Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” and Societies expectations of Women. Jamaica Kincaid’s short text “Girl” explores the issue of gender roles and the expectations society have for women. The text also touches on the issue of how society expects them to act and carry themselves. In the short text “girl” there are two characters whose names are not specified, but it seems like a conversation between an older woman and a young girl. The older woman is listing things that the girl should or should not do because they will give her a certain image, or reputation, such as how to wash certain clothing or cook certain food. Throughout the story the speaker mentions that she thinks the young girl will be a “slut” if she doesn’t follow her instructions. While …show more content…
Since this story was written in by an Anglo woman in 1970’s it gives a lot about the background. It kind of clears up why there is even a correlation between “slut” and what women are” supposed” to do. It seems like the older woman is giving the younger girl advice, I can tell because she is telling her how to grow okra, what to do and what not to do. As she is listing off things the girl needs to know, she tells the girl not to be a “slut”. I think that when she says slut that she means that if she does not do these things then she will be considered a bad woman. For instance, she says “after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread?”(140). During the time period that this was written it was common for women to take care of all the house hold chores, tend to the men as well as keep up a certain image. So what I visualize is an older woman teaching a girl how to be what is considered a respectable woman while simultaneously telling her what she always could be. Society expects women to be pure and respect themselves and in that way make others respect her, and if someone thinks that a woman is being impure or uncleanly then she is considered a bad woman or a “slut”. That brings us to the subject of cleanliness of tidiness. Society wouldn’t blink twice at a man not taking a shower, but if a woman doesn’t shower or clean up then she is dirty. In the same
After a girl has been called a prude for so long, they may develop a sense of being different and want to dress and act more provocatively. They start to think that they need to act a certain way and become like everyone else. A “good” slut is a girl who might dress in short shorts and a spaghetti t-shirt and everyone judges her based on that, and not because the weather is hot outside. It is unfortunate, but it does happen that people are quick to judge others based on the clothing preference such as short shorts. However, when I read about a “bad” slut, I feel like these are the girls who actively make a to effort to go out and participate in promiscuous behavior on purpose. “Sometimes they are too wild or behave out of the confines of appropriate behavior” (Tanenbaum, 2015 p.184). Personally, this reminds me a lot of my middle school days. Although I went to a private school where wearing uniform was required, many of the girls made it an effort to define it. I remember how I had a friend who had a bigger butt than the rest of the girls in the class and so she would use that excuse to roll up her skirt and make it shorter than the 2 inch about the knee rule. She would go out of her way to try and get around the uniform rules and the guys in the class would love it, whereas the girls would always call her a slut. Nonetheless, like mentioned before, she loved the “slut” and saw it as a
First, in the fiction story “Girl” by Kincaid a mother is teaching her young daughter how to be a lady. The mother reinforces that the
This paper argued that the mother in Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl” is loving towards her daughter because the mother is taking time to teaching her daughter how to be a woman, and because she wants to protect her in the future from society’s judgment. Kincaid showed that the mother cared and loved her daughter. The mother wants her daughter to know how to run a home and how to keep her life in order to societies standards. Alongside practical advice, the mother instructs her daughter on how to live a fulfilling
From the Mid Century of the 1900’s to today, women have strived to be noticed and respected by society; and to be a part of a world with little confidence and many insecurities leads to wanting more and stepping out of the box that society builds to keep traditions alive.
From a young age girls are taught how to act in society and how society wants girls to act. In the three stories by Jamacia Kincaid, Alice Munro, and Joyce Carol Oates, we see how the mothers teach and reinforce the gender roles placed on women by society. The daughters in Annie John, “Boys and Girls,” and “Shopping” are all subjects of a greater force while growing up, and they try not to conform to gender roles and the ideals of women that the mothers have.
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” was a decent short story. I’m not a big fan of the structure, however, most of the advice the mother gave was good like catching fish, setting the table for dinner, and washing clothes. The mother was very concerned regarding the girl’s future. She wanted her daughter to have basic knowledge of how to complete daily tasks for survival. I think the short story is a collection of advice the mother gave to the girl over several years. I didn’t like how it seemed as though the mother thought it were inevitable the daughter would become a slut. Although in different wording and tone, most girls will eventually have that conversation where the mother instructs them on basically becoming a woman.
“The slut youre bent on becoming” and other variations of the line reoccur throughout the text and may be one of the seemingly obvious expressions that propounds the mother’s ramification with the system and illustrates her efforts to shape a daughter who performs her instructions appropriately.
In the short story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid is a story that everyone can related to. The story is about a mother telling her daughter what to do, what not to do and how to do things. Kind of like society or parents or a friends of what to do. There has also been always been expectations of what to do and how to do things in life regards of gender, nationality or religion. The male has he’s duties and the female has different duties. However, in the typical society today, a person is supposed to graduate from high school and go straight in to an Ivy League university, to get a degree in a field of study that makes lot of money. While working a person must save money for that dream big house with the white picket fence. At the same time, you have to look for that perfect spouse so you can have the big beautiful dream wedding. After the wedding it’s the romantic honeymoon to Bora Bora. After a couple years the baby comes, and you are a happy family. Typically, that is what parents teach their children of what is what is expected of them.
In doing this she is listing off things that the Daughter should be acting out upon. “Don 't squat down to play marbles—you are not a boy, you know” (Kincaid 68). The mother is demonstrating how the daughter should act in the presences of boys and explain she is not one. As a girl she must act proper and not play the ways boys do. Boys are aggressive and dirty as seen by society; a girl like she is supposed to be kind and proper. Then the mother explains in one section on how to do housework and chores; a woman’s job. “This is how you iron your father’s khaki shirt so it doesn’t have a crease; this is how you iron your father’s khaki pants so they don’t have a crease” (Kincaid 67). Kincaid writes that the mother is instructing the daughter on how to do her father’s clothing. This shows that the father; a man does not iron his own clothes but that it is a woman’s job. This can connect to Judy Brady’s work “I Want a Wife” which is about a woman who is listing all the things women do for their husband. Like Kincaid she brings up the same chores of housework and tending to clothing. “A wife who will pick up after me. I want a wife who will keep my clothes clean, ironed, mended,
After women were given the opportunity to get an education and treated as equals, society’s beliefs undertook a turning point in women’s roles in society. Yet, there still seems to be a question amongst women in search of self identity and expectations from parents. The short story, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, deals with being a young female in a poor country. This can be seen because Kincaid’s complicated relationship with her own mother is illustrated with the mother-daughter dynamic in the story.
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
The poem Girl by author Jamaica Kincaid shows love and family togetherness by creating the next generation of women. The poem is basically a guidebook for life on how a woman should take care of their family. Jamaica Kincaid demonstrates the proper task a woman should display. Girl symbolizes the proper way to respect yourself not only as a person, but as a woman. When a woman carries herself respectfully man admire her more. A man is usually attracted to women when mother-like characteristics. Women should hold high expectations of herself more than anybody. Women are not able to perform the set of tasks that a man is able to perform without being called a slut.
Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” shows in society how a woman should be placed and what it means to be a woman. A women doesn’t question her partner, instead she is subservient to him. A woman’s duties include staying at home taking care of the children and cooking; while the man works and brings home the money. A feministic approach to Kincaid’s “Girl” points to the idea of the stereotypes that women can only be what they do in the home, they should only be pure and virtuous, and their main focus should be satisfying their husband.
middle of paper ... ... women know and think that if they don’t act or behave to their expectations they will. looked down upon and possibly neglected by their family and society. To avoid losing friends and family, most male and female, construct their own role in their life.