Storytelling and Survival, A girl’s Story
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Storytelling and Survival
The story ‘A girl’s Story’ is contained within the short story collection of Bambara. A little girl in this story has never had a menstrual period before; she does not know it and the way it is experienced. Bambara narrates the events of the day when Rae Ann had her menarche, or first menstrual period. From this story, Ingram’s claim that stories are for survival is true. The story can be said to contain death or life information whose passage is extremely important.
During the material day, Ann is alone at home. She does her daily chores normally, but later notices some blood is oozing from her private parts. She is bewildered. She uses her bathroom towel to wash off the blood, but more keeps coming out. Most young girls face this scenario when they experience their first periods. They do not conceive what a period is, let alone information on the biological changes their bodies are experiencing at the time. The blame has safely been placed on the mothers, or the primary caregivers to the girls. Some of them, however, are fortunate enough to come across works like that of Bambara that would give them an insight on what to expect when they reach puberty. These are survival skills that require to be imparted in this group of people as Ingram suggested.
Ann thinks she will bleed to death. She remembers her mother had died from profuse bleeding, though she does not have any details because she was quite young when the mother died. This causes her to panic, making her rub off the blood with anything that comes her way. Continued desperation leads her to the bathroom where she places her buttocks awkwardly against the wall in an attempt to stop the bleeding. In this manner, she exposes herself to a lot of dirt, risking infections of her reproductive tract. One does not stop imagining such a scenario would happen if somebody had told her a story touching on a girl’s first day of menstruation. At one point, her uncle with whom she lives, wants to use the bathroom, but finds the little girl and the blood scattered all over. He immediately concludes the girl is performing an abortion. There is nobody to convince him because the girl is shy, and morals prohibit the uncle from asking for details of the incident. Ann walks away shyly and mesmerized while the uncle remains angry but does not ask anything (Bambara, 2007).
Ann also lives with her grandmother, who is called immediately to see what is happening to her grandchild. Abortion comes to the grandmother’s mind at first, remembering “Ann’s mother died from excessive bleeding when she attempted a botched abortion” (Bambara, 2007). She shouts at the girl to get up, but as Ann walks away, the old woman examines the blood closely and realizes it is only a period. She does not know what to tell the girl. She wishes she had constructed some story touching on such issues sometimes earlier. At least the girl would have been spared the embarrassment. The only option the grandmother has is to get some sanitary pads for the girl and a leaflet containing instructions on usage. The little girl, however, is illiterate and only uses the pictorial instructions unsuccessfully. Amid embarrassment, the old woman explains to the girl all about menstruation.
Through her story, Bambara has injected survival into a sizeable number of girls who will read her book. Those who have not had menses before will have an idea of the events they should expect. From the foregoing, Ingram’s statement that stories are told for survival can be proven.