Isolation and Inclusion: The Modulation of Limited and Plural Points of View in Jamaica Kincaid’s The Autobiography of My Mother

Abstract

In Autobiography of My Mother, Jamaica Kincaid utilizes alternating points of view to portray the novel’s overarching narratological, spatio-temporal, and ideological concerns. Kincaid crafts her story’s postmodern narrative in interesting ways by implementing both first-person-singular and first-person-plural points of view as aging protagonist, Xuela Richardson, reviews her life and tells her complicated, coming-of-age tale involving her ongoing struggle against colonial racism and the oppression of women. Often, the narrator speaks alone to explore the quest she is undertaking, a journey in which she receives little help from potential mentors in her colonial island setting, and here Kincaid relies on the singular view. Alternately, Kincaid switches to the plural view to portray the possibility for camaraderie that Xuela pursues in alliances with others, namely, women who might serve as potential mother figures but fail. In some instances, the protagonist speaks together with both family and community members to present their common thoughts regarding their shared sense of subjugation in Dominica’s island setting, yet these acts of co-narration do not bring her the solace she seeks. As the narrator contemplates her identity, one affected by her mother’s death, her father’s abandonment of her, her rejection by her stepmother and stepsister, and her dismissal by teachers and classmates, Xuela attempts to tell her story both alone and with others. Finally, however, Xuela discovers that any capacity for self-knowledge lies beyond her in an alienating world, and she remains displaced within Dominica’s culture.