Jamaica Kincaid Essays (Examples)

Jamaica Kincaid

Colonialism, Coming of Age and Preserving the Past in the ork of Kincaid

Jamaica Kincaid has earned a reputation for speaking frankly and brashly about the personal journey of self-awareness. In doing so, the author has also become a powerful voice for the oft-underrepresented experience of Caribbean Islanders in the late 20th Century. A native of Antigua, Jamaica Kincaid left in her late teens to pursue an education in the United States. This dramatic break from her past would be followed by the adoption of the pen name by which she would become famous. This transformation is critical to the present discussion because it implicates the major themes that would be recurrent in her writing and because it inclines us to consider the ways in which we constantly reinvent ourselves. In both Annie John and My Brother, Kincaid uses the very personal and transformative experiences of her protagonists…

The example Xuela sees of womanhood, and the one she later repeats, is one of jealousy and spite. At one point, this step-mother even tries to kill Xuela with a necklace, piece of jewelry. This is another example of femininity -- this time in the form of a feminine object, the necklace -- being used in a destructive way. Xuela so identifies with this picture of women that she repeats the behavior without even understanding why, such as when she seduces her step-sister's lover or sleeps with other women's husbands.

Eventually, Xuela marries a rich white man who loves her, and she uses this love to make fun of him and control her world. This is the only way she has been taught to be a woman. She has almost all of the traditional negative "feminine" traits, such as jealousy, manipulation, and selfishness, but none of the good qualities. She…

Small Place," Jamaica Kincaid fulfills Rushdie's call for postcolonial writers to carve territories for themselves within language to overcome their oppression and perceived inferiority. Kincaid achieves this first by writing about what she knows best: the postcolonial environment of her native country of Antigua. In "A Small Place," Kincaid analyzes the way colonialism has impacted the development of social, cultural, political, and economic institutions in Antigua. The author emphasizes her personal experience on the island. In so doing, she carves a niche in the "small place" that is the island. With a special focus on the tourism industry, Kincaid achieves Rushdie's call for a focused territory that can be used to overcome oppression and perceived inferiority. "A Small Place" is also about social structures and hierarchies, including gender, race, and power. Language becomes the most powerful weapon to be used against the continued oppression of people living in a postcolonial…

Creating eality

Wideman's assertion about the author's view and presentation of the world as he or she sees it is certainly important. Indeed, it is the work of every author to create for readers an authentic presentation of the world as he or she sees it. This is particularly so of authors who take as important a position in history as the writers of the African-American resistance to oppression. Both John Edgar Wideman and Jamaica Kincaid present their intensely personal experiences in such a way that it provides to readers and authentic view of what reality is for these writers. Both intensely intellectual, their respective works Brothers and Keepers and My Brother, create for readers worlds that present the reality not only as a perceived black oppression, but also the wide diversity that exist among African-American people in terms of social and professional position. Both works therefore show that these…

As a symbolic extension of the physical meaning of the word "small," the word can refer to something that is insignificant or of little importance, and this has many applications in the book. Antigua is seen as a "small place" by many in that it is of no real importance to the British or even to the other tourists that flock to the island. To these people, it is simply a quaint and picturesque place to visit, but if it disappeared the next day it wouldn't really affect them. Jamaica and the other poor, native inhabitants of the island are equally forgotten or ignored, and made to feel quite small in their lives, and all of these are possible meanings of the title -- the island and/or its people are the "small place" upon which the book focuses. Alternatively, as the book comments on the beauty and the greatness that…

Girl and Great Falls

All cultures, seemingly without exception, foster gender role differentiation. Codes of male vs. female behavior guide the way parents raise their children, the ways children relate to each other, and the way individuals view themselves. In many cases, sex-differentiated adult gender roles, social norms, and expectations are constructed painfully. The painful, chaotic, and even violent process by which gender role differentiation occurs is captured by both Jamaica Kincaid and Richard Ford in their respective short stories, "Girl," and "Great Falls." These short stories show how gender as a sociological phenomenon can disrupt inner peace and fracture the soul. In her terse tale "Girl," Jamaica Kincaid recounts her internalized authoritarian voices: a list of "thou shalts" and "thou shalt nots" that have, for better or worse, constructed the narrator's sense of identity. In addition to the poignant impact of the narrator's internal dialogue, "Girl" shows how one…

prejudice is bad actually convince the reader?

