Julie Tagg| Think and Write for CSEC English A and B

CHARACTERS

Leticia Green (Aunt Teach)

June

June’s mother

Georgia

SETTINGS

1950’s

Jamaica

Brooklyn New York

SUMMARY OF STORY

Pollard looks at love for one’s country in “Georgia and them there United States”. June is the young Jamaican narrator who gets the opportunity to visit her aunt who lives in the United States. Leticia Green (Aunt Teach) presents the United States as a place where there are possibilities and progress. Pollard starts the story with a letter that June’s mother receives from her sister who has just become a citizen of the United States (Uncle Sam). The letter shows the disgust and pity that Aunt Teach feels with the “backward” lifestyle of her sister and the children who live in Jamaica. In contrast, the narrator cannot fathom the pride that Aunt Teach feels for the United States as she sees Jamaica as a beautiful place that can never be replaced in her heart. The narrator is impressed with the clothes that come from America, but she does not believe that America is better than her beloved homeland. When she visits the United States, she feels disappointed and disgusted by the filth and decay that surrounded her in the great United States of America.

The narrator also talks about the changes that she sees in her aunt and cousin and attributes this to their assimilation into the American culture. She further speaks to the make-up and wig that her aunt wears and the way that her cousin looks to her like a stranger. On the other hand, June is the true Caribbean or Jamaican woman with her low-cut natural hair and her face free of make-up. She writes to her father and asks that he does not tell the others in the community that she is in the United States because she does not wish to share her experience with anyone.

CONFLICT

Leticia and her contempt for her Jamaican heritage and her readiness to appreciate the lifestyle of the American people.

RESOLUTION

The story ends with the narrator emphasizing the love she has for her home country as she says that she does not want anyone to know that she is in the United States of America.

THEMES

Identity

The theme is presented through June and her aunt Leticia. June is young but she knows who she is. She is proud of her heritage and culture. On the other hand, Leticia is older, but she refuses to accept or acknowledge her heritage.

Love of country

June loves Jamaica. She lies on a crocus bag, under a soursop tree because she appreciates the peace and tranquility of her island. She is fascinated by the island’s beauty, and she relaxes under the ‘clustered greenery of orange trees as far as eye could see’. She notes that no city could ‘claim the grass-bound, hill-bound soul of me.’

In contrast, Aunt Leticia’s lack of appreciation of her island home is clear as she sees the island as a ‘down-graded’ place. In fact, she is grateful that she does not have to return as she thinks that her family lives in misery. She is thankful that her daughter will escape the slums of Kingston. She has a greater appreciation for America than she does for Jamaica. Aunt Leticia’s excitement is clear in the way that she praises the central heating, Coney Island, and the snow.

Love of self:

The theme of love for self is clear with June’s short natural hair and her confidence. She is not intimidated by her Aunt Leticia’s lack of enthusiasm for this look. In fact, she covers her with a wig. June mentions that her sister had told her that ‘in America, the wig is the black woman’s good-morning-white-America-how-are-you before coffee, before prayers if any, before good morning to your black mother who sleeps in the bed next to you.’  One could say that the African American woman is unable to function because she does not show her natural qualities. Aunt Leticia accepts this way of life and passes it on to Georgia, who has embraced the culture of wearing these wigs.

Family Relationship

The theme of family relationship surfaces through the plot as the narrator and her aunt interact with each other.

SYMBOLS

The wigs symbolize the acceptance of western culture and the rejection of Jamaican culture.

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