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Jamaica Kincaid Hates Happy Endings
Jamaica Kincaid's life reads like an American Cinderella story: born and raised in poverty on the island of Antigua, West Indies; unloved by an unresponsive and often abusive mother who shipped her off to the United States at 17 to be an au pair (Kincaid insists on the word "servant" to describe her employment status); "discovered" on the streets of Manhattan by New Yorker columnist George Trow, who brought her into the fold of the magazine by printing one of her articles in the "Talk of the Town" section; became a celebrated fiction writer (Annie John, Lucy, The Autobiography of My Mother) and gardening columnist; married the son of legendary New Yorker editor William Shawn; and moved to the idyll of North Bennington, Vermont, where she now writes, gardens, teaches, and tends to her family, which includes two beautiful children.
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Why, then, does this 48-year-old woman, who speaks with an accent both lilting and sweet, feel it's her "duty to make everyone a little less happy"? Mother Jones spoke with Kincaid about her continuing obsessions and her upcoming book, My Brother (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), a nonfiction account of her youngest sibling, who died of AIDS in 1996.
Q: Why did you decide to go public about the life and death of your brother?
A: For me, writing isn't a way of being public or private; it's just a way of being. The process is always full of pain, but I like that. It's a reality, and I just accept it as something not to be avoided. This is the life I have. This is the life I write about.
Q: In the book you said of your brother that he lived in death. What did you mean?
A: His life was a passive event. It had no shape. His life was sort of waiting to happen. As he died, that seemed to be what was going to happen -- so one could only say that he never lived. He sort of died all the time. It was one of the frustrating things in taking care of him that I sometimes seemed to care more whether he lived. I didn't like that. I also suspect that my interest in him was because I thought if circumstances had been different that might have been my own life. What distinguished my life from my brother's is that my mother didn't like me. When I became a woman, I seemed to repel her. I had to learn to fend for myself. I found a way to rescue myself.
Q: Your characters seem to be against most things that are good, yet they have no reason to act this way -- they express a kind of negative freedom. Is this the only freedom available to the poor and powerless?
A: Of course everyone must find their own way. The characters I've -- I don't want to say created; I don't think I'm capable of creating -- written about, would seem to find their own way. It seemed to make sense. Any other way would be inconsistent and untrue with the characters I've written.
I think in many ways the problem that my writing would have with an American reviewer is that Americans find difficulty very hard to take. They are inevitably looking for a happy ending. Perversely, I will not give the happy ending. I think life is difficult and that's that. I am not at all -- absolutely not at all -- interested in the pursuit of happiness. I am not interested in the pursuit of positivity. I am interested in pursuing a truth, and the truth often seems to be not happiness but its opposite.
Americans like to be funny, they like to laugh and they like a happy ending -- which accounts I think for the sorry state of American writing life, but that's a whole other story.
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Comments
Kincaid made me realized that even though your mother is your mother and will always be, it does not mean you have respect for her in everyway. Mothers often disrespect their children through the decisions they make, yet they have no remorse. Kincaid definitely helped me express this, not only to my mother, but my whole family. Something I never would have been able to acheive on my own, and it was definitely needed. Thanks Jamaica...
Her words make a lot of sense, at first I thought she was just too angry because of her childhood experience, especially with her mother. I sort of relate with her, I am afro Central American and a aspiring author and I see her side and why she writes and think as she do.
I am happy to know that a Caribbean local can see colonialism for what it is and was instead of embracing a history that is not our own. We as a Caribbean people need to be more inquiring of what life with our ancestors would have been like. We find such writings offensive because its the truth and we seek to bury the truth instead of dealing with it.
wow i agreed with everything she said up until she said all white people were flawed and at fault.I have read all her books and i think she is a brilliant writer.However being a white women who spends most of my time in the west indies and consider all of my westindies people some of my best friends in the world also many of them i consider family.Yes i hate that the white man is responsible for inslaving the african people and treating the people that i love that way.But to say that comment about white people was not called for.im glad i got her books at the library and i didnt purchase them.Also now im not interested in reading her new book that will be coming out.I will also recomend that any of my white american friends who love her work wont purchase any more of her books after such a racist remark.DonnaMazzonne@aim.com
And there's more.
Submitted by Pablo (not verified) on Sun Nov. 29, 2009 8:11 PM PST.
Most of her main comments are definitely wrong, pointless and sometime offending like the one you mentioned. It looks like written by a child.
"I feel it's my duty to make everyone a little less happy."
That's a stupid comment to say without clarifying its concept. You can't write that without explaining why you feel that way or telling the meaning other than literal.
If a person reaches happinnes, then trying to make that person less happy has no purpose at all, unless you're a stupid person or have no idea of what happiness is. Which could be this case.
