Setting

Physical setting

The events described in the short story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid take place in postcolonial Antigua, which is an island in the Caribbean Sea. Just like many other islands in the Caribbean Sea, Antigua was a British colony for centuries and became independent in 1981. There is no description of the setting in the short story, but the author has revealed in several interviews that the location of the story is Antigua.

While the setting is not described, several clues present an overall atmosphere of the community that the characters live in. For example, the mother instructs the d...