Amelia At Devil's Bridge Analysis

From a young age, our interactions with our parents play an instrumental role in how we perceive ourselves and the world around us. The short story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid exhibits the relationship between an Antiguan mother and her daughter in a patriarchal society where the list of rules and regulations for women is exhaustive and almost never-ending. By analyzing the unique and often tense dynamic between the mother and daughter, “Girl” showcases the direct influence mothers have on their children, and how traditional and patriarchal customs can influence that relationship. The main themes are represented by the subjects the mother spends the most time on as well as the overall tone of the piece and how it relates to the mother-daughter

When Gail is told of her daughter’s allegation, Gail is in disbelief and maintains that it is “an incredible, disgusting lie.” The younger sister, Beth, becomes angry at Amelia for disrupting the family. One of the most dramatic scenes is when Amelia, Gail, and Beth are at the dinner table. Gail begins to believe Amelia, and asks her “Why did you let it happen?”. Gail and Amelia break down and embrace each other. In another scene, Steven is shown in his hotel room, watching a Shirley Temple movie

Based on the stories I have read in class this year, I have learned that strong women can exist throughout all types of stories, and that they can be written in many different ways. In Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, we meet Marji, a young girl inspired by her politically active parents to fight for civil rights for women in war-torn Iran. In The Color Purple by Alice Walker, we see a woman, Celie, who has been abused her whole life fighting against her abuser to pursue her dream with the woman she loves. And lastly, in The Girl Who Fell From The Sky by Heidi Durrow, we meet Rachel, a teenager whose life has been full of trauma learning about her family and how different they are from normal people. All these stories display strong women overcoming

Characters, in Heidi Durrow’s The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, force the protagonist, Rachel, to choose between her white and black side. They only acknowledge her black side while only celebrating her white qualities. Consequently, Rachel feels the obligation to accept the roles that have been thrust upon her and ignores part of her race because of the commentary from her family and peers. Rachel adapting to the portrayal of her racial identity to appeal to the normalized opinions of her appearance, demonstrates her tendency to comply with the categorization people of color face throughout society. Ultimately, leading Rachel to pick and choose the parts of her racial identity that most please the people she is with.

No one knows what happened to Amelia Earhart for sure, but there are some theories and hypothesis and what may have happened to her. The three main theories are: The Crash and Sink theory, The Gardner Island Hypothesis, and the theory that the Japanese captured Amelia.

Jamaica Kincaid’s story of “Girl,” is a mind blowing experience between mother and daughter. “This Essay presents a plot summary of Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” as well as providing historical, societal, religious, scientific and biographical context for the short story. Kincaid’s unusual land difficult to classify piece of short fiction consists of a brief monologue by an Antiguan mother to her adolescent daughter” (Kim Bencel, 2) This is a story, not in verse or order that will remind you of days gone by. The mother is hell- bent on making a respectful young lady.

The text recounts the events leading up to the the disappearance of Miranda, a young British girl who is struggling to deal with her mother’s sudden killing in Haiti, where she was on a work trip. The narration by the house, her twin brother Eliot, and Ore, a Nigerian girl she meets while at Cambridge leads us to find about Miranda’s pica, a desire to eat non-nutritive substances which lapses into more nefarious, vampiric desires. This is a condition that has plagued her family, particularly the

However, with her alcoholic dad who rarely kept a job and her mother who suffered mood swings, they had to find food from her school garbage or eat expired food they had previously when they had the slightest bit of money. In addition, when bills and mortgage piled up, they would pack their bags and look for a new home to live in, if they could even call it a stable home, since they would be on the move so often. Jeanette needed a dad who wouldn’t disappear for days at a time, and a mom that was emotionally stable, but because she didn’t have that, she grew up in an environment where she would get teased or harassed for it. Jeanette suffered so much, that even at one point, she tried convincing her mother to leave her father because of the trouble he had caused the family already. A child should be able to depend on their parents for food and to be there for them when they need it, and when that part of a child’s security is taken away, it leaves them lost and on their own, free and confused about what to do next.

The mother and daughter in the story live in a West Indian town and the author makes many connections to the culture, like talking about singing benna, which is a carnival style song and dance, or referencing two traditional Antiguan dishes (229). The story is written as if the mother was trying to pass of life

“If you don’t study your history, you are going to repeat it” (312). Dedé states this in In the Time of the Butterflies after being questioned why she shares her story. The historical fiction novel by Julia Alvarez, takes place in the 1940’s, under the dictatorship of Trujillo, and in 1994 when Dedé recites her family’s historic and engrossing life. The Mirabal sisters up rise against the government, hoping to gain freedom for the Dominican Republic. Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies exemplifies the attributes Vladimir Nabakov would consider necessary for great literature as specified in his essay, “Good Readers and Good Writers.” Alvarez’s masterpiece focuses on a rebellious young woman who challenges the dictatorial Trujillo

How could someone survive a plane crash? Trying to explain what had happened to the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, theories were developed. For the purpose of these theories, some people either believe that Japanese troops kidnapped Earhart, she died as a castaway, or that she lived under another identity. In the end, Amelia Earhart did survive her attempted voyage around the world.

The narrator of Jamaica Kincaid’s Girl, who is implied to be a mother, reveals much of her worldview through the story’s dialogue. In this dialogue, she both instructs and scolds her a girl who is implied to be her daughter. The instructions that the mother imparts to her daughter in Girl offer a deep insight into what the mother believes is good for her. In teaching these lessons, the mother is preparing her daughter for what she believes is her daughter’s future. Thus, these lessons are setting the expectations that she has for her daughter within her world.

The short story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid was a bittersweet warning from a mother to her daughter. The reader is experiencing the viewpoint of the protagonist through the soliloquy of her mother’s instructions that batter her like bugs smacking the

Elaine Potter Richardson, more famously known as Jamaica Kincaid, is recognized for her writings that suggest depictions of relationships between families, mainly between a mother and daughter, and her birth place, Antigua, an island located in the West Indies. She is also familiarized with Afrocentrism and feminist point of views. Kincaid’s work is filled heavily with visual imagery that produces a mental picture in readers that helps them connect stronger to the reading. An example of this really shines through in her short story piece, “Girl.” This short story describes the life of a lower class woman living in the West Indies, and also incorporates thick detailing between the relationship between her and her mother. Jamaica Kincaid structures the story as if her mother is speaking to her. She writes broad, but straight to the point, allowing readers to imagine to picture her experience. Kincaid uses visual imagery and repetition consistently throughout “Girl” to reveal the theme and tone of the story; conflictual affair between a mother and daughter.

Isabel was making herself at home, by exploring the island and adding to the map, she found a new love begin to grow. As time went on Isabel was bearing a child, exited and full of joy Isabel wrote to her mother back home “with the news of the expected arrival” (78). A letter was not sent from Tom, for his family was in the past and not to continue to the future, as his mother is dead and his father a cold man, he wanted no part in that life anymore, he focused on a rocking chair for his soon to be child. Time went on and a storm came, one that kept Tom with the light, and Isabel safely in bed. The storm thundered and defend Tom from Isabel's cries of help. The blood, covering Isabel and soaking the bed, she has lost the child. That’s when Isabel's life changed, everything had become dull, the room now a coffin she was trapped in “life had stopped at its edges” (90). Day passed and the couple grieved but chores didn’t stop, just as the light, the days went on. Completing chores outside Isabel heard a cry thought to be of her imagination, Tom cried “from the gallery - ‘on the beach! A boat!’” (100) this had Isabel running for the