This comment is for Jamaica Kincaid. As I read her story in the AARP magazine of May and June 2008, I felt that Miss Kincaid was and is a bitter person toward her mother probably because her mother was speaking the truth. In any event, to overcome any hostility that she has harbored for many years, Miss Kincaid needs to forgive her mother for anything that the mother may have done. In addition, she also needs to forgive herself and then her life will be fulfilled. Too bad she did not forgive her mother before she died, but she can still do that now through our good God. Had she done this the last time she saw her mother, she would not have had to write this article. When one does not forgive others and himself, then that person will always have a cancer eating at their whole being.
I submit herewith a Forgiveness Prayer that I have sent to many people. I hope this prayer also helps Miss Kincaid. I know this prayer is long but it is well worth reading.
FORGIVENESS PRAYER
John 15:12: This is my commandment. Love one another as I have loved you.
Forgiveness is an act of the will, a choice, not a feeling. If we pray for a person, we can be
assured that we have forgiven that person.
To help accept an individual and open ourselves to a particular person more, visualize this person with the Lord and say to the Lord, "I love him because You love him."
Forgiveness is a life-long obligation. Every day we need to forgive those who have hurt us.
Lord, I ask today to forgive everyone in my life. I know that You will give me the strength to forgive, and I thank You that You love me more than I love myself and want my happiness more than I desire it for myself.
Father, I forgive You for the times death has come into my family, hard times, financial defaulters, or that I thought those were punishments sent by You and people said, "It is God's will," and I became bitter and resentful toward You. Purify my heart and mind today.
Lord, I forgive myself for my sins, faults and failings, for all that is bad in myself or that I think is bad, I forgive myself for any delving in superstition; using Ouija boards, horoscopes, going to séances, using fortune telling or wearing lucky charms. I reject all of that superstition and choose you alone as my Lord and Savior. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit.
I further forgive myself for taking Your name in vain, not worshipping You by attending church, for hurting my parents, getting drunk, for sins against purity, bad books, bad movies, fornication, adultery, homosexuality. You have forgiven me and today I forgive myself. Also for abortion, stealing, lying, defrauding, hurting people's reputation, I forgive myself.
I truly forgive my mother. I forgive her for all the times she hurt me. She resented me. She was angry with me and for all the times she punished me. I forgive her for the times she preferred my brothers and sisters to me. I forgive her for the times she told me I was dumb, ugly, stupid, the worst of the children, or that I cost the family a lot of money. I also forgive her for the times she told me I was unwanted, was accident, a mistake or not what she expected.
I forgive my father. I forgive him for any non-support, and lack of love, affection or attention. I forgive him for any lack of time, for not giving me his companionship, for his drinking, arguing and fighting with my mother or the other children. For his severe punishments, for desertion, for being away from home, for divorcing my mother or for any running around he did, I do forgive him.
Lord, I extend forgiveness to my sisters and brothers. I forgive those who rejected me, lied about me, hated me, resented me, and competed for my parents' love, those who hurt me, who physically harmed me. For those who were too severe on me, punished me or made my life unpleasant in any way, I do forgive them.
Lord, I forgive my spouse for lack of love, affection, consideration, support, attention, communication; for faults, failing, weaknesses and those other acts or words that hurt or disturb me.
Lord, I forgive my children for their lack of respect, obedience, love, attention, support, warmth, and understanding; for their bad habits, falling away from the church, and for any and all bad actions which disturb me.
My God, I forgive my in-laws and other relatives who treat my family with a lack of love. For all of their words, thoughts, actions or omissions which injure and cause pain, I forgive them.
Lord, I forgive my relatives who have interfered in our family, been possessive of my parents who may have caused or turned one parent against the other.
Lord, help me to forgive my co-workers who are disagreeable or make life miserable for me. For those who push their work off on me, gossip about me, will not cooperate with me, those who attempt to take my job, I do forgive them.
I forgive my neighbors, Lord, for all of their noise, letting their property run down, not tying up their dogs that run through my yard, not taking in their trash barrels, being prejudiced and running down the neighborhood, I do forgive them.
I now forgive all ministers, rabbis, priests, nuns, synagogues, temples, parishes and all religious organization for their lack of support, affirmation, bad sermons, pettiness, lack of friendliness, not providing me or my family with the inspiration we needed and for any hurts they may have inflicted on me or my family, even in the distant past. I forgive them today.
Lord, I forgive all those who are of different persuasions, those of opposite political views who have attacked me, ridiculed me, economically hurt me.
I forgive those of different religious denominations who have tried to convert me, harassed me, attacked me, argued with me, and who have tried to force their views on me.
Lord I forgive those who have harmed me ethnically, have discriminated against me, mocked me, made jokes about my race or nationality, hurt my family physically, emotionally or spiritually, economically, I do forgive them today.
