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. The narrator is very specific and explains …show more content…
This allows the reader to assume the narrator is in the lower part of the upper class. She must be instructed on how to do things correctly, such as setting the table for different meals and for different guests, in order to remain in their social standing. One wrong move and they could be out. When Kincaid does this in second person, the reader can identify with this girl. Since the story is one long continuous sentence, the reader feels as the girl and she is receiving non stop orders from her mother. The girl’s interruption shows that she is somewhat intimidated by all these orders and is afraid of becoming what her mother warned her against becoming. The second person point of view helps the reader to connect with the girl in this story. It shows the reader a better understanding of this character and how she is being raised to be a respectable woman. This point of view also gives us an insight on the life of women and shows us how they fit into their society. Through this point of view, the reader can also identify the important aspects of the social class and culture. The daughter tries to assert a sense of selfhood by replying to the mother but it is visible that the mother is being over whelming and constraining her daughter to prepare her for
In “Girl,” Jamaica Kincaid’s use of repetitive syntax and intense diction help to underscore the harsh confines within which women are expected to exist. The entire essay is told from the point of view of a mother lecturing her daughter about how to be a proper lady. The speaker shifts seamlessly between domestic chores—”This is how you sweep a house”—and larger lessons: “This is how you smile to someone you don’t like too much; this is how you smile to someone you don’t like at all…” (Kincaid 1). The way in which the speaker bombards the girl overwhelms the reader, too. Every aspect of her life is managed, to the point where all of the lessons she receives throughout her girlhood blur together as one run-on sentence.
Every year thousands of tourists visit the islands of Antigua, they come from all over the world to drain their sorrows of reality by ridding their pockets of the cash they strive to work so hard for. Although Antigua seems to be filled with relaxation, sunshine and rainbows, and devoid of anything that could ruin somebody’s week, unfortunately, Antigua is quite the opposite of that of what we imagine. Author Jamaica Kincaid argues this false reality tourists imagine about the island, by addressing many issues she witnessed while growing up in Antigua.
The lives of men and women are portrayed definitively in this novel. The setting of the story is in southern Georgia in the 1960’s, a time when women were expected to fit a certain role in society. When she was younger she would rather be playing ...
Essay #1: Sexual Politics It has been said that “Society has always defined for us what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman, what a man should be like and what a woman should be like, and these traditional definitions of gender roles have limited and even harmed individuals”. The theme of sexual politics comes to mind in this quote. One can define sexual politics as the relationship of the sexes, male and female, regarding power. Society’s definition of this can limit an individual in their gender role and restrain a person from being themselves.
Even with the advancement of women in society, their roles and societal expectations have not changed. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” are two stories with varied elements set in different periods in history, that show the role society has deemed as belonging to women. "The Story of an Hour" was written in the year 1894, almost a century before Kincaid wrote "Girl". However, despite the large gap in the times of the authors, a common theme emerges and that is the theme of the oppression of women and the role they are expected to assume in society.
For instance, in The Lesson Toni Cade Bambara, the author is trying to show us the economic inequality within the society. As suggested in the story that the main protagonist of the story comes from a low income background who lived in Harlem New York City. She was amazed when her teacher took them on trip to an expensive store and there Miss Moore makes a powerful statement. As stated “Imagine for a minute what kind of society it is in which some people can spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven.” This shows that economic inequality existed within the society and it was ironic how some people might spend so much money on unnecessary things without knowing that money can be spend to feed people who don’t have enough money to buy a meal. Furthermore, in the story Miss Moore is the symbol of education as she is trying to educate her own society. For instance, she is trying teach the kids that world is unfair and economic inequality exists within the society. Therefore she is trying to teach the kids how to face the world with courage. But different themes are explored in Girl by Jamaica Kincaid. For instance, the set of instructions by her mother represents the knowledge that she needs in order to be the powerful person in the household. Her mother wants her to be the women who is respected by the society and her family members. Furthermore, in this story culture and tradition is emphasized. As we see throughout the story her mother is passing her knowledge onto her
The young girl in the story is struggling with finding her own gender identity. She would much rather work alongside her father, who was “tirelessly inventive” (Munro 328), than stay and work with her mother in the kitchen, depicted through, “As soon as I was done I ran out of the house, trying to get out of earshot before my mother thought of what to do next” (329). The girl is torn between what her duties are suppose to be as a woman, and what she would rather be doing, which is work with her father. She sees her father’s work as important and worthwhile, while she sees her mother’s work as tedious and not meaningful. Although she knows her duties as a woman and what her mother expects of her, she would like to break the mould and become more like her father. It is evident that she likes to please her father in the work she does for him when her father says to the feed salesman, “Like to have you meet my new hired man.” I turned away and raked furiously, red in the face with pleasure (328-329). Even though the young girl is fixed on what she wants, she has influences from both genders i...
