Critique of Girl

Thank you, Ms. Kincaid. Finally, I received a moment of being from a piece of writing. Girl was exhilarating and fresh. The first mention of the “slut” sparked a sensation in my chest that is my fundamental interest in writing. Jamaica Kincaid communicated with me on a level that is impossible with spoken word. She is simply listing a set of rules planted in her as a child, I assume. From two steps back, this writing is boring and immature. When you step into her prose, though, you feel something that you know is true, like the sensation in my chest. So allow me to repeat, thank you, Ms. Kincaid.

Girl is masterfully crafted. Jamaica Kincaid, an accomplished author who knows the rules of writing, the ins and outs and what you can and cannot do, took all the accepted conventions of writing and said, “Piss off, I can't use you.” Like Picasso was fully capable of painting realistic, acceptable portrayals of people, he needed cubism to deliver his message, Kincaid discovers a technique unpioneered, but essential. Girl hits you like a slide show. One mundane image after another, punctuated by the click of the projector spinning, show a world rich and dark; hard to look at, but unavoidable in its truth. As uncomfortable as it was for me to read, I imagine Kincaid suffered some serious stress while cranking out the short piece. I would love to ask her what her process was. What was the criteria for choosing the mostly boring slices of memory she shares? What instructions got cut from her piece? Why did “This is how you set the breakfast table” make the final draft? I am sure there was a reason, and the reasoning was successful in my book, the litmus test being the affect the writing had on me.

The one clear convention employed by Kincaid is her repetitive sentence structure (are they actually sentences? I don't think there was a single period in the piece). Imperative after imperative alert the reader to what is essentially a condemnation of the inherent sexism in life. It is amazing to me how by delivering this list of dry and clear cut statements – do this, don't do that -- one can unequivocally condemn the picture they are drawing without ever technically doing so. My point is that Jamaica Kincaid does not ever say that it is unfair for girls to not be allowed to squat while playing marbles, or how the worst of the worst would be to be a slut, but she still conveys an incredible swath of anger and bile towards the institutions that perpetuate such inequities.

In summary, Jamaica Kincaid effectively defies typical writing conventions to successfully deliver her message. Rebellion manifest, Girl illustrates more than a diatribe against misogynists and socialized sexism but the value of resisting “acceptable” structure and method. I know that I am not supposed to start my last paragraph with, “In summary,” but it is an ode to Jamaica Kincaid for her courage and strength and triumph in breaking the rules.

slut