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Literary elements in girl jamaica kincaid
Development of children's literature
Analysis of Girl by Jamaica Kincaid
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Jamaica Kincaid was born Elaine Potter Richardson in 1949 in Antigua, in the British West Indies, but changed her name when she started to write because her family did not like her choice of profession. She arrived in New York at the age of seventeen years, taking a working as a nanny for a rich family, and met New Yorker columnist George S. TRow, which finally helped her to publish in the magazine. The New Yorker has published the short story Kincaid's "Girl" in 1978, the first part of its fiction. History has since has appeared in a short story anthology of Kincaid. The story of "Girl", as well as many of the books Kincaid relates the experience of being young and a woman in a poor country. Kincaid complicated relationship with her mother goes to the mother-daughter dynamic in history. She describes her mother as a competent woman who fought against its poor conditions in the end feeling bitterness toward their children, because all their problems …show more content…
It intends to advice to help her and scold her daughter and at the same time. " Slut" Kincaid uses a semicolon to separate warnings and words of wisdom, but often repeats itself, especially in order to prevent her daughter from becoming Along with these reps, "Girl" did not go ahead, in chronological order: no beginning, middle, or the end of the flow. Mother manages is lots of useful and helpful advice to help her daughter to keep her house some day. She says her daughter how to make cares such as household linen, sewing, ironing, cooking, setting the table, sweeping, and cleaning. The mother also said the girl how to do other stuff she needs to know about, including how to make herbal cures and
The author of the story, Jamaica Kincaid, was born and educated in Antigua in the West Indies and now she lives in Vermont. In the story, the setting is described as a Caribbean island. The climate and landscape describe is cloudless skies, monkeys, and flowering trees. In the story the narrator says, “…I saw tall flowering trees. I looked up to a sky with no clouds…” With these descriptions I can tell that it is a similar description to Antigua, which is where the Author used to live. This story reflects on when the author moved, it shows that both cultures were different. In my opinion it was different because she was used to being around people whom she shared the same culture with, and now she
Janie's outlook on life stems from the system of beliefs that her grandmother, Nanny instills in her during life. These beliefs include how women should act in a society and in a marriage. Nanny and her daughter, Janie's mother, were both raped and left with bastard children, this experience is the catalyst for Nanny’s desire to see Janie be married of to a well-to-do gentleman. She desires to see Janie married off to a well to do gentleman because she wants to see that Janie is well cared for throughout her life.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus in his quest to validate his claim that the world was round and that it should belong to his Spanish patrons, the king and queen of Spain, set sail on his ship Santa Maria. He soon discovered the “New World”, which was new to him, but not to the Antiguans who lived there. Cultural imperialism was one of the most prominent means Western countries like Spain and Britain used to colonize other parts of the world at the beginning of the fifteenth century. The Cambridge dictionary defines cultural imperialism as one “culture of a large and powerful country, organization, etc. having a great influence on other less powerful country.”
When Alice’s rape is discussed, Jane feels anxious and goes into panic attacks. During these attacks, Jane is in an unstable state of mind, and she cannot function properly. Normally, a teenage girl seeks out her mother for guidance in a time of need. However, in this situation, the mother/daughter roles are reversed, and Alice must comfort Jane. While Jane is having a difficult time with the rape, Alice had to step up and support her mother.
In the short story, "Girl," by Jamaica Kincaid, the character of the mother can be seen as tyrannical. This oppressive trait of hers is reiterated several times throughout this story. It is first displayed in her initial remarks, rather than asking her daughter to do things, she lists things in a robotic manner, "Wash the white clothes on Monday, wash the colored clothes on Tuesday." Not only is she robotic, but she appears to believe that she has been sent to save her daughter from promiscuity. Her narcissistic viewpoint of being a savior is one that is consistent with that of a tyrant. This perspective is evident through commands such as "try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming." She abuses her parental power
First in “Everyday Use” you recognize the differences in all three women throughout the story. The mama
The selected passage from Jamaica Kincaid’s novel Lucy: A Novel emphasizes an explicit conflict between the narrator’s immediate and expected joy over being able to experience relative luxury for the first time against the implicit force of her inner schock and realization of her past situation as it ties into and shapes her identity and perspective of the world at large. The first paragraph details the specifics of her past situation through direct thoughts of the reader and her way of describing the luxury she’s in as presented through slightly clumsy, almost uncomfortable syntax, whether she “got into an elevator, some [she] had never done before,” (1-2) or when she was “eating food just taken from a refrigerator.” (3) She says that the experience in the apartment, compared to her home, “was such a good idea that [she] would grow used to it and like it very much.”
Kincaid, Jamaica. The autobiography of my mother . New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1996. Print.