A Buddhist monk, famous among his peers for the calm and serenity he constantly expressed, received the visit of a young man one day. The latter had come intent on disturbing the monk's peace and reputation and began attacking the master with a conglomeration of verbal expressions that even the foulest of men would have bowed their head in shame. Each word that came out of the young man's mouth was one more colorful than the other. And no remark that he addressed to the monk had anything but a pejorative sense of direction. As the young man went on to gesticulate vividly in a body language that matched his most "candid" acts of expressing, the Buddhist monk did nothing but gently smiled, causing the young man to build up more steam. Exasperated and drained out of energy, the man finally gave up…

Outside of marriage, there is the "hazard of Children" (Franklin). Also included in his reasons are that "debauching a Virgin may be her Ruin, and make her for Life unhappy" (Franklin). In "Girl," the narrator warns the reader, "don't walk barehead in the hot sun" (Kincaid). In addition, she is told, "this is how you smile to someone you don't like too much; this is how you smile to someone you don't like at all; this is how you smile to someone you like completely" (Kincaid). hile each piece approaches different subjects, they are equally successful in their delivery.

Both pieces represent a different time period as well as station in life. Franklin is speaking with another man about something of a sexual nature and he is being as discreet as he possibly can. He is a man of prestige offering advice to someone that wishes to step out of…

Thus even the process of reclaiming ones identity is subject to the conditions imposed by colonial oppression.

hile the book certainly touches upon some of the lingering and seemingly intractable problems associated with colonial oppression, there is also glimpses into how human beings are able to transcend these problems and carve out their own identity; even without an adequate understanding of their roots. e see for example, how Lucy misses her life in Antigua, even though it represents and existence that was constantly stifling her and preventing her from reaching her true potential as a woman. As she implies, this is because while Antigua represents a more restrictive existence compared to her experiences in America, the bonds of family which were forged on the island, are not easily broken (Kincaid, 6). Her experiences in the United States, while liberating and interesting, fail to elicit the same deep emotional connections she…

One can see many similarities between the two characters. However, there are also difference in their attitudes towards their future. Yunior sees the future as bleak, largely due to his father's actions and the effect that he knows it will have on the family. Annie sees her family as representative of her security in childhood.

Annie grows up in a proper world, where the father embodies the perfect father figure, according to the rules of Antiguan society. She has a close relationship with her father, unlike the absent father or Yunior. As both adolescents make preparations to go into their lives as adults, they go with very different attitudes, largely as a response to the fatherly figure in their lives. Both adolescents know that they have to leave the security of the home and in order to break the influences of their childhood, only one goes with anticipation and the…

Othello" by William Shakespeare, "Oedipus the King" translated by Robert Fagles, and Girl by Jamaica Kincaid. These are dense and rich pieces of writing that have stood the test of time. These works continue to influence and offer insight in the modern moment. These plays and this novel are filled with many themes, motifs, symbols, and other literary techniques. The paper will primarily focus upon themes of jealousy and betrayal, gender and power, vision, and at the heart of it all, fear. The paper will limit the scope of the comparison to the aforementioned themes and mostly primary characters within each. What do these literary texts have in common and what do they teach readers about the human condition?

