Gender Stereotypes In Jamaica Kincaid's 'Girl'

In both of the stories, “Girl” and “Story of an Hour”, woman's femininity, independence and tradition are shown in many examples. Both tales depict a story of a woman trying to discover their independence and learning the ways of how women are expected to act. They can both be seen as feminists for wanting to be independent but having oppressors such as parents and spouses stopping them from being who they want to be.

Gender Stereotypes People's beliefs about the imaging characteristics of men and women. This stereotype exists in both genders, and there are both positive and negative features. For example, in positive features, female stereotypes seem that women are friendly, good at teaching, thoughtful. On the contrary,

A mother’s words are the ones that ring loudest in a child’s ear, are passed down from generation to generation, and the one’s that hold a special place in a child’s memory and heart forever. Expectations and guidelines are set at a young age. Morals and values are learned throughout the years, and life lessons are taught through the wisdom passed down from a mother to a daughter. Every mother has a wish for their daughter to be the best they can be. But at what point does instruction and wisdom become simply words that have been said one too many times? The short story “Girl,” written by Jamaica Kincaid is presented to the reader as a list of instructions from a mother to a daughter on how to live life to the

“Girl” is a short story in which the author, Jamaica Kincaid, unofficially presents the stereotypes of girls in the mid 1900s. Kincaid includes two major characters in the story “Girl”, they are the mother and the girl. Although the daughter only asks two questions in this story, she is the major character. The mother feels like her daughter is going in the wrong direction and not making the best decisions in her life. The whole story is basically the mother telling her daughter what affects her decisions will have in the future. The mother believes that because her daughter isn’t sitting, talking, cleaning, walking or singing correctly it will lead her to a path of destruction. “Girl” is a reflection of female sexuality, the power of family, and how family can help overcome future dangers.

He argues in the book that the human mind makes a difference between men and women, but they cannot be judged because of their genders and mental and physical abilities. Thought the thoughts of males and females are entirely different because of internal biological differences society and culture play a part in the standards these genders should conform to fit in. Socialization to gender roles impacts the shaping of the male and female minds in society, and this Pinker did not emphasize. Gender is defined as the socially constructed behavior, roles, attributes and activities that our societies consider appropriate for women and men. The development process that shapes the mind begins in life early and heightens during adolescence stage for instance; researchers discovered that gender expectation negatively influences psychosocial development of girls. Thus inferring the fact that men and females cannot be judged by their mental and physical abilities is true but minus the influence of influences of cultural and religious biases the male and females mind would not be that different.

The conflict in “Girl” is that of parenting vs the environment. The narrator of the text is a mother giving advice to her daughter. The mother is concerned for the daughter because she believes that the daughter may grow up to be a slut because of the social pressures put on her. This is supported by the lines “on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming,” “you mustn’t speak to wharf-rat boys,” and “don’t squat down to play marbles,” (74). These lines suggest that by interacting with boys and not being pious will lead the daughter down the path to becoming a slut. It is because of this

To be able to understand gender stereotypes, you need to know who gets affected by them. They effect both men and women in the workplace. Gender stereotypes can not be justified because regardless of a person's gender, character should be what matters.

“Girl” is a poem written by Jamaica Kincaid that was published in 1978 in The New Yorker. It was her first piece of published work. She is from Antigua, and most of her work contains stories of Antiguan life. As an African women, Kincaid always explores in her writing about class, race and gender discrimination. “Girl” is not exceptional from her other  writing. Here she creates the image of Western Caribbean domestic lifestyle. The theme of this story is mother and daughter argument. In this story, the mother teaches her daughter how to be a perfect lady in this society. According to old fashion many mother teaches their daughters about what a women should be. “Girl” is a perfect example of this relationship.

Stereotypes are another problem to our gender construction society because it makes a male or a female look and action a certain way. What are stereotypes? Stereotypes are indirect saying about a person’s gender, race, looks, etc. Stereotypes are negative saying that most people hear. These stereotypes can hurt people and it can also lead to suicide.

Stereotypes about women include: women are supposed to be skinny, women are supposed to shave, women are weaker than men, and women are not as smart as men. Gender profiling about men include: men are supposed to be strong or muscular, men should be the breadwinner of the family, and that men need to be in control over women. Stereotyping is damaging to those who are victims. It can lead to abuse and bullying. It encourages hateful behavior which many people carry into their adult

Gender bias is not all about stereotype, but it also classifies the gender to “be” certain things and

Gender stereotypes are mostly taken for granted at a young age: girls are told to play with dolls and boys are told to play with trucks. But as children grow older they find themselves in a world where the reality of gender roles and stereotypes aren’t acknowledged, and the illusion of gender neutrality is commended. If gender roles are becoming more neutral, then it would follow that gender role stereotypes are also becoming more lax. However, in actuality this is not true.

According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary stereotype is a, “a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing”. Society puts out a certain set of standards and roles of men and women and the way in which they should act, known as gender roles. According to these behaviour stereotypes, the ideal man is intelligent, physically strong, heroic, in charge and is ultimately there to provide for his family. In comparison, the typical women is portrayed as beautiful, delicate, inferior to men and are viewed as the housekeeper; taking care of the children and putting food on the table while the men goes to work. These gender roles start to be enforced at a very young age as a result of society and the media. A prime example of this is Disney and the movies they create for young children. Almost all Disney movies are based

Gender stereotypes surface from an early age, from the toys we’re told to play with as children to the type of behaviors we’re encouraged to display. These stereotypes paint an over generalized picture of the population to which they pertain to. They can be very damaging to a person especially when they are imposed on people who fall outside of the norm of the stereotype. One stereotype for example, is that men do not face rape or other domestic violence.

What is considered a proper way for a woman to act in general society and who has the correct answer? Jamaica Kincaid’s story “Girl” is fundamentally an instructional writing where a mother is primarily caring for her daughter’s future. The story is performed in fiction where the child needs to get prepared to confront the world as a woman. Most of the commands the mother gave to her daughter are ambiguous; there is not enough content, however, it can be assumed that the mother is helping the girl evade any major consequences from not being properly prepared for society. The mother, with several recommendations, tried to make her daughter understand her gender and how her behavior and appearance should be seen through other people’s eyes. Most of the mother’s instructions are related to moral conduct and social relationships that follow an old fashion model of womanhood. “This is how you behave” and “This is how you bully a man” (Kincaid) are some of the pointers that the mother provided to the daughter in hopes of guiding her actions. The piece offers serious coming-of-age advice from a narrator who has much experience to give (Smith, 152). The mother’s main goal is to cement her daughter’s place in society as a respectable woman. Throughout every stage, the mother clearly shows how the girl was growing fast and how she needs to be prepared to confront life.