'Stepping out of the Kumbla,1-Kincaid's AIDS Narrative, 'My Brother'

Kincaid's narrative thus challenges typical responses to HIV/AIDS by breaking the silence and speaking openly about HTV/AIDS, in effect, stepping out of the kumbla. [...]in writing about her brother's illness Kincaid is breaking the Caribbean convention of 'not talking private family business' outside the family. [...]the racist script of AIDS produced through the association of the disease with marginal groups and specifically by the early 'speculation about the geographical origin of AIDS' (Sontag 140) is suggested by the image of the poor black young man from the small island suffering from HIV/AIDS. The desire, too, to be a reggae singer, another self-affirming 'event' is undercut by his narrow and limited definition of a successful singer - a man for whom 'gahl a take ahff she clothes' [p. 68] when he sings. [...]each figure - Rasta, reggae singer is a figure of cultural authority, defined by their virility. [...]Kincaid's presentation of her brother's life replaces the arms' length treatment of an AIDS victim with the intimacy of the sister's grappling to understand his life.