Dec 27, 2009

My Mother | My Mother

At a glance:

Author: Jamaica Kincaid
First Published: 1983
Type of Plot: Magical Realism
Time of Work: About 1963
Setting: Antigua, the West Indies
Principal Characters: The narrator, Her mother
Genres: Short fiction, Magical Realism
Subjects: African Americans, Girls, 1960’s, Mothers, Parents and children, Caribbean, Adolescence, Blacks, Teenagers
Locales: Antigua, West Indies

The Story

A daughter, in characteristic teenage fashion, is wary of her mother and yet wants her acceptance. The distance that grows between them is portrayed several times in intensely lyrical images. For example, after her breasts develop, she says, “Between my mother and me now were the tears I had cried, and I gathered up some stones and banked them in so that they formed a small pond” of thick black liquid in which only invertebrates can live. She and her mother now watch each other cautiously, making sure to shower each other with artificial words of love.

The...

[The entire page is 1376 words long]

My Mother | My Mother

At a glance:

The Story

Join eNotes