Girl, woman, other – Bernardine Evaristo
, Anaïs Cai
Chapter one
1 Amma
1.1 Personality
- Wonderful
- Artistic
- Highly individualistic
- Rebellious
- Bravery
- Strength
1.2 Who?
Amma is a lesbian in her fifties, proud of her lifelong stroppiness and refusal to play by
anybody’s rules but her own. Her chapter, and therefore the whole novel, opens with her
breakthrough moment—finally, she has made it into the topflight as a playwright.
Mother of Yazz
à Her play “The last Amazon of Dahomey” opened at the National in London.
à Her perennial signature style statement => silver hoop earrings, chunky African bangles &
pink lipstick
à She will always be anything but normal
à Has a fighting spirit from her dad (Kwabena), he was a journalist campaigning for
independence in Ghana
ð Until he heard he was going to be arrested, he ended up working on the railways
à Her father doesn’t know she is lesbian
à Amma went to her first black woman group à what it meant to be a black woman, when
white feminist organizations made them feel unwelcome => she can relate to all these stuff
à She and Dominique decided they needed to start their own theatre company to have
careers as actors, BECAUSE: neither was prepared to betray their politics to find jobs
ð The company’s motto = On Our Own Terms/ Not At All
ð BUT: they soon realized that they don’t work well together and that they’d better hit
it off as friends
à Amma lost interest in bed-hopping => she craved the intimacy that comes from being
emotionally, although not exclusively, close to another person
à when Dominique left, she felt abandoned => dismantled the company and went freelance
à Roland = the father of Yazz
à Yazz was the miracle she never thought she wanted, having a child completed her =>
somehow seemed anti-feminist
à She raised Yazz very openly, the opposite of her own upbringing à she wanted her
daughter to be free, feminist and powerful => Yazz thinks that we’re all going to be non-
binary in the future, she is a humanitarian
2
, Anaïs Cai
Chapter one
1 Amma
1.1 Personality
- Wonderful
- Artistic
- Highly individualistic
- Rebellious
- Bravery
- Strength
1.2 Who?
Amma is a lesbian in her fifties, proud of her lifelong stroppiness and refusal to play by
anybody’s rules but her own. Her chapter, and therefore the whole novel, opens with her
breakthrough moment—finally, she has made it into the topflight as a playwright.
Mother of Yazz
à Her play “The last Amazon of Dahomey” opened at the National in London.
à Her perennial signature style statement => silver hoop earrings, chunky African bangles &
pink lipstick
à She will always be anything but normal
à Has a fighting spirit from her dad (Kwabena), he was a journalist campaigning for
independence in Ghana
ð Until he heard he was going to be arrested, he ended up working on the railways
à Her father doesn’t know she is lesbian
à Amma went to her first black woman group à what it meant to be a black woman, when
white feminist organizations made them feel unwelcome => she can relate to all these stuff
à She and Dominique decided they needed to start their own theatre company to have
careers as actors, BECAUSE: neither was prepared to betray their politics to find jobs
ð The company’s motto = On Our Own Terms/ Not At All
ð BUT: they soon realized that they don’t work well together and that they’d better hit
it off as friends
à Amma lost interest in bed-hopping => she craved the intimacy that comes from being
emotionally, although not exclusively, close to another person
à when Dominique left, she felt abandoned => dismantled the company and went freelance
à Roland = the father of Yazz
à Yazz was the miracle she never thought she wanted, having a child completed her =>
somehow seemed anti-feminist
à She raised Yazz very openly, the opposite of her own upbringing à she wanted her
daughter to be free, feminist and powerful => Yazz thinks that we’re all going to be non-
binary in the future, she is a humanitarian
2
