The Girl’s Characterization
Girl by Jamaica Kincaid, is a story about a mother who tells her daughter what to do and how to act. The girl in the story wants to become a normal teenager, hang out with her friends and do fun things so we assume. Her mother on the other hand, wants her to start preparing meals, wash the clothes, and not to talk to boys among other things. Numerous times within the story the mother believes the daughter wants to become promiscuous, so the mother is continually trying to show her how to do things and how to act so that she doesn’t become a promiscuous woman. It seems as if the girl doesn’t have a choice to live a normal life, or to live her life the way that she wants to just like any other girl her age. Instead,
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This could be what is happening in the story, the mother is telling her daughter to do all these things because of their circumstances. That is why the daughter doesn’t argue back with her mother and just does what she is told, although there are times when the girl wants to defend herself when she feels the mother is wrong. Overall the girl’s character is very different from her mother. The mother comes off as more strict and demanding, whereas the daughter is more laid back and does what's expected of her. The mother also see’s her daughter as someone who is going to fall down the wrong path, although her mother is just asking her to do some chores, it seems like a lot to handle as an individual.When reading this story you’ll have to read it a few times to get a good understanding of what is going on. The first part can be very confusing, especially when trying to figure out the characterization of the main characters when the mother does the majority of the talking in the story. The last sentence of the story also leaves you hanging because it makes you think.You wonder if the daughter lives up to her mother’s expectations or if she discards them. If the author ever decided to continue or add on to it, the story could possibly show more of the daughter’s perspective rather than just the mother’s point of view. If so, we are able to get a better understanding of the girl’s characterization, and why the mother expects so much from her. With more detail in this story, it would really assist us to learn more about the character and her background. If this story had talked more about the setting than we would have a better
In this book therapist Mary Pipher writes about her experiences at work with adolescent girls. It is intended to make the reader aware of the perils of being a teenager in today's sexualized and media-saturated culture. She talks about how this new and more hostile environment affects adolescent girls' emotional growth and development, and how hard it is to stay true to yourself while trying to fit in with peers. For the most part this book is Dr. Pipher's attempt to reach out to adolescents, as well as their parents and teachers, and tell them that this "problem without a name" is not a death sentence but rather a journey to adulthood, and tells adults how to help these impressionable young girls through what might be the most trying period of their lives.
She begins to cry fearing that her father will not trust her anymore. However, when the father does not become angry, but blames her action on the fact that “She’s only a girl” (Munro 147), the young girl seems to accept his explanation. She said, “I didn’t protest that, even in my heart. “May be it was true” (Munro 147). At that point, it is possible to understand that the girl who once viewed her mother as being silly and dumb for talking about boys and dances was becoming that girl. She was accepting a gender role in society for herself that was based on going to dances and being with boys as opposed to feeding wolves and working on the farm (Rasporich 114).
She feels that caregivers don’t trust their children and that they rather than giving their child commands. I see some similarities of my life and experiences that I found in the text. When I was growing up, I pretty much had a childhood. Me and my sister will play outside and do things without being supervised by my parents. We were able to explore outside and make up games to play with other kids. When it rain and snow me and my sister will use our imagination and create games such as house or school. My parents didn 't control our childhood they didn 't create activities, nor tell me what to do with our free time. I was pretty much free. But as I got older, parents started to be involved in my life and started to plan my future. The concepts of the worldviews, biases, and assumptions that are used in the text is that parents make it difficult for their children to interact with their surroundings because it ends with the consequences. Ellen claims that a child should learn how to use their imagination instead of following the rules. The worldviews that are found in my personal and education life is that the author’s perspective about how she see the world relates to
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
The short story “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen is an example of a mother daughter struggle. From what I took from the story, the young mom herself had an extremely rough life. She had her daughter Emily at a young age and it did not end up picture perfect like she might have thought it would. Her mother had to work to support them, so she always sent Emily off to be cared by others. Sometimes she was sent far away and for a long period of time.
