Kincaid's "Girl"

Pre-reading question:

1) Look carefully at the sentence structure in the story. How do you think this adds to the overall impact of the contents?
2) Who are the two characters in the story?
3) In many ways, this isn't a traditional short story. What elements of the short story appear to be missing? Do you think that this missing material is necessary or is it supplied in other ways? Explain.

Post-reading questions:

1) Who is the girl? What do we know about her? What do you imagine her feelings are when she listens to this litany?
2) What is the relationship like between the two characters in the story? Explain.
3) What kind of things does it seem like a girl needs to know? Although this list seems to be specific to a certain culture do you see parallels with your own culture?
4) What is the main speaker's main fear for the girl? Why do you think these fears are paramount?

Related Links:

Kincaid:
A very thorough biography: http://voices.cla.umn.edu/authors/jamaicakincaid.html#Biography

Mother Jones interview: http://www.mojones.com/mother_jones/SO97/snell.html

Salon interview http://www.salon.com/05/features/kincaid.html

Emory University's JK page: http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/Bahri/Kincaid.html