As it is known, modernism preceded postmodernism, so these movements are close and similar in many respects. It can often be challenging to find differences between particular modernistic and post-modernistic literary works. However, some specific elements are inherent for each movement, which allows identifying whether the work relates to one style or another. The short story Girl written by Jamaica Kincaid is a matter of the corresponding discussion. Some people see it as a modernistic work, while others think the opposite. This paper aims to analyze that short story to determine its style. Modernism appears to prevail in Girl because it is a serious work that experiments with form and seeks new literature.
The first sign of modernism in Girl is its seriousness. The work illustrates the difficulties of growing up as a girl in the Antiguan culture (Rabea and Almahameed 158). The author portrays tensions between the conforming mother and her daughter trying to resist her (Rabea and Almahameed 158). That makes the work highly dynamic, and people are likely to reflect much when reading the story. In addition, the author uses many cacophonic sounds in the mother’s speech to illustrate her harshness (Rabea and Almahameed 164). That cacophonic effect makes the text serious and makes the reader feel discomfort (Rabea and Almahameed 164). A general image of Girl and the seriousness of its separate elements make the work closer to modernistic style.
Another element that makes Girl a modernistic work is its attempt to find something new. For instance, Rabea and Almahameed argue that the work is a transgression of generic labels’ boundaries between prose poems and short stories (165). Therefore, Girl can be considered a work of multiple genres or even create a new one. Moreover, the rhyme style throughout the text is not clear and orderly (Rabea and Almahameed 163). That creates a sense of chaos controlling the text and, subsequently, the story at large (Rabea and Almahameed 163). As it is known, chaos is unpredictable, meaning that new entities may be born within it. Everything mentioned above proves that Girl attempts to make a literary expression in an independent, original way, making it closer to modernism.
The final element of modernism in Girl is its experiment with form and structure. According to Rabea and Almahameed, the story is an unconventional piece of writing which lacks the traditional structure (157). In other words, the structure of Girl is considered uncommon in contemporary literature, making the work experimental. Furthermore, the form is highly unusual as the conversation in the story contains a single, long-running, 650-word sentence (Rabea and Almahameed 158). The sentence contains various pieces of advice along with instructions and orders to the daughter (Rabea and Almahameed 158). Such sentence length is untraditional for literature, including prose and poetry. These specificities of Girl demonstrate the experimental form of the work, which is an essential element of modernism.
Overall, modern style prevails in Jamaica Kincaid’s Girl because it is a serious work with experimental form that seeks new literary paths. Specific features of the story allow identifying it as primarily modernistic. The first sign of modernism in the work is the seriousness of the story and its internal elements. Moreover, Kincaid tries to make an original, independent work by mixing genres and creating chaos within the text. Finally, the form of Girl is experimental as the mother’s speech is presented as a single sentence of hundreds of words. All these elements reveal the modernistic nature of the work. Therefore, Girl appears to be related to modernism rather than postmodernism.
Work Cited
Rabea, Reem Ahmad, and Nusaiba Adel Almahameed. “Genre Crossing in Jamaica Kincaid’s ‘Girl’: From Short Fiction to Poetry.” Advances in Language and Literary Studies, vol. 9, no. 3, 2018, pp. 157-165.