A Mother Filled With Worries: Oppression of Women

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Recommended: Gender inequality and sexism

The oppression of women in society plays a huge role in how mothers raise their young daughters for the cruel world that waits. In Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl”, Kincaid lists multiple stereotypical roles of the “typical” women in her short text. Without question, Kincaid defines roles of women in a way that may seem sexist and put a strong limit on what women can and cannot do. Moreover, Kincaid’s piece does come to empower women and evokes various degrees of power, freedom and the control of women. Throughout the story Kincaid uses a series of long sentences to convey both the tone of the text and the theme of it as well. The tone of the text comes right from the mother who we clearly see is strict and obedient. The mother preaches to her daughter explaining how to do certain household chores and how to act. The long sentences symbolize the many orders that the mother gives to her daughter. The text flows as a stream of consciousness with the ideas coming right from the mother. This style shows the reader how repressive the mother’s demands are to a modern women that we wou...

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