Ammaggio

A Girl's Story is a short story within Toni Cade Bambara's short story collection, The Seabirds are Still Alive. This collection was originally published in 1977 by Random House. Bambara writes about strong female girls in this particular collection because "in her vision, in her politics, little girls matter" The story centers on a young girl named Rae Ann who is experiencing menstruation for the first time without any kind of knowledge and is frightened she is dying.

Plot Summary

Rae Ann is the main character in A Girl's Story who thinks she is bleeding to death. She does not know that in fact it is the start of her menstrual cycle, something no one had told her about. She lives with her brother Horace and her Grandmother, M'Dear. In this environment, they do not speak of such things. Rae Ann is terrified of the blood that keeps coming out of her and uses towels, tissues, and other methods to try to stop it. At the beginning she is hoisting her hips up toward a wall, thinking it would go back in. She becomes so frightened that she thinks of going to the Center, where Dada Bibi is, and asking her for help. She becomes too afraid to, thinking she would only bleed to death on the way. Rae Ann starts to think of her situation as a punishment of some kind and she kept thinking of her dead mother who bled to death. When Horace came home and wanted to use the bathroom, he yells at her to come out so he can take a shower. After she refuses him, he calls on M'Dear who then starts to believe that Rae Ann had attempted an abortion like her Mother had and died from. Rae Ann is confused, not knowing what an abortion was, let alone to tell her grandmother otherwise. When M'Dear finally sees her and understands that it was only her period, she sits her down on Newspaper in her room, leaving her with a package. The story ends with this scene of Rae Ann thinking she had done something horrible to deserve this treatment and M'Dear not explaining anything to her, just leaving a package of products and instructions.

Characters

• Rae Ann - main character, young girl
• Horace - Rae Ann's brother
• M'Dear - Rae Ann's Grandmother
• Dada Bibi - works at the Center, maternal figure

Themes

• the "Mother":
• Socio-Economic status:
• Feminism:
• African American Culture:
• Female Shame & Worth:
• Body Agency:
• Strong "Girl" image:

Symbols

• The Package:
• Dada Bibi's Story:
• Blood:
• Abortion:

Illness Narrative

• View of Death and Illness:
• Body Disconnection:
• Women & Illness: