Clark 1 Tia Clark Prof.

Angela Jacobs ENC 1102 MW 1:00 4/15/14 Analysis of Girl by Jamaica Kincaid

The transition of a girl into womanhood is a delicate process, depending on her culture. Living in Antigua in the late 90s, Jamaica Kincaid was faced with the pressures of becoming a woman at that time. In her story Girl, Jamaica Kincaid exemplifies the stress she endured through this process and how her mother assisted in her success of being a respectable woman through the unique style of writing she used. In this story, the speaker uses short and blunt statements in an effort to guide a young girl, whose opinion is seldom established, into womanhood. Jamaica Kincaids birth place, adolescence and family relationships influenced the creation of Girl (Kincaid). There are recurring themes of coming of age and being female in her stories, including Girl, but it was so uniquely written that it is set apart. When analyzing Girl, narration will be taken into consideration as well as biographical criticisms and theme. The writing style Jamaica Kincaid uses in Girl favors that of a monologue (Hardy) and is very unconventional compared to classic narrations. For instance, the story is a mere page and a half no less (Hardy) and there is absolutely no dialogue, no plot development, or obvious characters. The story begins as what appears to be a list of chores being called out one after another. The girl has no name and the speaker is never directly referred to as the girls mother so there is no evident characterization. Also, the sentence structure and diction are very unique. The speaker speaks only in orders and rhetorical questions to the girl in the story who never has the chance to reply and barely the opportunity to think before the next command spews out. For

Clark 2 example, the story begins with, Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them in the stone heap; wash the color clothes on Tuesday and put them on the clothesline to dry (Kincaid). Considering the setting of Antigua, in a village environment, more than one speaker could be present in the story. According to the culture it was not uncommon for more than one woman to have influence over a childs life. It is apparent that someone or some people are speaking to the girl, but who it is is only implied throughout the story. The point of view is second person for the majority of the story, but there are only two instances where the narration shifts to first person which are revealed by being written in italics. At these times, what seems to be the thoughts of the girl are announced, yet apparently ignored by the speaker. Such as, near the end of the passage when the speaker tells the girl how to check bread, the girl thinks, but what if the baker wont let me feel the bread? (Kincaid). Here, the speaker acknowledges the girls thought but scoffs at it, exemplifying her lack of interest in how the girl feels about there being a chance she wont be able to check the bread. The setting is not blatantly established either, so most aspects of the story are left up to the reader to decipher and assume. These assumptions can be based on the background of the author Jamaica Kincaid and prior knowledge of the life of poverty in Antigua during the mid to late 90s (Kincaid). According to the mundane domestic chores (Smith) the speaker is attempting to teach the girl, the setting can be assumed to be in some sort of village, similar to one that may be found in Antigua, and the speaker seems like the girls mother. Girl can sometimes be viewed as a peephole to the life of the author Jamaica Kincaid and her relationship with her mother. Growing up in Antigua in a time where British influence was very prevalent, domestic chores and activities had to be performed to survive. Jamaica Kincaids childhood and adolescence was founded on British standards, which explains the

Clark 3 mothers no nonsense attitude to being the slut [Jamaica] was so bent on becoming (Kincaid). These standards included house chores, educational excellence and personal integrity. Schools in Antigua required their students to study English literature specifically and this contributed to Jamaica Kincaids success as a writer when she left Antigua and moved to New York (Jamaica, 1). Jamaica Kincaids complicated interpersonal relationship (Hardy) with her mother also contributed to the spirit in which she wrote her stories. An excerpt from Contemporary Literary Criticism states that the births of her brothers created distance between herself and her mother. (1). When she moved to New York, Jamaica Kincaid [broke] off all contact with her mother (Kincaid and Kreilkamp) and began her new life after changing her name from Elaine Potter Richardson (Jamaica, 1) to Jamaica Kincaid. After her move to the United States, she studied photography, wrote for local magazines, and bitterly wrote (Jamaica, 1) about her life. An example of the weakened relationship between Jamaica Kincaid and her mother can be found in the story when the mother asks if the girl really sings benna in Sunday school. The girls thoughts are introduced at this point and she thinks, but I dont sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school (Kincaid). The way the sentence is structured reveals the confusion the girl feels toward her mother. The mother assumes that if she doesnt strictly instill these values into her daughter she is bound to fail and become a slut. This excerpt also implies that the girl and her mother arent with each other on Sundays or the mother doesnt pay enough attention to know for herself what the girl does, without having to hear it from someone else. The mother seems to be oblivious to the girls feelings, focusing only on making sure she shows the girl how to be a woman in the way she was probably taught at that age (Smith).

Clark 4 One of the themes of Girl and most of Jamaica Kincaids works is coming of age (Smith). In the underdeveloped country of Antigua, the natives were expected to assume the responsibilities of an adult at a relatively early age, to preserve the culture and to keep their village living. Traditional womanly attributes and duties (Smith) are passed down from the mother to her daughter in order to preserve the generational tradition. Basing womanhood on age and not maturity can pose an issue with the relationships between the carefree teenagers and the adamant parents that just want their traditions and values passed on. In the village setting, generational traditions are passed down by parents to their children to keep their culture thriving successfully. Jamaica Kincaid emphasized the mothers focus of making sure her daughter learned appropriate cultural customs [and] the rules of social behavior (Smith) in Girl through the lack of dialogue and the blunt remarks made by the mother. The obvious gender roles present in Antigua contribute to another theme present in Girl which is the pressures of growing up female (Smith). Domestic activities were most prevalent in the chores enumerated in Girl. For example, the mother states, this is how you iron your fathers khaki so that it doesnt have a crease Apparently men did none of the many chores necessary to have a productive household and all the pressure was on the women. The mother probably believed that if you were a female who did not possess all the skills that added to the rhythm of life for women in the West Indian culture (Hardy) listed in Girl you werent completely a woman and were susceptible to lose your virtue. The weight of that pressure contributed to the mothers curt and stern disposition to how her daughter was going to learn to become a woman. In essence, Jamaica Kincaid used a list-like monologue (Hardy) to express the pressure she endured growing up female in Antigua. The narration present in Girl was unusual and

Clark 5 limited the amount of information presented in the text, but contributed to the purpose of the work. Themes found in Girl included coming of age (Smith) as well as the pressures of growing up female (Smith). Works Cited

Hardy, Sarah Madsen. Overview of Girl. Literature of Developing Nations for Students: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Literature of Developing Nations. Vol. 1 (2000): Literary Resources from Gale. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. Jamaica Kincaid (1949- ) Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffery W. Hunter. Vol. 234. Detroit: Gale, 2007. 1-2. Literary Criticism Online. Web. 6 April 2014. Kincaid, Jamaica, and Ivan Kreilkamp. An Interview with Jamaica Kincaid. Publishers Weekly 137. (1996): 54-56. Literary Resources from Gale. Web. 30 March 2014. Kincaid, Jamaica. Girl. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Spencer Richardson-Jones. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 2013. 170-171. Print. Smith, Pamela J. Olubunmi. Girl. Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition. 1983. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 26 March 2014.