Jamaica Kincaid (1144-1146) Girl
Background:
Kincaid wanted to escape her life and come to the US. (1144)
Contemporary writer : "Contemporary literature is defined as literature written after World War II through the current day. ... Works of contemporary literature reflect a society's social and/or political viewpoints, shown through realistic characters, connections to current events and socioeconomic messages. " (https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-contemporary-literature-definition-writing-style.html)
Theme-
A Strong message of tradition is obvious in this story.
The different generations conflicting with the old ways.
Class differentiation between the girl's family and the rest of the village or town. The mother is very frugal and talks of making things last. (1146)
Mother calls her daughter (assuming the relation) a Slut or a slut in the making. She is so hell bent against the sexuality of Girl that she shames her and instills negative thoughts about herself consistently. However, there is also the mixed message of being the girl who should not talk to men that are not her husband and also being the girl who the baker will let near the bread.
There are superstitions in the story as well. The talk of birds and spitting in the air as cultural signifier. The mother believes in the old ways of her people. Bad spirits and good. Bad luck and good. Bad reputation and good. There is no middle ground. You do, or you do not, there is no try or in between.
Characters-
Mother: Assuming it is a mother (as it isn't really specific) who plays the part of carer, keeper, teacher, warden, judge, and jury. Has her ways that are the only right ways.
Girl: Possibly daughter. Possibly Kincaid, or maybe Girl is just the reflection of life that she and her friends knew. She writes of a mix of her own and borrowed experience.
Hi Savannah! You picked up on something I didn't think of much when I first read through Girl, but now I realize it was actually pretty important when you consider the context! You pointed out that the mother is superstitious and believes in bad luck and good luck. This reminded me that Kincaid was raised to believe in spirits and voodoo as well. It's really interesting to see just how much of her life experience she shares with us through her writing. Thanks for helping me understand this story even more than before!
ReplyDeleteHello Savannah!
ReplyDeleteI really like how organized and clear your notes are. You waste no time and detail background, theme, and character without delving into fluff. I'd imagine this style of notes makes allows you to complete blog posts with relative ease. Nice work!
hi Savannah
ReplyDeleteI really like the format of how you take your notes you first write the quote that stood out to you then you go into talking about that passage and what it means, which is like mini summaries that tell us a lot about the story and the background info of the author. I really haven't seen anybody do this kind of format before which is pretty cool.