Lord I forgive all professional people who have hurt me in any way: doctors, nurses, lawyers, judges, politicians and civil servants. I forgive all service people, policemen, firemen, bus drivers, hospital workers and especially repairmen who have taken advantage of me in their work.
Lord, I forgive my employer for not paying me enough money, for not appreciating my work, for being unkind and unreasonable with me, for being angry, unfriendly, for not promoting me, and for not complimenting me on my work.
Lord, I forgive my school teachers and instructors of the past as well as the present. For those who punished me, humiliated me, insulted me, treated me unjustly, made fun of me, called me names, made me stay after school unjustly, I truly forgive them.
Lord, I forgive my friends who have let me down, lost contact with me, do not support me, and were not available when I needed help, borrowed money and did not return it and gossiped about me.
Lord, I especially pray for the grace of forgiveness for the one person in my life that has hurt me the most. I ask to forgive anyone who I consider my greatest enemy, the one who is the hardest to forgive or the one who I said I would never forgive.
Lord, I beg pardon of all these people for any hurt I have inflicted on them, especially my mother and father, and my marriage partner. I am especially sorry for the greatest hurts I have inflicted on each of them.
Thank you, Lord, that I am being freed of the evil of not forgiving. Let Your Holy Spirit fill me with light and let every dark area of my mind be enlightened with Your love.
Lord, forgive me for being angry with You. I forgive myself.
John 15:12: This is my commandment. Love one another as I have loved you.
I translated GIRL of Ms. J. Kincaid in 1999 to my mother tongue ORIYA, the language of about 40 million people on the eastern coast of India. As I was doing so, a similar story ran in and out simultaneously. It was the story of my mother admonishing my eldest sister constantly. As a child I resented this in my mother till I suddenly became aware that in some ways, mother was rebelling against the confining society,establishing kinship with my sister- the kinship of all suffering women through all ages- and was actually empowering her rather than limiting her.
The two stories- one, GIRL, faithfully translated; the second, DAUGHTER, which almost walked in and out through the translation to keep company with the original story and could be called a trans creation- converge in an epilogue where I have a conversation with my eighty year old mother-in-law about the two stories and re-discover the meaning of A Strong Woman.
I have not had the permission of Ms. Kincaid before translating her story. It is never too late to do so. If I could kindly be helped with her email address, I would seek her permission as well as post to her the story of two antipode cultures.
To me, WORLD IS ONE WITH DIFFERING BUT SIMILAR INTERPRETATIONS.
I appreciate kincaide for her honest and about the real thing and not been negitave about the truth. She is a woman of my own heart, taking contolled of your destiny,which makes one stronger to deal with any situtation no matter how hard it is. God Bless
I did not begin to really understand the bond between parent and child until my children became old enough to criticize me with astounding accuracy. Thank you for putting the pretty and the not-so-pretty sides of family relationships into the bright daylight. Sometimes, the truth hurts.
Some people get a lot of mileage out of being contentious and thorny. Kincaid is indeed a brilliant writer and a person, like many of us, who's suffered. I find it disconcerting that she married one of those from the hopelessly flawed camp, who, presumably, can never be anything else since they were born "white." I also find it disappointing that she can't see how this thinking is very much in keeping with all the low-level diatribe she finds coming out of the African American mouth. Moreover, she was put on the map as it were by "decent" whites who, I wouldn't catagorize as irreducible cosmic evil. Like bipolar artists who wont take medication for fear of it quelling their creativity -Kincaid hangs on to this unfair and untrue thinking about whites (and blacks for that matter) because she writes from this place of hatred and irritation. Focusing on how the consideration and respect of at least a couple of whites (her husband and editors) and the similar feelings that she and African Americans hold about white oppression could be just the balm that she needs to shift to a better place, psychologically.
I think it is very hard to love Jamaica's book or her writing if you’re not a fan of these kinds of novels. I think if you cannot relate to her book or her life in the islands then her work is not for you. I just cannot see a white girl or boy being forced to read this book and actually walking away with something from it after all what have they ever had to struggle for in their life? I found that on some website there were numerous negative comments about her books Annie John, Lucy and The Autobiography of My Mother. I read the Autobiography of my mother and I found that it was hard to read because after reading the second chapter I became un-interested. It was like the books was losing me and every time I was reeled in by an interesting event in the book the protagonist in the book would go off on a tangent and overly describing something so unimportant that I became uninterested in the book again. Since I had to read it for an assignment I was doing I continue to read and found that under all the frills and fluff that writer uses to tell the story... the story itself is interesting and worth hearing or in this case reading but not in so much drown out descriptions that did not bring true version to my mind about the place or atmosphere the book was set in.
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