Authors | Information Center | Home
75 Thematic Readings
Authors
Henry Louis Gates
George Orwell
Stephen Jay Gould
Margaret Atwood
Russell Baker
Judy Brady
Thomas Jefferson
Judith Ortiz Cofer
Gloria Naylor
Richard Rodriguez
Brent Staples
Shelby Steele
Dave Barry
Frederick Douglass
Benjamin Franklin
Niccolo Machiavelli
Scott Russell Sand...
Bell Hooks
Jamaica Kincaid
Ursula Le Guin
Mike Rose
Edward O. Wilson

 

Feedback
Help Center



Jamaica Kincaid

Jamaica Kincaid

Jamaica Kincaid, "Girl"

Jamaica Kincaid (1949- ) was born in St. Johns, Antigua and studied photography at the New School for Social Research. Kincaid was a staff writer for twenty years at The New Yorker starting in the mid-1970s and has taught at Harvard University. Her heritage as a West-Indian writer is deeply intertwined with her vivid, sharp prose style. Her books include the collection of stories, At the Bottom of the River (1984), the novels Annie John (1985) and The Autobiography of My Mother (1996), the memoir A Small Place (1988), and the collection of essays Talk Stories (2001). She publishes regularly in periodicals such as Architectural Digest, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Callaloo. Kincaid holds numerous honorary degrees from various colleges and universities and has won the Fisk Fiction Prize. "Girl," her first published fiction, originally appeared in 1978 in The New Yorker and was collected in At the Bottom of the River.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

CONTENT

  1. According to the narrator, what's wrong with buying cotton with gum on it?
  2. Within this piece, who's speaking? To whom?
  3. Why is this story called "Girl"?
  4. What is the advantage of growing okra far from one's house?
  5. What does the phrase sing benna mean? How many times and in what context does this phrase come up?
  6. According to the narrator, are there more ways to set a table or to smile? What might this say about her view of life?

STRATEGY AND STYLE

  1. Kincaid does not break her story into paragraphs. How does the form of the piece influence the content? How would the advice seem different if it were presented in a more piecemeal style?
  2. This work is the story of part of a girl's life, but it's more that that. What are some of the ways Kincaid makes this story universal?
  3. Review your answer to Content question b.) above. How does the audience within the story relate to the story's outside audience? What in the piece can you use as evidence? What outside the story can you point to? (You're part of its audience, right?)

ENGAGING THE TEXT

  1. Recall a time when someone gave you advice that was unwelcome or even insulting. What did you do about it? What was your relationship to the advice-giver? How can you link these things to your reading?
  2. Describe your relationship with your mother. Did you wish she were around more when you were growing up? Around less? How can you relate this relationship to your reading?

SUGGESTIONS FOR SUSTAINED WRITING

  1. About how old is the girl from whom this story gets its title? Explain with specifics from your reading.
  2. Write a narrative essay in which you detail the three most important pieces of advice a parent or other authority figure ever gave you.

FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Do some research in order to write a character sketch of this author's mother. (Some of the links below will help get you started.) How similar does Kincaid's mother seem to the one portrayed in "Girl"? How can knowing something about an author's real life shed light onto his or her work? What are some the limitations of such knowledge?

WEB CONNECTION

This is the homepage of The New Yorker magazine, a periodical with which Kincaid has had an important relationship.

LINKS

Biographical

This is a very good general start page at the Voices From the Gaps site. There, you'll find photos of Kincaid and book covers, a biography, a bibliography, and related links.

When Kincaid gave a talk for the New York State Writers Institute, the organizers prepared this biography. You'll also find a photo of Kincaid on this page, and a link to a Kincaid talk about writing.

Here's a Kincaid biography, along with some photos, links, and a bibliography. What is given special emphasis here, and not in the biography above?

Bibliographical

Salon.com presented this interview with Kincaid following the release of her novel, The Autobiography of My Mother. What do you make of the title of the novel?

Here's an excerpt of My Garden (Book), along with a link to a review. After absorbing this information, would you like to read the whole book? Why or why not?

This page contains a link which will allow you to hear the author discuss her garden in RealAudio.

Cultural

Kincaid's place of birth, Antigua, plays a prominent role in much of her writing. Click here for more information about this Caribbean island.

Contrast the information you find here with that presented on the page above. What's the major difference in the nature of the information? Which page would you be more likely to cite in a paper about Kincaid? Why?

"A World as Cruel as Job's" is the title of this New York Timesbook review of The Autobiography of My Mother. To what does the author of the book review refer in her title? (Free registration required.)