Girl
Introduction + Context
Plot Summary
Detailed Summary & Analysis
Girl
Themes
All Themes Gender and Domesticity Authenticity and Femininity Sexuality Caribbean Culture and Tradition Class
Quotes
Characters
All Characters Mother Girl
Terms
All Terms Bare-head Benna Dasheen Doukona Pepper Pot Wharf-rat Boys
Symbols
All Symbols Bread Slut
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Girl

by

Jamaica Kincaid
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Benna Term Analysis

– a genre of calypso music native to Antigua and Barbuda. Benna is a folk music characterized by sexually suggestive lyrics, call-and-response, and local gossip. Mother does not want the girl to sing benna in Sunday school because it would be inappropriate, given the content of the music.

Benna Quotes in Girl

The Girl quotes below are all either spoken by Benna or refer to Benna. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Gender and Domesticity Theme Icon
). Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Farrar, Straus and Giroux edition of Girl published in 1983.
Girl Quotes

Is it true that you sing benna in Sunday school?

Related Characters: Mother (speaker), Girl
Authenticity and Femininity Theme Icon
Page Number: 3
Explanation and Analysis:

But I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school.

Related Characters: Mother (speaker), Girl
Authenticity and Femininity Theme Icon
Caribbean Culture and Tradition Theme Icon
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:
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