Jamaica Kincaid: Writing Memory, Writing Back to the Mother

Index [Includes Back Cover]

Anatol, Giselle, 211n6 Annie John: 2, 13–14; abuse, trauma specialists on, 40–41, 42, 45; Annie Drew in, 40, 58, 64, 197–98n2, 198–99n6, 199–200n9, 200–201n13, 201nn15–16; autobiographical sources of, 37–40, 61, 65–66, 197–98nn1–3, 198–99nn5–7, 199–202nn9–19, 202nn21–23; and “Biography of a Dress,” abused daughter in, 43–44; childhood abuse in, 39–40, 44–45, 47, 50, 52, 57, 58, 61–62, 63–64, 200–201n13; childhood shaming in, 40, 42; closure, Kincaid on, 64; as coming-of-age novel, 37; Kincaid on, 37–38, 64; mother as oppressive, Kincaid on, 38; mother enigma, critics on, 39, 40, 63; narrative withholding and avoidance in, 42; shadow trauma story in, 39–40, 44–45, 47, 50, 52, 57, 58, 61–62, 63–64; shaming, effects of, psychologists on, 41–42, 47, 48, 49, 56, 59, 60, 61, 62; writing as act of self-rescue, Kincaid on, 38 —Annie John: abusive play of, 45, 52; adolescent depression of, 58–59, 61–63; autobiographical writing of, 48; as beloved and abused child, 44–47; breakdown and recovery of, 61–63; colonial education, identification with and resistance to, 53–56; dead children and maternal abuse, secret of, 44–45; dependency needs and abandonment fears of, 44, 45, 47–49, 57; dissociative experiences of, 57, 58, 61–62, 64; dysphoria of, 64–65; English culture, defiance toward, 49, 54–55, 56; feminine roles, rebellion against, 56, 57; good/bad identities of, 46, 49–50, 51–53, 54, 58, 59; leavetaking of, 64–65; as liar and thief, 52; Lucifer, identification with, 59; maternal contempt, response to, 49, 50, 58–59, 60–61, 62, 63, 64; maternal rejection, sensitivity to, 45, 47–50, 52, 55–56, 60–61; maturing body, shame-anxiety about, 56–57; mother, idealization of, 46, 47, 48, 50; mother’s sexual shaming of, 60; obeah, fear of, 45–46; shame of, 45, 47, 48–49, 50–51, 51–52, 56–57, 59–63, 64; shame defenses of, 48–49, 49–50, 51–52, 54–55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 63, 64; talks back to the mother, account of, 50, 60; unladylike behavior of, 49, 56–57 —Gwen: Annie’s idealization of, 51; Annie’s rejection of, 57; as idealized “good” self, 51 233 Index —Mrs. John: as abusive mother, 44–45, 50, 52, 57, 58; all-good and all-bad identities of, 47, 50, 58; as angry, persecutory “bad” mother, 45, 50, 55, 58; as beneficent and idealized good mother, 46, 47, 48; as contemptuous mother, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 52, 53, 56, 58, 60–61, 62, 64; as sexually shaming mother, 60; shame of, 50–51, 60; storytelling of, 46, 53 —Red Girl: Annie’s fascination with, 51–52; Annie’s rescue fantasies about, 53; as “bad” defiant identity , 51–52; loving and punishing behavior of, 52; as unlovable and shamed identity, 51 At the Bottom of the River: 2, 13; abuse in, 22, 27, 29; Antigua in, 26, 27–28, 29, 197n7; autobiographical sources of, 22–23; daughter characters in, 25–26, 28–34; internalized voice of the mother in, 21, 26; jablesse in, 27, 28, 31, 198n5, 202n20; mother characters in, 25–26, 28–34; obeah in, 26–27, 28, 29, 196nn2–3, 198n5 —“At Last”: autobiographical stories in, 29; childhood trauma in, 29; mother-daughter relationship in, 29; mother’s storytelling in, 29 —“At the Bottom of the River”: contemptuous voice of mother, power of, 33–34; daughter as powerful and willful in, 34; daughter’s despair in, 33; daughter’s perfected self in, 34; the daughter-writer in, 34; idealized mother, vision of, 34 —“Blackness”: daughter’s experience of dissociation in, 33; erasure of self in, 33 —“Girl”: and “Antigua Crossings,” 22, 23–25; daughter in, 25–26; mother-daughter relation in, 25–26; mother’s contemptuous voice in, 25–26; talking back to the mother in, 25–26 —“In the Night”: Antigua in, 27–28; jablesse in, 28; mother in, 28; mother-daughter relationship in, 28–29; mother’s storytelling in, 28–29 —“My Mother”: daughter’s anger and despair in, 31–32; daughter’s love-hate relationship with mother in, 30–32; daughter’s merger with idealized mother in, 32; mother as all-powerful in, 32; mother as loving and cruel in, 31; mother’s jablesse -like transformation in, 31; reparative gesture in, 32 —“Wingless”: contemptuous mother in, 30; daughter character in, 29–30; mother-daughter relationship in, 30; schoolhouse world...