Jealousy and betrayal are rampant in "Othello." Iago is very jealous of Othello and betrays his trust. He convinces Othello that Desdemona, Othello's fiancee, conducts romantic affairs outside of their relationship.…

Cognitive Behavior Therapy- A Case Study

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) Case Study

Case report

K is a forty-eight-year female who referred to Midlothian's clinical psychology psychosis service. K has a twenty-year history of mental health conditions. She first decided to contact mental health services because of the episodes of paranoia and severe depression she had experienced. During her initial contact with the mental health services she was diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder in 1996. When she was first referred to the mental health services department she was a single. She told of having only two close relationships in her past life. She however also said that she found these relationships challenging when it came to intimate contact. She also generally described that she found it somewhat difficult to form friendships or to trust people in her life. Despite the mental health conditions her general physical well-being was good. K was prescribed…

Prejudice

If you walk in to a bookstore or browse online you will find hundreds, in fact thousands, of essays, books, articles, and speeches about prejudice. Obviously, most of them are against prejudice and before you begin reading any of them, let me tell you that chances are good that they will contain phrases like "don't have prejudice against people," "prejudice results in downfall" or "prejudice is a bad thing,." ut what puzzles the mind is whether phrases like "we shouldn't have prejudice against people" are enough to end prejudice. Does a moral lesson at the end of a very moving story convince you not to have prejudice against your fellow beings? Does it convince people not to judge others and to treat everyone equally? I think not. In order to understand what prejudice is, does a person have to experience it firsthand?

In order to ponder over this important…

Tradition is normally used in connection with culture and to keep a culture healthy and alive, it is important to allow traditions to stay alive as well. However traditions that place restrictions on personal, professional, emotional or spiritual growth tend to have a negative impact on entire humankind and must therefore not be followed. hen traditions are not followed, they die a natural death. Bad traditions must not be kept alive either through personal struggle or collective rebellion.

Two Kinds is one story of unproductive traditions that teaches us why some traditions are negative and hence must die. Not all traditions help in keeping a culture alive, some traditions tend to lend bad reputation to a culture and only cause culture degeneration. Two kinds by Amy Tan is one of the most heart-wrenching stories about a girl's difficult relationship with her mother. The sheer transparency of emotions can leave readers…

omen ith Authority in a Patriarchal orld

In the contemporary world, the cultural and literary spheres acknowledge female interests and activities. Females have overtly exerted their rights by demanding their due status in society, thereby being accepted as important societal members. But the scenario was vastly different about a hundred years ago. Females belonged at home, with the general society believing that raising children and taking care of domestic affairs sufficed as their emotional fulfillment. Between 1850 and 1900, societies were chiefly patriarchal and dependent women had to fight to enjoy equal social status. They were governed completely by a male-fashioned society, and had to be the image of the era's feminine ideal.[footnoteRef:1] In this paper, female authority within patriarchal societies will be addressed, with particular emphasis on the many restrictions when it came to them exerting power and what effective strategies they applied. [1: Pamela, Balanza. "The Role of…

Emilia, Wife of Iago

Do not learn of him, Emilia, though he be thy husband.[footnoteRef:1] [1: Othello, Act II, Scene i.]

More than once, I think to myself how life could have been differed between that of my previous past to that which I have now. A woman whose prospects boiled down to nothing as important as marriage could not have many to begin with. But a husband whose soul blackens the very environment, whose tongue twists morality, whose plots send shivers down my little spine? No, even this I had not asked for, not one bit.

If my good mother was still alive, I would wager that her argument would play out as follows:[footnoteRef:2] [2: Theme: The hardships of mother-daughter relationships (Lucy by Jamaica Kinkaid)]

How now, Emilia, where is your sense? Was it really so bad to leave Mantua[footnoteRef:3], to head face-front to the catastrophe that is your…

So the kids cannot play under the rain since this Monday, because, it has been raining. The kids who are not my kids asked me if it was the sprinkler that was left turned on causing the rain. I said it is not the sprinkler, but the rain since Monday of this week. The kids asked me if they can play outside but I told them it has been raining since Monday so they cannot play. Although there are no storms, it has been raining since Monday and it is now Saturday and last Saturday it was not raining. Although the kids want to play, they cannot because it has been raining since Monday and the sun has not been out since Monday when the rains began. Last week the kids played because it was not raining last Saturday. But today it is raining. The kids wish the rains stop…

