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The portrayal of women in literature
The portrayal of women in literature
How do gender roles play a part in literature
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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 According to Carol Baileys article on Performance and the Gendered Body in Jamaica Kincaid 's ‘Girl’ “The poem is fictional representation of the double-edged tendencies which involves child-rearing practices in many Caribbean societies: as the mother provides guidelines for living, the moments of care are constantly weaken by the severity evident in what the mother actually saying and the fact that her daughter is lectured with little room for discussion” (Carol Bailey 106). The instructions in the poem “Girl” reveal an effective performance of gender roles assigned to women in the Caribbean societies which shows significant acts in domestic, social, and other spheres. Carol Bailey argues that the poem’s primary refrain, "this is how," demonstrate a clear emphasis on particular ways one believed or taught to act, and it calls attention to a type of performance that allows the young female to reinforce where she belongs in the community of respectable women (Carol Bailey 106). The social norms and gender conducts in the Caribbean is a setting where females are constantly aware of how their body is shaped She is responsible for training her daughter to gain abilities to discover her roles herself through knowledge, and also responsible to provide her daughter with inner and social safety. In addition, in the society, it is necessary for a mother to be fully aware of the significance of her daughter’s adolescent stage; she has to direct her daughter’s potentials by useful activities while she maintains a healthy, relationship with her daughter. Social norms and traditional conduct if care isn’t taken might affect a child. One should be able to express one’s self, by not been judge by the society. Whether a one acts a certain way the society doesn’t except one to act, one should have a freedom to express his or her gender roles in the way one wants it to
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.
The society aspect of women roles and the duties as a woman. Society plays a role that is shown in a parallel between Girl and the Women’s Swimming Pool. In girl, her role is restricted in the direction by her mother. The restrictions come’s with consequences that she has to follow. These restrictions are guidelines that may or may not help her as a woman but she is subjected to do them in order to survive in a society that is controlled by men. While in The Women’s Swimming Pool, the young women finds a way to escape her old culture values and adapt to a new culture. She will be forced to make a decision that will put her in a position that she has to either leave her grandmother or her desire to the pool. Her grandmother is a symbol of her old culture values and the pool is symbolized as the new culture looking forward to change. As the old generation no one is willing to accept change but in the new generations they are willing to search for the change. Which comes with consequences and a great deal of
The time period from “Girl” portrays how women were treated and forced to act when they were raised as oppose of young boys. Through out the story we understand that young ladies were forced to learn how do domestic duties from a very young age. An example of this is” this is how you sew on a button…this
Munro, Alice. “Boys and Girls.” Introduction to Literature. Ed. Isobel M. Findlay et al. 5th ed. Canada: Nelson Education, 2004. 491-502. Print.
A 4 page essay exploring the relationship between mothers and daughters and between women in relation to the feminist movement. The story of "The Girl" by ...
Gender socialization, the process by which one is taught the expected behavior assigned to them because of their sex, despite being critiqued as ‘natural’, are influenced through many different agents. Parents, the first and most prominent agents in this process, began this socialization from birth. Everything from the color choices of clothes, toys, and even level of intimacy displayed for girls over boys, all attest to these notions. Emma Jean Peace, rebels against these ‘normality’s’ after the birth of her seventh child Perfect, who Emma Jean decides to secretly raise as a girl despite being born a boy. If parents have the right to instill, teach and raise their child based on their own personal convictions
Our society is full of paradoxes and contradictions. Here a female is considered a peripheral member of the family, both in her parent's house as well as husbands. Throughout her lifetime, she is unable to decide her roots and this leads to her insecurity. As the daughter is closest to the mother, this insecurity is rubbed on to her also. In almost all societies, a woman is culturally assigned norms of behaviour in which standards of conduct and decorum set the boundaries for her as external signs of what it means to be seemingly proper and respectable within the differentiated hierarchy called gender. Any form of deviation from prescribed norms or any display of transgressive potential in violation to the ideal image of womanhood makes her an unruly woman to be ostracized by society.
Gender have a big effect on how a mother feels about her child, traditionally, every mother has a wish for her children to be the best they can be. But at what point does a simple instruction become words that have been said to many times? Traditionally, If it is a boy the one wish of a mother is for him to get married to some women who can cook and take care of him. In the other hand, there are two kinds of mother wishes for her daughter, one where the mother sees other children with amazing talents or grades and thinks her child could be just like them, if not more; continually places pressure on her daughter to become some kind of genius or have some talent. The second is for her to get married to a rich guy who she can take care of. In the short story the mother went over and over rules her daughter must follow for society to accept her. “don’t walk bare-head in the hot sun . . .always eat your food in such a way that it won’t turn someone else’s stomach. . .” (813). All this comments are about how not to look like a slut around people. And how not to embarrass
Girl Time is a book written by Maisha T. Winn who is a former public elementary school and high school teacher. She has worked extensively with youth inside and outside urban schools throughout the United States. Winn provides information in the book about girls incarcerated in juvenile detention centers and girls who have been previously incarcerated.
In most short stories the author writes a story about an experience they have had or something they have made up. In David Arnason’s, “A Girl’s Story,” the first thing that catches the eye is the title. David Arnason incorporates the readers in the story; he writes a story about the process of the author writing a romance novel. The story is entitled, “A Girl’s Story,” because the author tries to write a novel a female would write, or would want to read.
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.
Daughters have always had a special bond with their fathers, even at the time where women did not have the same rights as men, and were seen as the weaker sex. This father is no different, in wanting the best for his little girl. The father in this letter wants the daughter to accomplish her roles differently than the women before her because he knows that women are capable of accomplishing “male” tasks. The letter also addresses how women were seen and treated by men and the changes that were occurring in order to gain a status quo for both men and women.
A girl’s role is to be contained through marriage and children, while a boy’s role is to expand his horizon through sex and education.
The mother’s genuine care for her daughter in girl is displayed through her imperative instructions. The mother decides to transfer her domestic knowledge and life experience to her daughter in order to shape her daughter’s behavior from a young age. She gives out detailed instruction on how to “sew a button, how to hem a dress when the hem coming down to how to iron a khaki shirt so that it does not have a crease” (Kincaid). Although heming a dress is not a difficult chore, the mother emphasizes the its importance since she understands that the appearance of clothing reflects a woman’s character. Because domestic skills serve as a measurement for women’s competence and self-worth, the daughter’s inability to take care of her clothes will indicate her lack of interest in household affair and organizational skills. Through these advice, the mother highlights the importance of house...
Through various cultures, there can be great consistency in the standards of desirable gender-role behavior. At a very early age, children go through the process of gender socialization and learn what it means to be a boy or girl in society. These behaviors and attitudes are generally instilled at home and then reinforced by the child’s friends, school life and exposure to media (Witt para. 1). The ultimate actors, however, are the parents. From their influence as role models, a child may be pushed towards activities and commitments that are meant for their specific gender. Some may wonder why they lean them toward such standards. In fact, with the conformity of gender roles come a wide variety of variables to consider such as possible discrimination,