The mother is a selfish and stubborn woman. Raised a certain way and never falters from it. She neglects help, oppresses education and persuades people to be what she wants or she will cut them out of her life completely. Her own morals out-weight every other family member’s wants and choices. Her influence and discipline brought every member of the family’s future to serious-danger to care to her wants. She is everything a good mother isn’t and is blind with her own morals. Her stubbornness towards change and education caused the families state of desperation. The realization shown through the story is the family would be better off without a mother to anchor them down.
It is said that a girl can often develop some of her mother's characteristics. Although, in their works, Kincaid, Hong Kingston and Davenport depict their protagonists searching for their own identities, yet being influenced in different ways by their mothers. Jamaica Kincaid's poem Girl, is about a young woman coming-of-age receiving helpful advice from her mother. In this poem, Kincaid addresses several issues where a mother's influence is beneficial to a young woman's character. The mother, or speaker, in Girl, offers advice to her daughter- advice that she otherwise would not learn without being told or shown. The mother advises the daughter about everyday tasks, and how to go about them properly (in her opinion).
The situation between a single mother, Patty, and her pregnant teenage daughter, Amber, connects to many different social and cultural contexts. A social context that the mother and daughter faces together is single parenting. Patty, a single parent of three, struggles to support her children (Duan & Brown, 2016). Being raised by a divorced or single parent creates new situations that the parent and their children must work through. When I was in 6th grade, my parents went through drawn-out divorce. Connecting my situation to Ambers situation, Patty is trying her hardest to have amber be successful in school/ her life. Yet, no matter how hard she tries, patties past gets in the way. Patty’s former experiences with guys created the poor relationship
In girl by Jamaica the author shows us a relationship between a mother and daughter, like old time how a mother advises her daughter to be a good daughter, good wife and a good daughter. Every mother wants her daughter to be a good woman, a woman who is respected by the society. The author picked up a very sensitive from our culture that a good woman is being brought up by her mother. This relationship tells a daughter how she has to behave in a bunch of people. In story the mother is teaching her daughter the tips of a good woken though various tasks.
...ughter to realize that she is “not a boy” (171) and that she needs to act like a lady. Doing so will win the daughter the respect from the community that her mother wants for her.
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.
"Two Kinds" is a powerful example of differing personalities causing struggles between parent and child. In every parent-child relationship, there are occurrences in which the parent places expectations on the child. Some children fall victim to a parent trying too hard or placing expectations too high, or, in the case of "Two Kinds," a parent trying to live her life through that of her child. However, the mother is also a victim in that she succumbs to her own foolish dream that "you could be anything you wanted to be in America." Knowing that her own time has passed, she wants her daughter to succeed by any means necessary, but she never stops to think of what her daughter might want. She strictly adheres to her plan, and her overbearing parenting only leaves the daughter with feelings of disapproval and questions of self-worth. The mother does not realize the controversy that she creates, and she cannot understand that her actions could be wrong. She also does not realize that she is hurting not only her daughter, but also the relationship that should bind the two of them ...
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. As I continued to read the story, I saw bitterness and worriness from the mother grow towards her daughter as she became a teenager. Throughout the story, the mother would tell her daughter, “this is how you do this… and you must act like this,” forcing the young women to act and be someone she did not want to be. It was like she was protective of her daughter and did not want her to ruin her life. Throughout the whole story, the mother was telling the daughter how to do chores a certain way so when she grew into a woman she knew how to do them
The short story, Girl, by Jamaica Kincaid, can very easily be related directly to the author’s own life. Kincaid had a close relationship with her mother until her three younger brothers were born. After the birth of her brothers, three major values of her mother became apparent to Kincaid. In turn, Kincaid used the three values of her mother to write the short story, Girl. Specifically, these values led to three themes being formed throughout the story. It appears in the short story that the mother was simply looking out for her daughter; however, in all reality, the mother is worried about so much more. Kincaid uses the themes of negativity towards female sexuality, social norms and stereotypes, and the significant
Mann, Judy. The difference, Growing up Female in America, New York, New York., Warner Books, Inc. 1994. 1-12.