Listen to a Reading: “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid

Jamaica Kincaid, Girl

Jamaica Kincaid. "Girl" as read by Jamaica Kincaid, from Jamaica Kincaid Reads. (P) 1991. Used by permission of American Audio Prose Library, Inc. All rights reserved.

Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap; wash the color clothes on Tuesday and put them on the clothesline to dry; don’t walk bare-head in the hot sun; cook pumpkin fritters in very hot sweet oil; soak your little cloths right after you take them off; when buying cotton to make yourself a nice blouse, be sure that it doesn’t have gum in it, because that way it won’t hold up well after a wash; soak salt fish overnight before you cook it; is it true that you sing benna in Sunday school?; always eat your food in such a way that it won’t turn someone else’s stomach; on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming; don’t sing benna in Sunday school; you mustn’t speak to wharf- rat boys, not even to give directions; don’t eat fruits on the street—flies will follow you; but I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school; this is how to sew on a button; this is how to make a buttonhole for the button you have just sewed on; this is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming; this is how you iron your father’s khaki shirt so that it doesn’t have a crease; this is how you iron your father’s khaki pants so that they don’t have a crease; this is how you grow okra—far from the house, because okra tree harbors red ants; when you are growing dasheen, make sure it gets plenty of water or else it makes your throat itch when you are eating it; this is how you sweep a corner; this is how you sweep a whole house; this is how you sweep a yard; 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; this is how you set a table for tea; this is how you set a table for dinner; this is how you set a table for dinner with an important guest; this is how you set a table for lunch; this is how you set a table for breakfast; this is how to behave in the presence of men who don’t know you very well, and this way they won’t recognize immediately the slut I have warned you against becoming; be sure to wash every day, even if it is with your own spit; don’t squat down to play marbles—you are not a boy, you know; don’t pick people’s flowers—you might catch something; don’t throw stones at blackbirds, because it might not be a blackbird at all; this is how to make a bread pudding; this is how to make doukona; this is how to make pepper pot; this is how to make a good medicine for a cold; this is how to make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child; this is how to catch a fish; this is how to throw back a fish you don’t like, and that way something bad won’t fall on you; this is how to bully a man; this is how a man bullies you; this is how to love a man, and if this doesn’t work there are other ways, and if they don’t work don’t feel too bad about giving up; this is how to spit up in the air if you feel like it, and this is how to move quick so that it doesn’t fall on you; this is how to make ends meet; always squeeze bread to make sure it’s fresh; but what if the baker won’t let me feel the bread?; you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread?

Jamaica Kincaid. "Girl" from At the Bottom of the River by Jamaica Kincaid. Copyright © 1983 by Jamaica Kincaid. Used by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. CAUTION: Users are warned that this work is protected under copyright laws and downloading is strictly prohibited. The right to reproduce or transfer the work via any medium must be secured with Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.

Suggestions for Responsive Reading

After listening to Girl, consider the question(s) below. Then “submit” your response.

  1. To read along or not to read along. Either way is fine but for different reasons. If you read the text for the first time as you listen, you’ll likely find it more accessible and fluid, particularly if the syntax and style is unfamiliar to you or is set in a remote historical period. On the other hand, a first reading together with a recording might also short-circuit your own initial response to the work and interpretation of it. If this is a second or third reading as you listen, you’ll hear more clearly the interpretive possibilities the reader has chosen to emphasize, thereby making you more aware of the work’s (and the reader’s) subtleties. Which option did you choose? How do you think it impacted your understanding of the text? Do you wish you had selected the other option?

    Question

    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
  2. Consider how well the reader’s voice and overall style of delivery is matched to the literary work. Describe the appropriateness of any regional accents, inflection, pronunciation, volume, rhythm, and pacing of the reading in order to explain how the lines are spoken serve to reinforce what is said. The degree of appropriateness becomes readily apparent if you imagine, for example, how you would describe the difference between a rendition of Emily Dickinson’s “I heard a Fly Buzz—when I Died” by Meryl Streep compared with, say, Sylvester Stallone (or Streep performing an audiobook version of First Blood). How well do you think this reader’s voice and style match up with this work? Why do you think so?

    Question

    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
  3. Determining the tone of a text is often the most challenging and important interpretive skill we develop as readers. Listening to a work read aloud, however, can be enormously helpful in establishing tone when we hear the nuances made apparent by an effective reader orally interpreting the text. Tone can convey any of the full range of human emotions. What do you think the reader’s tone contributes in this audio recording? How does it impact the way you understand the text?

    Question

    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
  4. If the oral reading isn’t what you expected, if it disappoints or surprises you, try to explain as specifically as possible why the performance differs from your expectations. Use the text to validate your own response, and indicate particular elements of the recording to support your assessment of the recording.

    Question

    pUmCHveXUmpwAMtriUXdAQ9Z/3V9zdiblPdv9euIOgFMmRdjiYST9A7lHw6fftOgFoXkdnUxDclCklGb3+nAgrK39TXe0zkKrvwZIlKYhB9oG/JwK7lyRZ57YQeFF+GUm6jFPRXXrQir1fmOpCc3Vwki3i3u82jIYhh7jAxuok3T8nXQ1iFBYXrS7ZujzA3UyIX59sk4I77zWyOPC4IgmRkij4Thj9RePu+1UxJvVagjHxArStaIyM2QWYgh59pYf0ZQl8W6MIB9BUiO0P7u0dTOtP0syYnxIwV5nmB+WSmQ1jLI1DIYaZ1cxgnhs9Jo28k1FHi8egzFqdMzBkTMcBrWoCnNp3nRPpDdB3Dxk9xkWhHQPYno0dhVUB4sL2hY3sQlcpFOyYq7m+bLN+UR+YS3hxj3r7gs34TRK6fZeH1eWW6L7j4adUyFH+jPsetHiiUB3ufB4wE=