"Everyday Use" is told from momma's point of view which helps to reveal how she feels about herself. Momma feels that she is an uneducated person, she says "I never had an education myself," this creates barriers between her and her oldest daughter Dee who has a college education (94). She describes herself as "big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands" that wears overalls by day and flannel gowns by night (93). From momma's point of view one can tell that she favors her relationship with her daughter Maggie mo...
Girl by Jamaica Kincaid is a piece about a mother speaking to her very young daughter who is entering adolescence, advising her very specifically how to behave. Kincaid’s use of tone, repetition, intensity, and perspective help shape the main idea that being a female is nearly impossible and that women have to act a certain way with everything they do, even if they lack integrity with these actions.
Although, a mother’s determination in the short story “I Stand Here Ironing” mother face with an intense internal conflict involving her oldest daughter Emily. As a single mother struggle, narrator need to work long hours every day in order to support her family. Despite these criticisms, narrator leaves Emily frequently in daycare close to her neighbor, where Emily missing the lack of a family support and loves. According to the neighbor states, “You should smile at Emily more when you look at her” (Olsen 225). On the other hand, neighbor gives the reader a sense that the narrator didn’t show much affection toward Emily as a child. The narrator even comments, “I loved her. There were all the acts of love” (Olsen 225). At the same time, narrator expresses her feeling that she love her daughter. Until, she was not be able to give Emily as much care as she desire and that gives her a sense of guilt, because she ends up remarrying again. Meanwhile narrator having another child named Susan, and life gets more compli...
This could be what is happening in the story, the mother is telling her daughter to do all these things because of their circumstances. That is why the daughter doesn’t argue back with her mother and just does what she is told, although there are times when the girl wants to defend herself when she feels the mother is wrong. Overall the girl’s character is very different from her mother. The mother comes off as more strict and demanding, whereas the daughter is more laid back and does what's expected of her. The mother also see’s her daughter as someone who is going to fall down the wrong path, although her mother is just asking her to do some chores, it seems like a lot to handle as an individual.When reading this story you’ll have to read it a few times to get a good understanding of what is going on. The first part can be very confusing, especially when trying to figure out the characterization of the main characters when the mother does the majority of the talking in the story. The last sentence of the story also leaves you hanging because it makes you think.You wonder if the daughter lives up to her mother’s expectations or if she discards them. If the author ever decided to continue or add on to it, the story could possibly show more of the daughter’s perspective rather than just the mother’s point of view. If so, we are able to get a better understanding of the girl’s characterization, and why the mother expects so much from her. With more detail in this story, it would really assist us to learn more about the character and her background. If this story had talked more about the setting than we would have a better
Imagine your culture being thrown aside and a new one was all that was taught to you? How would you react to it? In this story the author, Jamaica Kincaid, is talking about how she reacted to this and what happened to her. The author grows up in a place where England colonization had taken place. She grew up in Antigua, a small island in the Caribbean. She is taught all her life about England, a place she has never seen. At an early age she started to realize that the English had taken over her culture. After many years of hating this country she had to see the place that had taught her a different culture and ideas. When she arrives there the hate for the country tripled and she starts to pick apart the entire place and everywhere she goes. As she moves through the countryside her feelings of hate start to show them self’s in her thought and words. The feeling of deja vu, she has been there before, starts to come in after all of the years of maps and description of the foreign land.
In the story Everyday Use by Alice Walker, we learn about a family that includes a mom called “Mama” and two very different daughters named Dee and Maggie. One daughter, Dee, has had a much easier life than her sister, Maggie, in many aspects. The relationship between Mama and her daughters provides the basis for Mama’s actions. The story is told from the perspective of Mama, allowing readers to learn about her thoughts and the motivation behind her actions. At the beginning of the story, Mama worries about what Dee thinks of her and tries to please her by giving her anything she asks for. By the end of the story, we see Mama changes because she stands up to Dee, resulting in her finally able to give Maggie something she desires. Mama changes because she realizes Dee shouldn’t control her actions and that Maggie deserves better treatment. Mama’s choice to stand up to Dee is crucial to understanding her character because we’ve seen how Dee has controlled Maggie and Mama for a long time and this action shows a turning point in all of their lives.
Many critics of The Autobiography of my Mother have remarked on the unrealistic facets of Xuela's extremist character. Her lack of remorse, her emotional detachment, her love of the dirty and "impure," and her consuming need for total control over everyone and everything around her give her an almost mythic quality. A more well-rounded, humanistic character would have doubts and failings that Xuela does not seem to possess. In light of Xuela's deep-seated resentment of authority, stubborn love of the degraded and unacceptable, intense rejection of the ìmaster-slaveî relationship, and--most pointedly--her hatred of the British and British culture, many critics have embraced the idea that Xuela is highly symbolic of the conquered, colonized races whose blood makes up her own.