Jamaica Kincaid Girl

Jamaica Kincaid in her short literature work “Girl” utilizes strong repetition to convey certain themes seen in gender issues, more specifically those of the power of domesticity and female sexuality. This narrative is structured with two characters, a mother and daughter, and is presented by the mother as a list of instructions for the daughter to live and follow by in life. The repetition of the phrase “this is how you [do this]” and the word “slut” shows the oscillation of the mother going from repeating domestic instructions for the girl to follow to accusing the daughter of being promiscuous and questioning the daughter’s innocence. For one side of the femininity spectrum, Kincaid portrays the domestic life that is, a lot of the time,

This side examines a different reputation aside from domestic reputation: sexual reputation. The repetition of the word “slut” in phrases highlights the importance that the mother places on sexual reputation within all of the advice that she gives to the daughter. The constant repetition of the word “slut” She instructs her daughter on how to act and dress in a very specific way as to not be displayed as promiscuous. Maintenance of sexual purity and innocence is ideal for respectable women which the mother most strongly asserts to the girl and the reader the same. The mother more accuses the daughter of already becoming, if not already, a “slut” rather than only stressing that she avoid becoming one. In the first part of the text, the mother instructs the daughter to not sing “benna” (1725). These calypso benna music genre can have sexual double meanings and symbolize sexuality in general which then singing, especially in church, would definitely come across as immoral and wrong as the mother suggests. This is where the girl for the first time in the text has some say when she attempts to fight and defend herself but is shot down by the mother who does not listen and keeps going with her list of instructions. The odd fact is that although the mother condones the daughter from singing benna in

However, the girl speaks up in her own defense two significant times in the whole text. Both of those times where the daughter attempted to take advantage of the opportunity to speak up in protest against her mother’s preconceived beliefs, she is basically instantly shot down because her words are not heard by her mother as the mother continues with her own words over her daughter’s. The second time the daughter attempts to speak up and question her mother, the mother just comes down with anger and makes it seem as though she finds it pointless to advise her daughter any further who is already leading towards the life of a “slut” as the mother sees it. The fact that the daughter started to try and speak independently captures how the girl is already feeling some resentment, confusion, and conflicting feelings towards her mother which many children can relate to with any parent at times. The mother’s overpowering instructions that shield the daughter’s attempt at communication reveals how the mother prevents any form of two-way communication and sense of self for the