Types of a Mothers Love

816 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: essay on gender roles in literature

Types of a Mothers Love A mother's love for her children is supposed to be something that never dies. The problem is, this 'love' can be expressed in many ways. Sometimes, the love is shown in such a way that there is no doubt that this woman would do anything for her offspring. Sometime, this love can be viewed, as a way that that the mother is trying to mold her daughter into what she believes is the 'right' way to behave. Other times, the mother is trying her best to make sure that her child is doing HER best. These three types of "love" are expressed in the three short stories "Girl," "Gravity," and "Two Kinds." The mother in "Girl" is portrayed as an overbearing monster. For some unknown reason, she has given her daughter many guidelines by which she has to live by. The reason may be that the mother was a rebel in her childhood. It could be that the mother has a vision of what her daughter is to be like. The reason is unknown. But what is known is that this mother won't take anything less than what she thinks a lady should be like. To the knowledge of the reader, the child has done nothing wrong to have to receive this reprimanding. The most demeaning section of the tirade is when the mother says "…` so to prevent you from becoming the slut you are so bent on becoming.'" (Kincaid 13) This mother, for whatever reason it may be, has the idea that her daughter, who she is SUPPOSED to love with all her heart, has her young mind set on becoming a slut. Every time the daughter tried to throw in a comment, it goes all for naught. The mother does not even respond to the comment that her child says. The problem is this story might have been resolved; it might have not been resolved. No one will know... ... middle of paper ... ...th her mother about the whole piano situation. The fight got to the point that Nikan said to her mother "Then I wish I weren't your daughter. I wish you weren't my mother." (Tan 34) Her mother was in complete shock over what she had just heard. The events that took place that afternoon were never mentioned again. The two had moved on almost like it never happened. Her mother no longer pushed her to become something her daughter believed she never could be. She either accepted her daughter for what she was, or she finally realized that her daughter had no desire, in anyway shape or form, to become a star. She didn't want to live the "American Dream." Mothers do what they feel best for their children. Maybe the children do not believe that they are meaning well. But, if you look deep into the heart of the situation, you will see that "love" is being expressed.

Show More
Related

  • Stereotypes In The Movie Crash

    830 Words  | 2 Pages

    And she also was angry with her maid, because her maid was Latino also. But one night when Jean fell of the stairs and was hospitalized at home, her close friends and husband did not have time to stay with her, and did not seem to care, while her maid was there for her and even stayed overnight to take care of her. So, when Jean saw that she started to understand that she should not have judged her maid by her race, and regretted for her bad attitude toward her maid and gave her a big apology hug.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles By Jamacia Kincaid, Alice Munro And Joyce Carol Oates

    1188 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the beginning the room her brother and she share are undifferentiated, showing how the two have not adapted to their gender roles yet , and when she daydreams, she is the hero of the stories, which is the role that is normally given to the man. She works outside with her father and takes pride in knowing that she is more capable of the work than her brother Laird, as her father gave her the real watering can and Laird was given the one for gardening. Throughout the story, however, the word girl is constantly used as an insult against her. For example, when a feed salesman comes to the father, the father introduces her as a hired-hand, and the salesman laughs and says “ ‘Could of fooled me.’ He said ‘I thought it was only a girl.’” The mother also reinforces that she should not be out there when she talks to the father about keeping the girl inside. The narrator sees her mother in a negative light and does not want to become her; she hates housework and describes it as depressing and endless, despite the fact that shortly after she says that the father’s work is “ritualistically important.” The grandmother also tries to force the narrator to act more lady-like constantly saying, " ‘Girls don 't slam doors like that.’ ‘Girls keep

    Read More

  • Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Women's Rights Movement

    535 Words  | 2 Pages

    was that he wished she had been a boy. Her high hope of working with her husband

    Read More

  • Jen Lopez

    828 Words  | 2 Pages

    Her parents who at that time could not understand the choices she made are very happy for their daughter and what she has accomplish. When she left her home at the middle of a fight and never went back. She said,” I had to make my own way” and then lived in a Manhattan dance studio where she was training. Then she got an apartment with some friends in Manhattan Hell’s Kitchen. Since the time she move out of her home she started her showbiz career as a dancer in stage musicals and most notably in her tour to Golden musicals of Broadway and in a Japanese tour. Then she audition to be a fly girl in Fox’s hit comedy “In living Colors,” she beat out 2,000 other contenders in a nation wide competition. Then she cracked into Hollywood and she wanted to make a transition to acting, but she followed Color producer Keenan Ivory Wayans advice to stay with the show for a while before making any attempt to move on.

    Read More

  • Voices Of Women Writers Lesson

    1851 Words  | 4 Pages

    It is said that a girl can often develop some of her mother's characteristics. Although, in their works, Kincaid, Hong Kingston and Davenport depict their protagonists searching for their own identities, yet being influenced in different ways by their mothers. Jamaica Kincaid's poem Girl, is about a young woman coming-of-age receiving helpful advice from her mother. In this poem, Kincaid addresses several issues where a mother's influence is beneficial to a young woman's character. The mother, or speaker, in Girl, offers advice to her daughter- advice that she otherwise would not learn without being told or shown. The mother advises the daughter about everyday tasks, and how to go about them properly (in her opinion).

    Read More

  • The Poem Girl by Jamaica Kincaid

    816 Words  | 2 Pages

    The reader gets the impression that the advice that the mother gives her daughter has been passed down from many generations of women. The advice of the ages has enabled their daughters to endure hardships and to avoid making the same mistakes that they had made, such as planting okra far from the house because it attracts red ants. There were some women in the past that learned this lesson the hard way, and included it in the litany of advice for future generations. But "Girl" also shows the hostility and family dissension that the females suffer.

