Discussion Thread: “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid
Paper details:
Attached the short story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid and the analysis (PDF files) for your reference. Please see professor’s requirement as below:
“Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” is a short but important work of fiction for many reasons. In our course, this work is significant because it serves as a “bridge” between Modernism and Post-Modernism. Specifically, this depiction of an almost one-sided conversation between a caretaker and “girl” can be seen as abusive (i.e., think of the use of the word “slut”) or as representative of “tough love” (i.e., the speaker is simply telling “girl” how to operate in an unfair world). Remember that Modernism as a zeitgeist still displays hope even if the fiction or poetry seems dark in tone. Post-Modernism, as we will discuss this week and next, is a zeitgeist of hopelessness. In other words, its writers are not saying that humankind can learn and change; they are saying that we are lost. Hence, the way that you interpret “Girl” as hopeful (as displaying love…albeit in a strict way) or hopeless (as abusive) influences if you see this as Modern or Post-Modern. Please use about five to seven sentences to comment upon whether you believe this work shows a loving conversation or an abusive one. For extra credit, please react to a classmates’ posts.”
Jamaica Kincaid, “Girl”
Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap; wash the
color clothes on Tuesday and put them on the clothesline to dry; don’t walk barehead in
the hot sun; cook pumpkin fritters in very hot sweet oil; soak your little cloths right after
you take them off; when buying cotton to make yourself a nice blouse, be sure that it
doesn’t have gum on it, because that way it won’t hold up well after a wash; soak salt fish
overnight before you cook it; is it true that you sing benna in Sunday school?; always eat
your food in such a way that it won’t turn someone else’s stomach; on Sundays try to
walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming; don’t sing benna in
Sunday school; you mustn’t speak to wharf-rat boys, not even to give directions; don’t
eat fruits on the street—flies will follow you; but I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all
and never in Sunday school; this is how to sew on a button; this is how to make a buttonhole
for the button you have just sewed on; this is how to hem a dress when you see the
hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so
bent on becoming; this is how you iron your father’s khaki shirt so that it doesn’t have a
crease; this is how you iron your father’s khaki pants so that they don’t have a crease; this
is how you grow okra—far from the house, because okra tree harbors red ants; when you
are growing dasheen, make sure it gets plenty of water or else it makes your throat itch
when you are eating it; this is how you sweep a corner; this is how you sweep a whole
house; this is how you sweep a yard; this is how you smile to someone you don’t like too
much; this is how you set a table for dinner with an important guest; this is how you
smile to someone you don’t like at all; this is how you smile to someone you like
completely; this is how you set a table for tea; this is how you set a table for dinner; this
is how you set a table for dinner with an important guest; this is how you set a table for
lunch; this is how you set a table for breakfast; this is how to behave in the presence of
men who don’t know you very well, and this way they won’t recognize immediately the
slut I have warned you against becoming; be sure to wash every day, even if it is with
your own spit; don’t squat down to play marbles—you are not a boy, you know; don’t
pick people’s flowers—you might catch something; don’t throw stones at blackbirds,
because it might not be a blackbird at all; this is how to make a bread pudding; this is
how to make doukona; this is how to make pepper pot; this is how to make a good
medicine for a cold; this is how to make a good medicine to throw away a child before it
even becomes a child; this is how to catch a fish; this is how to throw back a fish you
don’t like, and that way something bad won’t fall on you; this is how to bully a man; this
is how a man bullies you; this is how to love a man; and if this doesn’t work there are
other ways, and if they don’t work don’t feel too bad about giving up; this is how to spit
up in the air if you feel like it, and this is how to move quick so that it doesn’t fall on you;
this is how to make ends meet; always squeeze bread to make sure it’s fresh; but what if
the baker won’t let me feel the bread?; 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?
