Girl by Jamaica Kincaid - Short Story Summary, Analysis, Review

Welcome to the CodeX Cantina where our mission is to get more people talking about books! We're looking at "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid this week. A very interesting story. The format is unlike anything we've looked at on this channel. With themes and topics in raising children, advice, and more, let's break down what's so engaging in this story.
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Link to Read for Free: www.newyorker.com/magazine/19...
Published June 26, 1978, issue in The New Yorker
Author reading the story: • Jamaica Kincaid reads ...
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Table of Contents:
0:00 Introductions
0:33 Publication Info
2:22 Analysis
17:27 Ratings and Wrap Up
#JamaicaKincaid
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====Copyright Info====
Song: Infinite
Artist: Valence
Licensed to KZbin by: AEI (on behalf of NCS); Featherstone Music (publishing), and 1 Music Rights Societies
Free Download/Stream: • Valence - Infinite | F...

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/thecodexcantina Table of Contents: 0:00 Introductions 0:33 Publication Info 2:22 Analysis 17:27 Ratings and Wrap Up

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Thanks for watching!

[@NO-uk7vu]

I have an exam TMW morning abt this story and you guys SAVED ME! Thank you from Egypt!!!!☻♥

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Good luck!!

[@xtreamzfn3423]

O

[@Starscreamlive]

I wasn't a fan when I first read it, but the more I ruminate over it the more I respect it for what it is. It's very telling of the mother-daughter relationship (any mother-daughter relationship). It has been my experience that mothers are much harsher on their daughters and tend to baby their sons, whereas fathers tend to do the exact opposite. It would be interesting to see a companion piece to this between the father and the daughter, or perhaps a son and the mother.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Oedipus wasn't completely made up.

[@Starscreamlive]

@@TheCodeXCantina 😂...er, uh...🤢

[@amounaoulahyane]

Perfect analysis . Keep going 💪

[@oussamakocoval2223]

I have an exam on that tomorrow, thank you guys it's very helpful

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Good luck with your exam!

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Really liked this discussion. I was REALLY lucky to be raised by a mom who worked at not trying to make us not make her mistakes, with one exception, she told me to sleep with someone before I marry them since she accidentally married a gay man 😆 on the other hand my dad is full of unsolicited advice that he feels he has the right to say....and its exhausting.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Literature Science Alliance oh my gosh. That’s shocking, funny, and serious at the same time. I once heard a line of “you have to intentionally screw your kids up so that way you don’t unintentionally screw them up.” I think it’s non-Sensical but I can’t stop thinking about it

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

@@TheCodeXCantina Who knows what I will end up doing when I have kids, I think I will try and do what my mom did and give them a safe place to come to when they make mistakes and try to set up reasonable boundaries and hope for the best, that's probably all I can do lol 🤷‍♀️

[@AppleSauce5768]

Same with the dad part!! Exhausting is an understatement.

[@matthewpullium5589]

I see everyone, including the interviewers, to see this story as a mother telling her daughter how to act as a girl, conducive to have a good life or happy family. And while I respect this view and understand why this could be concluded, would it be wrong to say this story is solely a girl speaking to herself, reminding herself how to act in society? I read it as a list which lead me to believe she is just reiterating things she knows to remind herself. It also feels as if she's mocking societal norms in a shameful and aggressive way, but it comes off calm and poetically due to the mundaneness of the tasks. Idk I could be wrong but just an idea.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

It’s not who's wrong or right in literary interpretations. It's more about backing up from the text, what makes you think a specific way for where you get value out of literature. So, you're saying maybe she wrote herself this list and is reading it back to herself and is maybe having an honest conversation about whether she really believes it's correct? You can try that route. There are parts in the letter that say "your father..." as opposed to “my father...” that you’d want to address why you think that way. I assume when you say she's mocking societal norms you're switching to Kincaid herself? You'd want to grab parts from the text that call out how you think she's doing that or how she's structured it that way.

[@Rajathon]

Yeah as a father you want to protect your kids from your mistakes. (ie. Sins of the father) On the same hand you also want to give them things you never had. I could not see ever calling my daughter that.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Rajathon They feel consistent and not out lashes. The poor girl.

[@user-mb2kw3zb7t]

I also took the story as it as things the mother has said to her, and she is ruminating about them while doing housework.

[@christiana808]

Hi! Do you have a transcript or an essay version of this video? I'd really love to use it as a source for my writing paper. Thanks for sharing such great insight!

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Only some high level notes and what youtube auto-transcribes. Best of luck with your paper!

