Jamaica Kincaid Short Stories

Jamaica Kincaid is an established author in America and has an extensive collection of material that has been published over the years. Most of her work featured aspects of her life, family, poverty and also reflects parts of her native island of Antigua.

Jamaica Kincaid short stories collection includes the “At the Bottom of the River” which was published in 1983. This book consisted of ten very short stories the majority of which was already published as individual titles in a variety of magazines from the year 1978 up to 1982.

In this collection Kincaid challenges the traditional boundaries with the lyrical writing style that was used in them. There were usual topics that reflects her characteristics, this include colored girls in search of an identity, conflicting relations between daughters and mothers and the constant struggle that her native island faced with the intrusion of colonial orders and how it affected their lives.

The island that she was from was under the rule of the British colony and some of the stories explore the influences which overpower the country’s traditions and identity.

This material also highlights how most persons from the islands travels to other countries to achieve liberation from the repressive colonial influences on people’s lives.

From this collection of stories she stylistically invokes moods that were really close to realism which enabled her to create this surreal atmosphere between a mother and daughter.

The manner in which she invents this canonical story book which portrays a daughters wish to see your mother dead. There are some critics who praise her style of writing and others who strongly disagrees with the magical prose in her short stories collection.

Kincaid is one of the authors who are well respected as a woman in the writing industry. Her work is looked upon as only one of its kind in terms of Caribbean writing among a variety of schools.

Jamaica Kincaid works are highly criticized and these short stories have gotten a fair amount. However, not all were negative as some persons commended her.

The pieces that were semi-autobiography were well received as they explored the relationship between her native island and colonialism; especially how it affected the people.

This collection also brought success as she was given an award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and letters.

To better understand this collection let’s take a brief look at the plot and the characters that played major roles in the stories.

You will be taken on a fascinating journey as these short stories delved into everyday occurrences in lyrical and dreamlike fashion and combined narrative styles.

The collection started with the poem “Girl” which depicted a catalog of reprimands from a mother to her daughter. The next story titled “In the Night” was exploring the danger and mystery that would surround you in a night in Antigua; this was viewed from an adolescent girl’s perspective.

It explains how this young girl went for a walk in the evening and uses this time to reflect on her relationship with her stepfather, mother and the world at large. The third story in the collection was called “At Last” was another discourse between a daughter and her mother.

This was more focused on the increase feeling of alienation and the once intimacy that was shared between them. The fourth title was called “Wingless”; this records the search that a young woman was on to identify awareness in self and the relationship with her mother.

The fifth story was “Holiday” which shows a young woman’s growth from working with a family as an au pair. The sixth story was “The Letter from Home” which gives a list of routine chores. The seventh title was “What I have been doing lately” and was about a young girl’s adventure. The eighth story was called “Blackness” which was a narrative by a female desires oblivion, safety and isolation. The next story was called “My Mother” which was again reflecting on a mother and daughter relationship.

The title story at the end revisited the theme of the total collection which covered the finding of identity, relationship with mother and daughter and how she resolves and embraces the world.

Jamaica Kincaid short stories was also reflected in other books such as Annie John, A Small Place, My Brother and other short essays that was published in magazines.