Jessamy Harrison

Jessamy Wuraola Harrison
First appearance The Icarus Girl
Created by Helen Oyeyemi
Information
Gender Female
Occupation Student
Family Daniel Harrison (Father), Sarah Bisimi Harrison (Mother), Fern Harrison (Twin, deceased)

Jessamy Wuraola Harrison (born July 25, 1986 in London) is a fictional character created by author Helen Oyeyemi.

Life

Jessamy Harrison lives in London with her family. One summer her mother takes Jessamy and her father to Nigeria. There, she meets a little girl the same age as Jess. Her name is TillyTilly. She is very nice to Jess at first, but as the book progresses she becomes more and more violent, blaming Jess for her own deeds. Jessamy is biracial, and is described physically as having pale brown(wheat-coloured) 'milky-coffee' skin, hazel eyes, and brown shoulder-length curly hair.

Family

  • Sarah Bisimi Harrison, a Yoruba immigrant from Nigeria,[1] is the mother of Jessamy. She is an author and can be violent at times.
  • Daniel Harrison: is the father of Jessamy Harrison. He is described as having blond-brown fringy hair and wears glasses. He is very kind but can also lose his temper at times. What he works with is never told although he may be an accountant by profession as he expresses this while trying to peel yams while in Nigeria.
  • Fern Harrison: Jessamy's deceased twin sister.
  • Adam Fitzpatrick: Paternal Uncle. He always tries to make Jess laugh and sneaks her treats and extra pocket money.
  • Lucy Fitzpatrick née Harrison: Paternal aunt. Not much is known about her. She mentions in one scene of the book that she is pregnant.
  • Dulcie Fitzpatrick: paternal cousin; competes with Jessamy in vying attention.
  • Siobhan MacKenzie: The daughter of Dr. MacKenzie, she is Jessamy's best friend outside of school; is described as having auburn-red curly hair, and gets injured at Jess' house during a sleepover at TillyTilly's jealous disposal. She is not heard of again after this incident.
  • Kunle, Funke and Biola: maternal aunts and uncle.
  • Akin, Bisola, Ebon, Tope, Taye, Bose and Femi: maternal cousins; seem to have a grudge towards Jessamy because she is biracial.

Personality

Jessamy is very shy; one author describes her as "intellectually precocious, socially maladjusted, lonely, and unhappy".[2] She is not so fond of talking. She was picked on a lot in class. Several times a day, she would have panic attacks. When she finds out through TillyTilly that she had a twin sister who died at birth, she thinks she screamed because she had no twin sister. Throughout the book, she gets to understand that TillyTilly is not real. She likes TillyTilly. But still she is frightened by Tilly. She loves reading books, but has a habit of editing books she doesn't like the content of. For example when something happens to one of the character that she doesn't like.

Themes

The themes of the book are mostly the ones of being half African-half British. Jessamy is searching for her own identity. It's very much a horror book and features Yoruba mythology.

References

  1. ↑ Brown, Michelle Lynn (2008). Screams Somehow Echoing: Trauma and Testimony in Anglophone African Literature. ProQuest. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-549-77815-8.
  2. ↑ Collins, Walter P. Emerging African Voices. Cambria Press. p. 363. ISBN 978-1-62196-931-0.
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