30 pages • 1 hour read
Jamaica KincaidAt the Bottom of the River
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1983A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Historical Context: African Diaspora
From the 16th through the 19th century, there was a mass upheaval of millions of Africans from their native lands, who were moved by white enslavers to areas in Europe and, more commonly, the Americas. Although slavery was eventually ended, its systems and structures had been in place for centuries, and the struggle for belonging and identity for people of African descent continues to this day.
Antigua, where Jamaica Kincaid was born, was first colonized by Europeans in 1493. The location became a massive sugar colony, where millions of Africans were brought over several centuries to work the land. Although slavery was outlawed in European colonies in 1834, it was not until riots in the early 1900s that true change in the treatment of workers and their working conditions took place. Finally, in 1981, Great Britain withdrew from Antigua, and it achieved independence by creating an independent nation with Barbuda, though the effects of colonialism and slavery still endure in the country. In particular, Antigua and Barbuda are still part of the British Commonwealth, and while they have their own government, King Charles III of England is the head of state. Likewise, while Antigua and Barbuda have their own Creole language, educational instruction only occurs in English.
While Britain influenced Antigua as a colonizing force, most Antiguans are of African descent, which has led to a strong West African influence on the island. Additionally, African customs blended with Indigenous ones to create a unique Afro-Caribbean culture. As with many postcolonial nations, decolonization creates a different set of problems as new nations contend with building new economies, governments, and infrastructure systems. Antigua’s economy is largely dependent on tourism, for example, which has led to increased precarity following Hurricane Irma in 2017 and other tropical storms. Many, like Kincaid, leave the Caribbean to pursue education and opportunity, which adds another layer to the desire for belonging and identity in diasporic communities. At the Bottom of the River examines these themes explicitly, discussing post-colonial gender roles, financial and familial situations, and the quest for identity.
Today, many in the African Diaspora have found their voice and a form of resistance—and a tool for individual and national identity formation—in art. This is reflected in Jamaica Kincaid’s work, as she writes her own history and that of her people as she grapples with her place in the world.
Authorial Context: Jamaica Kincaid
Jamaica Kincaid (née Elaine Potter Richardson) was born May 25, 1949, in St. John’s, Antigua. She lived with her mother and stepfather, who eventually had three more boys. The birth of her brothers caused conflict between her and her mother, which eventually led to her being removed from school at the age of 16 and sent to New York City to work as an au pair. Once there, she began taking night classes at community college while working, eventually enrolling in school full-time before dropping out to write for magazines. At this time, she changed her name to Jamaica Kincaid.
Because Antigua was under British rule during her childhood, the education she received was British. Given her roots in Africa, Antigua, her British education, and her adult life in the United States, Kincaid’s struggle for belonging and self-identity is often reflected in her work. Her first collection of short stories, At the Bottom of the River (1983), is rooted in the struggles she underwent with her mother and at school, as well as her search for identity and purpose. Her first novel, Annie John (1985), continues this discussion while also exploring the battle between modern science and Afro-Caribbean spiritual beliefs. Much of her work has been described as autobiographical: Lucy (1990) depicts a woman from the West Indies who is working as an au pair; Mr. Potter (2002) uses her father’s name and tells the story of a young woman growing up without a father; and See Now Then (2013) depicts a couple’s growing resentment of each other and the woman’s subsequent depression, much of which Kincaid went through herself in a divorce.
Additionally, Kincaid often explores non-traditional writing methods. This is reflected in Annie John with the use of run-on sentences and fragmented paragraphing, and her stories in At the Bottom of the River are often referred to as prose poems. Much of her literature often contains dreams and magical realism which are written in nontraditional form and sentence structure, again reflecting the friction and confluence between her British education and her cultural roots in the Caribbean.
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