Language and Postcolonialism

Like much of Kincaid’s early fiction, “Girl” recreates the world of a young girl, focusing on the nuances and rhythms of Caribbean English. This evocation of the speech of the islands is reminiscent of other Caribbean writers such as Derek Walcott of St. Lucia and Edward Kamau Brathwaite of Barbados, whose stories have also been compared to prose poems. Kincaid’s work has found its place within the English tradition of anticolonial travel writing, a tradition stretching back to Jonathan Swift’s mercilessly satirical writings on Ireland in the eighteenth century.

SPARKNOTES

Who is Jamaica Kincaid?

Jamaica Kincaid in September 2019

Jamaica Kincaid (born May 25, 1949) is an Antiguan-American novelist, essayist, gardener, and gardening writer. She was born in St John's, Antigua (part of the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda). She lives in North Bennington, Vermont (in the United States), during the summers, and is Professor of African and African American Studies in Residence at Harvard University during the academic year.

Her novels are loosely autobiographical, though Kincaid has warned against interpreting their autobiographical elements too literally

A short story by Jamaica Kincaid

The New Yorker, June 19th, 1978.

Jamaica Kincaid's short story Girl (1978) provides a glimpse of the relationship between a girl and her mother. The girl represents Kincaid in her youth. The story shows that, in this relationship, the mother tries to prescribe the behaviors that she deems appropriate for females. 

ROSENTHAL, Pamela. Panmore Institute.