.

15. Writing Style – “Girl” Jamaica Kincaid’s fiction focuses on the continuity and communitypreserved and kept alive by mothers, through their stories and connection with their daughters. The mother is maintaining an oral tradition whereby cultural traditions and survival skills are passed downfrom mother to daughter.

16. Writing Style – “Girl” The mother's speech, not only manipulatesbut also teaches the art of manipulation

17. Writing Style – “Girl” Manipulation… • Mother scolds the girl's impending sluttiness • Mother tells the girl how to hidethat condition Being a “slut” is taken for granted; the advice is aimed at preventing others from realizing it. • “this is how to hem a dress…to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming.”

18. 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.

19. Setting: Antigua Colonized by the British and Portuguese • port for British commerce • producer of sugarcane

20. Antigua Sugarcane plantations were established and African slaves were brought to the island. Most Antiguans are of African lineage, descendants of slaves

21. 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. They had no choice but to continue working on the sugar plantations, where conditions and wages kept them dependent on their former masters.

22. Cultural Setting Laundry ‘‘on the stone heap’’ and ‘‘on the clothesline to dry” indicate a way of life without electrical appliances.

23. Cultural Setting Foodsshe mentions help place the story in the Caribbean: • pumpkin fritters • saltfish • okra • dasheen (also called taro, a tropical starchy root) • pepperpot saltfish pumpkin fritters pepper pot

24. Cultural Setting To be a good Antiguan womanmeans then to know how to maneuver appropriately within a Eurocentric culture.

25. Cultural Setting- benna ‘‘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.

26. obeah Many Antiguans practice a woman-centered, African-based religion called obeah, similar to voodoo. Caribbean Christians will often also practice obeah, using spells and secret medicineswhen the situation calls for them.

27. 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.

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

29. 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

30. Cultural Setting Fish appear in many Caribbean myths. They are caught with various foreign objects inside them, revealing a truth, foretelling an event, or invoking a curse. According to Caribbean folklore, when a pretty woman spits on the lure, the fish will surely bite.

31. Cultural Setting The “good medicine” is most likely folk medicine, much of which is based upon natural cures and/or spiritual combined with physicalremedies. The medicine to prevent pregnancy and/or induce abortion would have been kept by the women and passed by word of mouth generationally.

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

33. 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

34. What is NOT Said No mention is made of Antigua’sbeautiful flowersandbirds. The mother refers to flowers only once: ‘‘don't pick people's flowers…you might catch something.’’

35. 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.

36. 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.’’

37. What is NOT Said No self improvement; no dreams. • Nothing about possibilities beyond home and domestic duties.

38. What is NOT Said She does not speak of school or books, nor of travel ora career. What the girl may wantis not important.

39. 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

40. 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 genderrather than their behavior. She describes NO satisfaction with her life.

41. 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”

42. Discussion Questions “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid https://youtu.be/FlhIko1YRuI class project film

43. 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? • If the girl in "Girl" were a boy, what would Mom be telling him? What if Dad were talking instead? • “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?

44. Discussion Questions • How would you read "Girl" differently if it were titled "Mom?" • What would the text look like if Girl did most of the talking? • Why is Mom so obsessed with her daughter's sexuality? Can you see parallels in today’s world? • What kind of upbringing do you think Mom had? Is she speaking from her own experience, or are these rules that her own Mom taught her?

45. 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?

46. Discussion questions Read the story once more. Answer the following questions to help you analyze the points of view presented in the story and the effect of different points of view on the mother-daughter relationship. Cite specific examples from the text. • What kind of a person is the mother? What does she value? How do her opinions and the information she presents reveal her personality and her values? • What is the tone of the mother's instructions? • What kind of person is the daughter? • How might this story be different if the daughter had written it? • Predict what their conversation will be like in five years. Who will be speaking? What will be said? • What does Kincaid achieve by writing her story in a way that reveals two points of view, with the emphasis on the voice of the mother? What is the "truth" about the relationship that Kincaid is trying to express?