    Read More

  • Exploring Misogyny: Societal Rules and Female Freedom

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    She tells the girl to “walk like a lady” (320), “hem a dress when you see the hem coming down”, and “behave in front of boys you don’t know very well” (321), so as not to “become the slut you are so bent on becoming” (320). The repetition of the word “slut” and the multitude of rules that must be obeyed so as not to be perceived as such, indicates that the suppression of sexual desire is a particularly important aspect of being a proper woman in a patriarchal society. The young girl in this poem must deny her sexual desires, a quality intrinsic to human nature, or she will be reprimanded for being a loose woman. These restrictions do not allow her to experience the freedom that her male counterparts

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Jamaica Kincaid's 'Girl'

    1010 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the short story, “Girl,” the narrator describes certain tasks a woman should be responsible for based on the narrator’s culture, time period, and social standing. This story also reflects the coming of age of this girl, her transition into a lady, and shows the age gap between the mother and the daughter. The mother has certain beliefs that she is trying to pass to her daughter for her well-being, but the daughter is confused by this regimented life style. The author, Jamaica Kincaid, uses various tones to show a second person point of view and repetition to demonstrate what these responsibilities felt like, how she had to behave based on her social standing, and how to follow traditional customs.

    Read More

  • Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    a struggle between love and family tradition and ways. In the two stories a young girl

    Read More

  • The Influence of Gender in "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid

    672 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Girl” written by Jamaica Kincaid is essentially a set of instructions given by an adult, who is assumed to be the mother of the girl, who is laying out the rules of womanhood, in Caribbean society, as expected by the daughter’s gender. These instructions set out by the mother are related to topics including household chores, manners, cooking, social conduct, and relationships. The reader may see these instructions as demanding, but these are a mother’s attempt, out of care for the daughter, to help the daughter to grow up properly. The daughter does not appear to have yet reached adolescence, however, her mother believes that her current behavior will lead her to a life of promiscuity. The mother postulates that her daughter can be saved from a life of promiscuity and ruin by having domestic knowledge that would, in turn also, empower her as a productive member in their community and the head of her future household. This is because the mother assumes that a woman’s reputation and respectability predisposes the quality of a woman’s life in the community.

    Read More

  • Female Sexualism In Jamaica Kincaid's Girl By Jamaica Kincaid

    927 Words  | 2 Pages

    Due to the girl’s current lifestyle and behavior, the mother is focused on sharing the value to save her daughter from a life of promiscuity. The mother fears her daughter will become a “slut” and insists that is exactly what the daughter desires. Moreover, the mother is very blunt with her view when she uses repetition with the statement, “… the slut you are so bent on becoming.” (Kincaid92). It is very clear that the mother holds a reputation to such a standard that it could determine the overall quality of a woman and her life. Therefore, a woman’s sexuality should be protected and hidden to present the woman with respect and to avoid the dangers of female sexuality. The mother is very direct in calling out certain, specific behaviors of the daughter. Such as, the way the daughter walks, plays with marbles, and approaches other people. The mother is very persistent that the daughter must act a certain way that can gain their community’s respect. She fears the social consequence of a woman’s sexuality becoming

    Read More

  • Point of View in Amy Tan’s Short Story, Two Kinds

    1088 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Two Kinds" is a powerful example of differing personalities causing struggles between parent and child. In every parent-child relationship, there are occurrences in which the parent places expectations on the child. Some children fall victim to a parent trying too hard or placing expectations too high, or, in the case of "Two Kinds," a parent trying to live her life through that of her child. However, the mother is also a victim in that she succumbs to her own foolish dream that "you could be anything you wanted to be in America." Knowing that her own time has passed, she wants her daughter to succeed by any means necessary, but she never stops to think of what her daughter might want. She strictly adheres to her plan, and her overbearing parenting only leaves the daughter with feelings of disapproval and questions of self-worth. The mother does not realize the controversy that she creates, and she cannot understand that her actions could be wrong. She also does not realize that she is hurting not only her daughter, but also the relationship that should bind the two of them ...

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Jamaica Kincaid's Girl By Jamaica Kincaid

    1060 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Girl” makes the impression that the mother wants the daughter to take over the “women’s” work around the house as well as she tells her which day to wash the white clothes Monday, wash the colored clothes on Tuesday, and she is teaching her how to iron her father’s clothes the way he likes them done and how to sew on a button; “This is how to make a button-hole for the button you have just sewed on.” (380) The mother also is teaching her daughter how to cook for the family. “Cook pumpkin fritters in very hot sweet oil,” (380) so that everyone will eat them. The mother also discusses table manners, “always eat your food in such a way that it won’t turn some-one else’s stomach.”

    Read More

  • Mother Daughter Relationship in Two Kinds by Amy Tan

    430 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the beginning, Ni Kan, is “just as excited as [her] mother” about the idea of becoming a prodigy (749). She imagines herself in different roles and believes that once she has “become perfect,” (749) her parents will approve of her. However, her mother’s obsession becomes extreme when she is forced to take numerous tests on a daily basis. Ni Kan points out, “The tests [are] harder- multiplying numbers in my head without using my hands, predicting the daily temperatures in Los Angeles, New York, and London” (749). Eventually, her mother persuades her into taking piano lessons, which becomes the prime focus of determination.

    Read More

  • The Relationship Between a Mother and Daughter in Two Kinds by Amy Tan

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan is about the intricacies and complexities in the relationship between a mother and daughter. Throughout the story, the mother imposes upon her daughter, Jing Mei, her hopes and dreams for her. Jing Mei chooses not what her mother wants of her but only what she wants for herself. She states, "For, unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be. I could be only me" (Tan 1). Thus this "battle of wills" between mother and daughter sets the conflict of the story.

    Read More

More about Types of a Mothers Love

Open Document