She is literally locked in the house and it becomes her "protector" of sorts. It is as real as a character because it is has a type of power over Louise. She can never leave it. After hearing the news of Brently, Louise runs up to her room and "would have no one follow her" (635). The room takes on a persona as it becomes the one thing with which Louise shares her secret of freedom. Here, she can relish in the thought of being free without worrying about the disapproval of others. Here, she can express the excitement she feels when she looks outside and considers freedom as something within her grasp. This is the only place that knows her true heart and it is the only place in which she has few minutes to taste the freedom she desires. The room envelops her and allows her to this…

The choice cannot be repudiated or duplicated, but one makes the choice without foreknowledge, almost as if blindly. After making the selection, the traveler in Frost's poem says, "Yet knowing how way leads on to way/I doubted if I should ever come back" (14-15). And at the end, as one continues to encounter different forks along the way, the endless paths have slim chance of ever giving the traveler a second choice. One can see this as similar to Mrs. Mallard's change. As she looks out into the future, she sees endless possibilities for choice and nothing feels like she would ever return to the determinate state of marriage.

The final two lines of "The Road Not Taken" say, "I took the one less traveled by / and that has made all the difference" (19-20). Unlike in Chopin, the traveler determines to take the path. In Chopin, the path forces…

The use of various artifacts as symbols is also important in showing the transference and transformation of values in many texts. In Whale ider, a whale's tooth that has been cast into the ocean serves as a symbol of leadership, and the protagonist's retrieval eventually cements her ascendance to the role of a tribal leader. Her positive arc moving away from traditional values is shown in her appropriation of certain physical symbols of this traditional value system. In this way, the protagonist both literally and symbolically adopts and yet transforms the traditional values of her tribe in order to achieve her own identity.

Artifacts are out to a much different use in Franz Kafka's the Metamorphosis. Of course, the arc that the protagonist of this story travels is also markedly different from that of the protagonist in Whale ider; Gregor Samsa is quite happy his traditional role of a grown…

Betrayed by the American compatriots whom he helped, he languished in England in his climactic years, poor and lodged by a prostitute aided by a former student, until he died on a sea voyage back home. His death was mysterious in that shortly before his death he demonstrated signs of both depression and optimism.

Reasons for his depression were unclear. His optimism may have been due to the fact that he had prospects on the horizon.

Why then did he commit suicide, as details seemed to indicate? Or was he killed by his friend who was a double spy? There are numerous details of his life that will forever be unknown since they remain beyond our lens of experience.

Another story that is riddled with mystery is that of Mary Rogers.

In 1841, Mary Cecilia Rogers, a 21-year-old beautiful Connecticut-born girl disappeared from her mother's new York City boarding house.…

Lust" to "A&P," "Girl" and "A Sorrowful Woman" both similarities and differences can be seen, with these noticeable in relation to the themes present, the protagonist character of each, the perspective and the way the story is told.

The main obvious difference between "Lust" and "A&P" is the nature of the protagonist. In "Lust" we have the female and in "A&P" the male. The character in "Lust" takes the place of the girl in the supermarket which Sammy lusts after. Sammy and the girl in "Lust" are looking at the situation from opposite angles. The similarity between the works is that they both focus on the same situation, that of finding one's place in society and especially finding one's place as a man or woman. In "Lust" the character remains almost unaware of the man's viewpoint, she simply reacts, giving them what they want as it is easier than refusing.…

Vignola began his career as an architect in ologna and supported himself by painting and making perspective templates for inlay craftsmen, later traveling to Rome to work and study. His talent and skill was utilized by the papacy, including Pope Julius III and the papal family of the Farnese. He worked with Michelangelo and was deeply influenced by his style.

It is believed that Cardinal Gianfrancesco Gambara commissioned Vignola to design the Villa Lante in 1566. The first casino was completed immediately, but the second one was not finished until after 1587 when the Cardinal passed away. The two casini differ mainly in the style of frescoes. The first casino uses a riotous highlight of color used to highlight the architecture, while the second casino was done in a more classical style of fresco and plaster sculpture combination.

The gardens of the Villa Lante incorporate water features in "a visual…