[@mairawertt]

This video is very helpful

[@katietatey]

I found the KZbin video of Kincaid reading "Girl" and I was kind of disappointed with how she read it! I read this the first time in college (umm 1994) and in my head I read it very differently, with more emotion. Kincaid read it in almost a monotone. It was interesting to me your take on the mother (or grandmother, or stepmother, or as my friend used to say "stepmonster") as trying to lift up the daughter above where she would otherwise fall. I felt more like she was throwing a blanket on the girl. The speech / instructions felt very limiting. Imagine life where the only thing you have to strive for is pressed pants and a set table for your husband / father, getting a decent loaf of bread, and being quiet (don't draw attention to yourself in church, don't draw attention to yourself when eating). It just seems like a joyless existence with nothing to strive for. I hadn't looked at it from the perspective of just a loving but strict parent. The speech to me seemed very cold and loveless. Either way, a short and powerful piece that I immediately remembered from all those years ago. :) I, too, would LOVE to see the sequel, "Boy." Wonder what that would look like!

[@TheCodeXCantina]

katietatey So I saw this comment before going to bed and have been thinking about it all night. There are a few other people I’ve talked too as well. It seems to me that, not as a rule, several people seem to almost kind of favor a side when interpreting this story. From what I can tell some people tend to be dominant on having a POV as the parent and some are dominant of having the POV of the daughter. I think this drastically changes things which I hadn’t thought of before filming. So to me, these weren’t ceilings but floors. These weren’t what you wish to achieve and max out on for aspirations but the guiding bumpers to help you push up from. I wonder since I have the parent-focused POV does that greatly change the perspective? I spoke with a friend who said this reminded them of their parent who was constantly shaming and limiting them. So this friend had the more child-sympathetic POV. Under 18 in the US at least you don’t have much power to escape the situation which I think is a much different view to interpret from. Interesting way to phrase it with blanket being thrown on them. I missed that view going into this! Thank you.

[@katietatey]

@@TheCodeXCantina Yes!!! I am not a parent and so even in my advanced age I have a child POV. My father was very critical just like the female relative in Girl and I think that is so interesting that the story reflects what we bring to it! (And the first time I read it, I was only 18 so still very much under his thumb). A powerful piece for sure and I guess that's partly why they say once you've written something, it's not under your control anymore how the readers interpret it. I'm glad you reminded me of Girl after all these years. :)

[@iamanonymous7282]

I needed an analysis of "THE biography of a dress" by jamaica Kincaid. I couldn't understand the allegorical meaning of the symbols. Especially Why she persistently emphasized on the color yellow?

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Thanks for the recommendation. Sounds up our alley. We've got a few backlogs and patreon reads to work through first

[@iamanonymous7282]

@@TheCodeXCantina thanks, much appreciate it. Subscribed ✅

[@queencessdiaries3831]

I feel that if the days of slavery and its effects are taken into consideration you would have a better understanding of why the mother made references to the term "slut". You need to also take into consideration that back in the slavery days women slept with their slave masters in order to be treated better. So, even in the 1980's mothers dream of their daughters being educated instead of shaking up with a man. They dream of a better life and in order to be better, you need to inculcate "proper behaviors" and to be able to attract better husbands. The girl is about 13 years old. I believe that it is typical for mothers to give their daughters guidance in this way. The blackbird will not have the same representation in Caribbean Literature as it would in American Literature. Notice that this entire piece is written without proper punctuation. So there is urgency or a plea for her child to take heed to the advice given. The reference for the bread maker calls attention to marrying up.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Ok, thanks for sharing

[@MichaelPerryJr]

"Benna" is also used by devout Christians on Antigua to denote anything that is not Christian music. For a while, local things were not culturally valued on Antigua. It was all about what was British/US-American. There is now a back-to-the-soil movement.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Thanks

[@TheNerdyNarrative]

Love the shirts. I need one! Thanks for the link so I could read before watching. Sounds more like a step-mother's instructions to her step-daughter to me. I didn't like this story.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Me too! Where do I get one?

[@TheNerdyNarrative]

@@TheCodeXCantina /facepalm

[@NoahC-]

List is right! 🤣🤣

[@TheCodeXCantina]

I’ve spent time thinking of what the “Boy” version of this would be.

[@NoahC-]

@@TheCodeXCantina now that's very interesting 🤔 definitely no shortage of social expectations/obligations there...

[@KhalidAkiraYt]

Thanks for sharing today's video, .....how happy ....if you can take the time too to my activities today :) :) :)

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Sure, cheers!!

[@mikimesmer9721]

@@TheCodeXCantina how can i contact you?

[@TheCodeXCantina]

@@mikimesmer9721 Our channel name at gmail is our email. You can click on the "About" section of our page and the detail section has a place where if you click on it it reveals the email that you can copy and paste too.

[@Stpblckfemicide]

This reads as internal misogyny and a mother trying to tell the daughter how to be a good woman in hopes to avoid these misogynistic ideals that are placed into women in a patriarchal society.

[@sophiathiele7724]

Was that a cat with a diaper?! lmao

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Sure was