What Means What

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Who Said What Means

Ask yourselves these questions before you read Kincaid’s “Girl”, Do you know what a housewife is, being a student or child, getting advice from an elder, and being called something that you are not? What is this story's about is it a story at all or just a poem in essay form? What kind of mood are you in right now to decipher this story in your own words? The story depends on the mood you are in and change the whole perception of this story. Then again, isn’t that what writing is about to begin with? Interpret the story as Mr. Hass told us to do, I did, but I analyzed it as a poem looking for an underlying meaning. There had to be much more than what there than what was told to us. I had a totally different perception. After the discussion, it seemed relevant for me to understand the story in a different way. But, I thought it was a mother to daughter talk. The “daughter talk” (my interpretation of the narration) was commands that her mom was saying. The advice told to her was not to become a slut, which was repeated several times in this story. But the question I ask you is, this present situation in the girl’s life, or was it a recollection of one that she had before with her mother?

Is this story taking place in present time or in the past? It could be in the present with a young girl but I also came to the conclusion that this could be in the past and the italicized words could keep repeating in her mothers forgotten speech. Now is when she needs her mothers comfort and not only that what she wished at the time of the talk. In the other perspective though it could be in the present time and just be recalled by the narrator to opens one’s imagination to make them draw their own conclusions.

Is story a poem or is it a story, isn’t this story just a page with sentences making thoughts about a person to another person. Well that is what I got out of it and now I can only get more confused thinking of it, the story is so broad anyone’s interpretation could be perceived as correct. Not only that the story can change with each person, it also changes with the readers mood at that point time, not only that try to analyze it and your mind just wonders with the choices that Kincaid gives you.

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