Girl Jamaica Kincaid Copyright Academic Year 2004 2005
- Slides: 7
“Girl” Jamaica Kincaid © Copyright Academic Year 2004 - 2005, by M. Chavez. All Rights Reserved.
About the Author • Native of Antigua (British colony in the West Indies of the Caribbean) • Has Black and Jewish ancestry. • Lived in a restrictive environment • 1973 changed her name to “Jamaica” • Felt liberated when she lived in Vermont (teaching) and New York (staff writer for New Yorker magazine © Copyright Academic Year 2004 - 2005, by M. Chavez. All Rights Reserved.
Point of View/ Voice • No narrator evident • Speech delivered by the mother who speaks in the 1 st person • The listener (the “girl”) only speaks twice in this monologue (single speech) © Copyright Academic Year 2004 - 2005, by M. Chavez. All Rights Reserved.
Vocabulary Words • benna – songs with African connections – forbidden in Sunday school, where everything is connected in English • wharf-rat boys – men who hang around the docks, who are thought to be thieves and no-goods • okra – a vegetable, otherwise known as ladies' fingers • harbors – shelters © Copyright Academic Year 2004 - 2005, by M. Chavez. All Rights Reserved.
Vocabulary Words • dasheen – a green-leafed plant, used to make soup • doukona – a kind of pudding made of a starchy food, wrapped in a plaintain or banana leaf and boiled • pepper pot – meat stewed with Cayenne pepper, so that it is hot and spicy © Copyright Academic Year 2004 - 2005, by M. Chavez. All Rights Reserved.
The Form • One continuous sentence which demonstrates the methodical, continuous roles of women – Helps emphasize the control that the mother has on the relationship – echoes a parent’s nagging, suggesting that this could be either a hypothetical conversation or a real one © Copyright Academic Year 2004 - 2005, by M. Chavez. All Rights Reserved.
The Ending • “the kind of baker who the baker won’t let near the bread” – One who isn’t respected or trustworthy and who is probably the “slut” the mother keeps gloomily predicting the girl will be. © Copyright Academic Year 2004 - 2005, by M. Chavez. All Rights Reserved.
