TEXT C "The Icarus Girl" is the
story of 8-year-old Jessamy Harrison, nicknamed Jess. The daughter of a Nigerian
mother and an English father, she is a troubled child given to tantrums and
uncontrollable screaming fits. She has no friends, hates school and is far
happier sitting inside a cupboard or writing haiku alone in her bedroom. Quite
naturally worried by all this, her mother decides that a change of scenery is in
order, so she takes the family away from its home in England and back to Nigeria
for a brief visit. Initially, Jess feels out of place there as well -- until she
meets Titiola, a mysterious girl of exactly her own age, whom she calls
TillyTilly. From the start, there’s something not quite right
about TiUyTilly: she seems out of proportion. "Was she too tall and yet too ...
small at the same time Was her neck too long Her fingers" At first, she
merely echoes Jess’s words, but she soon develops into the friend and playmate
Jess has never had. Together they have adventures: they manage to break into
Jess’s grandfather’s locked study and then into an amusement park (also locked)
where the gates magically swing open. All too quickly, though,
the family returns from exotic Nigeria to prosaic England, where Jess is
surrounded once again by bullying schoolmates, a hostile teacher and her
hateful, doll-like blond cousin, Dulcie. Then, to Jess’s joy, TillyTilly
reappears, simply knocking on her door. They play together, go on a picnic,
write a poem. But TillyTilly also formulates a plan to "get" Jess’s
tormentors. The reader suspects that TillyTilly is one of those
imaginary friends so common to lonely childhoods, and that the strange and
sinister events are happening only in Jess’s imagination. But just as Jess
herself begins to doubt whether TillyTilly is "really really" there, her
playmate’s malevolent magic begins to spread, infecting every comer of Jess’s
world. TillyTilly’s power, at least, is far from imaginary. She
reveals that Jess had a twin who died at birth -- and that she intends to act on
that twin’s behalf. No longer a girl but a horrific primeval presence, she takes
over Jess’s bedroom, mining it from a safe haven into a place of terror. "Stop
looking to belong, half-and-half child," TillyTilly intones. "Stop. There is
nothing; there is only me, and I have caught you." Oyeyemi
brilliantly conjures up the raw emotions and playground banter of childhood,
writing with the confidence and knowledge of one who has only recently left that
state herself. Jess’s schoolmates, her therapist, the people she meets in
Africa, even her parents, remain suitably shadowy figures, seen solely through
the distorting lens of Jess’s increasingly skewed perception.
"The Icarus Girl" explores the melding of cultures and the dream time of
childhood, as well as the power of ancient lore to tint the everyday experiences
of a susceptible little girl’s seemingly protected life. Deserving of all its
praise, this is a masterly first novel -- and a nightmarish story that will
haunt Oyeyemi’ s readers for months to come. From the story, we may conclude that TillyTilly is______.
A.a girl imagine by Jess B.an evil figure C.a common girl D.none of above is tree