Reading JAMAICA KINCAID (b. 1949)

"Girl"

Raised in poverty by her homemaker mother and car- penter stepfather on the small Caribbean island of Antigua, Elaine Potter Richardson was sent to the United States to earn her own living at age seven- teen, much like the protagonists of her first novels, Annie John (1983) and Lucy (1990). Working as an au

pair and receptionist, she earned her high-school equivalency degree and studied pho- tography at the New School for Social Research in New York and, briefly, Franconia College in New Hampshire. Returning to New York, she took the name of a character in a George Bernard Shaw play, at least in part out of resentment toward her mother, with whom she had once been very close. After a short stint as a freelance journalist, Kincaid worked as a regular contributor to the New Yorker from 1976 until 1995, in 1979 marry- ing its editor’s son, composer Allen Shawn, with whom she would eventually move to Bennington, Vermont and raise two children. “Girl,” her first published story, appeared in the New Yorker in 1978 and was later republished in her first collection, At the Bottom of the River (1983). Subsequent novels include The Autobiography of My Mother (1996), paradoxically the least autobiographical of her books; Mr. Potter (2002), a fictionalized account of her efforts to understand the biological father she never knew; and See Now Then (2013). Kincaid’s equally impressive nonfiction includes My Brother (1997), a mem- oir inspired by her youngest brother’s death from AIDS, and A Small Place (1988), an essay exploring the profound economic and psychological impact of Antigua’s depen- dence on tourism. Divorced in 2002, Kincaid is currently Professor of African and Afri- can American Studies in Residence at Harvard.

2. May he rest in peace (Latin).

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 barehead 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 on 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 benna1 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 slot (replace o with u) 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 direc- tions; 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 slot (replace o with u) 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 imme- diately the slot (replace o with u) 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;2 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?

Help with these questions:

1. Describe the focus or focalization in "Girl." Do we see what one person sees, or observe one person in particular? Describe the voice of the narrator in "Girl." Who is the "you"? How do the focus and voice contribute to the reader's response to the story?

2. Look closely at the indications of time in the story. What actions take place at certain times? Does any event or action happen only once? Is there a plot in "Girl"? If so, how would you summarize it?

3. The instructions in "Girl" have different qualities, as if they come from different people or have different purposes. Why are two phrases in italics? Can you pick out the phrases that are more positive from the girl's point of view? Are there some that seem humorous or ironic?

4. What genre is “Girl”?  Is it a short story, essay, or something else?  Classify the text and justify your answer.  Use third person to answer all four questions and quote and/or paraphrase as necessary.  

Acculturative stress is a serious problem for all immigrants, especially when you cannot live within the country you left and the country lives within you.

Please explain how prejudice, stereotypes, discrimination, and ethnocentrism exacerbates acculturative stress, which may result in psychopathology and maladaptive behavior.

How would a Rationalist, an Empiricist, a Cultural Relativist, and a Skeptic each probably answer this question: “How do scientists know that gold has an atomic number of 79?”

In the book Shes Not There by Jennifer Boylan, What responsibility does Jenny have for Grace and their children? What responsibility do they have to her?

What have been the traditional expectations for men and women in dating relationships and sexual behavior?

What is food?

What is the purpose of food?

Develop a psychological argument for the significiance of food and how it goes beyond satisfying ones hunger

Where do you see effective leadership today when it comes to matters of race in society? What makes that leadership effective?

do you think that groups of people who already knew each other would demonstrate more or less conformity if placed in these experimental situations? what if the teachers were men and the learners were women? would teenagers confirm the same as adults?

A 2-year-old male was brought to the hospital after his behavior during the preceding several weeks indicated to his mother that he was experiencing otalgia of the right ear. The general physician examined his ears using an otoscope and observed myringitis. The physician referred the patient to an Otologist. Unfortunately 2 weeks later the infection had spread into the tympanic cavity causing otitis media. The tympanic membrane was surgically incised in a myringotomy procedure.

1. What was the patient experiencing?

2. What type of instrument was used for examination?

3. What is myringitis?

4. What is otitis media?

5. What is done in a myringotomy?

What is planned obsolescence? How does it contribute to environmental problems? (300words)

What is a virtue according to Aristotle, and what is its relation to the vices? Discuss an example of the virtues and its related vices. discuss how Aristotle might think about the moral problem where a train is barreling down a track with people tied to it. In particular, how would Aristotle analyze the situation where we must choose between flipping the switch when one person is tied to the one track, and five people are tied to the other track.

1. Write a brainstorming about Cultural Differences in Communications.

2. Write a outline about Cultural Differences in Communications.

Your brother and his wife just had a baby and they are wondering when their baby will begin talking. They hope soon, and they have begun saying "mama" and "dada" to their baby. What can you tell them about the course of language development during the first year of life?

explain technology and science as iterative and interrelated processes driven by empirical observation and experimentation, and appreciate the limits imposed on our comprehension and knowledge