Jamica
Essay title: Jamica
First published in the June 26, 1978, issue of The New Yorker, “Girl” was the first of what would become more than a dozen short stories Jamaica Kincaid published in that magazine. Five years later, “Girl” appeared as the opening story in Kincaids collection of stories, At the Bottom of the River (1983), her first book.
“Girl” is a one-sentence, 650-word dialogue between a mother and daughter. The mother does most of the talking; she delivers a long series of instructions and warnings to the daughter, who twice responds but whose responses go unnoticed by the mother. There is no introduction of the characters, no action, and no description of setting. The mothers voice simply begins speaking, “Wash the white clothes on Monday,” and continues through to the end. Like all of Kincaids fiction, “Girl” is based on Kincaids own life and her relationship with her mother. Although the setting is not specified in the story, Kincaid