“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.
The book is narrated from the first person perspectives of three women: Skeeter,Aibleen and Minny.The twenty two year old Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan is the daughter of a prominent white family who has just graduated and wants to pursure her career as a writer but it’s 1960s and her mother will not be happy if she doesn’t have a ring on her finger. She has been brought up by black maids since she was young, and longs to find out why her much-loved maid, Constantine, has disappeared.Aibleen is a black,wise maid who is raising her seventeenth white child.She dedicates all her work time to Miss.Leeflot,while trying to heal the scars left by her own son’s death.Minny,Aibleen’s best frend is short,fat and the sassiest women in Mississippi.She is the best cook but she cannot mind her tongue resulting having being fired from nineteen jobs. Stockett’s characters are strong, sometimes bold, yet sometimes silent. She adds humor and fun, as well as danger and intrigue in the novel. She has done a great job writing from the point of view of numerous characters. All three of them had their own chapter.Every character has a personality, goals, and a backstory.
Girl by Jamaica Kincaid demonstrate how a mother cautions her daughter, in becoming a responsible woman in her society. Although the daughter hasn’t gotten into adolescence yet, the mother fears that her daughter’s current behavior, if continued, will tip to a life of promiscuity. The mother believes that a woman’s status or propriety determines the quality of her life in the community. Hence, gender roles, must be carefully guarded to maintain a respectable front. Her advice centers on how to uphold responsibility. The mother cautions her daughter endlessly; emphasising on how much she wants her to realize her role in the society by acting like woman in order to be respected by the community and the world at large. Thus, Jamaica Kincaid’s
By stating how other people behave or interact, the author offers a great chance for readers to interpret fairly for themselves what the reason for any conflict may be, or the nature of any essential contrast between the narrator and other adults in the story. In the story, there are many self-righteous opinions from people, which seem to be ironic to the readers; For example, her mother’s aggressive attitude of showing off her daughter, her piano teacher’s self-praise claiming him as “Beethoven.” All of the narrations including conversation clearly depict a different characteristic between the narrator and other people. For instance, a conversation occurs between the narrator and her mother when the mother criticizing a girl who seems similar to the author on TV which reveals dissimilar understanding for both of them to each other’s behavior. At first, the daughter speaks out for the girl by questioning her mother by saying “why picking on her […] She’s pretty good. Maybe she’s not the best, but she’s trying hard.” The daughter actually is defending for herself and reflecting that she feels uncomfortable with her mother’s disregard of her hard work. She wants to get her mother’s compliments instead of her criticisms. However, her mother response of, “just like you,” and, “not the best. Because you not trying.” Here, her mother doesn’t really answer her question, instead wants her put more effort on trying, neglecting how much she has tried before. However, in her mother’s perspective, she has never tried hard enough. By narratively stating the conversations she has encountered, readers perceive a strong implication of the reason for a future conflict between her and her mother.
The point of view she expressed through out the whole text, was her own. She was able to keep readers insight of the psychoanalytic theory the story has. The actions the protagonist had in the story showed us how it affected her adult self, and how the issue developed a rebel over time. Even after years from when the recurring events took place, her actions as a child had an effect on both mother and daughter. This theory gives readers the idea that things that happen to people during childhood can contribute to the way they later function as
The persuasive attempts in both literary works produce different results. The effectiveness of the mother’s guidance to her daughter is questioned since the girl cannot recognize the essence of her mother’s lesson. Despite that, the mother’s beneficial instruction serves as a standard for the daughter to reflect her future behaviors in order to live up to the community’s expectations. On the other hand, Anne’s value of candid expression and lasting relationship dissuades her from obliging to her family’s meaningless duty to place her love and interest above to experience fulfillment in life.
also why the author has her speaking in monologue form. It is anoher way we feel
Don’t, won’t, mustn’t, shouldn’t, never! All common words heard from mothers every day. In Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl” so many “shoulds” and “shouldn’ts” are listed off that the reader feels as though they’re back being lectured by their own mother! Kincaid writes with such an overbearing tone that any reader would feel the pressures of being a girl. And that is exactly what she meant to do; Kincaid uses “Girl” to almost bully the reader into feeling the claustrophobic pressures a girl feels, but not only that she challenges the reader to imagine the strenuous rules and regulations girls must face when it comes to their sexuality.