In Jamaica Kincaid’s essay, “Girl” the short story is a monologue however; it is not entirely a monologue since there is a second person point of view in the story. The girl character is a young adult who is growing up in a critical society and the mother is trying to give her guidance in how to become a self-possessed woman. The mother worries about her daughter’s behavior and she fears it will lead to a life of promiscuity. She believes that a woman’s reputation determines the worth of her life in society. The daughter seems as she is barely reaching adolescence and the mother has a constant importance on how much she wants her daughter to realize that she is not a boy and she needs to act in a way that community will look at her as a “nice young …show more content…
The mother believes that there are only two types of women in society; the respectable women and the “sluts”. It is generation traditions were the mother believes that a woman who has domestic knowledge will have a productive life, and receive respect from family and society. The mother mentions a numerous of instructions for her daughter to follow. Such as, wash clothes, cook, sweep, sew, and iron. She has an idea that becoming a household woman will bring power and prestige; she also believes that by keeping busy the women will keep away from temptation. The mother mentions food in the story to show that happiness comes from domesticity and as a tradition; it has to be passed as an old family recipes down to the future generations of the family. In addition, the mother stresses about the importance of the way her daughter will dress and her appearance; the appearance shows the community view of a woman’s sexual respectability. She also mentions that knowing how to wash, sew and iron allows women to know there self-worth. Woman who are organize, productive, and well-groomed have a less chance to be label as a
The mother is seemingly unreasonable and cruel towards the girl who seems honest and innocent as she listens to her mother’s instructions on how to complete the tasks in her life. One theme of this story is that of a jealous or vindictive mother that thinks of her child as no good and commands her to be good she must obey everything she says. Another theme is that there are many unfair double standards put on young women not only by men but by other women as well.
The object of examining gender roles is to answer the question why should women and men be equal and "Are there populations in which men and women are absolutely equal? Are there societies in which women dominate men?" (Gender 238) By understanding the culture in which this piece of literature is written, the gender roles and the rules of behavior for a woman, then the relationships between genders can be realized. The general myth about women and their gender role in the American society is that the mother works in the home and supports her man in every way. For each relationship, the people in that relationship must decide the particular roles that they will play. In the literary work "Girl", Kincaid shows clearly that the woman's role in this work was to serve the family and to work mainly in the house. The mother writing this story tells her daughter that "this is how you iron your father's khaki shirt so that it doesn't have a crease" (Kincaid 489). In this marriage, it is understood that the wife is to do the laundry for the husband. Today's society does not always provide these clear roles since many women work a full time job and the house chores are a responsibility for both to handle. Though the woman is still mainly held responsible for the home. There should be a constant search for equality in gender roles. Kincaid explains how the man is working to bring home the money and the wife supports
In Kincaids short story “Girl” our narrator is describing the ways a traditional woman must act in West Indian culture. Dominated by males, women are given a set of guidelines that are found to be socially acceptable in their culture. The narrator is given a set of rules to her daughter that she must learn and follow in order to become a proper lady in India. In order to not be seen as a slut she must obey these rules. It is her duty to cook and clean for her household, even act a certain way in the presence of men.
Andrea Sanchez English 101 Ms. Kristen 29 September 2015 “Girl” In this time period and it has been a difficult time in society to grow up as a female and even raise a female, due to many gender differences, in which more things are considered false for females and not for men. In history there has always been a separation between genders or gender inequalities that have been going on for years and years. In the text, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, it represents the several struggles females go through everyday and it is illustrated at a young age, and is shown throughout the poem using different types of punctuation such as semicolons, sentence structure, em dashes, and rhetoric to create a demanding tone throughout the short story. Many semicolons
A short story is a brief fictional prose narrative that leads to a single, powerful outcome. "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid is not a short story, I think this is actually someone's "How To List" which somehow was mixed in with one of her novels and was published by mistake. Every short story must have three main elements in its construction, "Girl" is not an effective short story because it does not have an exposition, a climax or a resolution. "Girl" reads more like a list rather than a short story.
In the story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, the speaker, a mother figure, is preoccupied with the girl’s image but indifferent to the girl’s individual personality. The speaker is obsessed with the girl’s becoming a respectable woman rather than any specific issues that the girl might be having. The story consists of the speaker teaching the girl about the skills and behavior that a respectable woman needs. When teaching her daughter how to walk she says, “walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming.” The mother is worried about behaviors as superficial as walking and implies that the girl is consciously trying to become a slut by using the word “bent.”
One Mother’s Lesson Have you ever sat down and had a conversation with your Mother? Not the typical everyday short talk, but sat down and listened to your Mother’s words of wisdom as she tells you how to become a respectable young adult? She uses her calm, loveable, and soothing voice as she pours out her priceless knowledge. “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid is a twisted version of this event, depicting a Mother giving her daughter a harsh lesson to her daughter on the realities of becoming a respected woman.
Society has developed the gender role of women to be caretakers of their children and the household. In her poem “Girl”, Jamaica Kincaid writes a short narrative of a mother giving her daughter advice about how to behave and her responsibilities as a woman. The mother tells her daughter how to do several of the traditional housewife’s duties, such as washing clothes, preparing meals, and cleaning the house. She also instructs her on how to behave when men are present. According to her, the daughter must smile to men she likes, dislikes, despises, and is unfamiliar with. The mother informs her daughter about abusive and
Mothers have many lessons to teach their daughters. As the physical changes begin to appear, it is important to begin a new set of lessons. “[D]on’t squat down to play marbles—you are not a boy, you know” is a quote from Jamaica Kincaid’s short story, “Girl”. The mother and daughter are the two main characters. The daughter is reflecting on the many things that her mother instilled in her during her childhood. The ironic use of language in this short story is crucial to understanding the theme of becoming a woman worthy of marriage.
Elena Gonzalez Hoggatt-Abader Engl 101 September 29, 2015 The Demands of Womanhood Society plays a key role in determining how people are supposed to fulfill their roles in society—specifically their gender roles. This means that typically the norm is that men are to be the head of the house and are to be the financial supporters while women are typically categorized as being the homemaker and caretaker. The complexity and importance of being a woman the “right” way is shown through Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl”, a short story reflecting her growing up in Antigua.
The girl distrusts her mother and believes her to be out of touch, while helping her father in "his real work" (468). Surprisingly, the girl's desire to avoid the manifestation of her femininity in womanly tasks, such as cooking and cleaning, influences her into feeling that her mother is "plotting now to get [her] to stay in the house [. . ]. and keep [her] from working for [her] father" (469). The girl chooses to dismiss her mother, thereby dismissing her own future role as a housewife.
The power of domesticity determines how girls mother comes to the assumption that domestic mastery will not only save her daughter from a life of licentiousness but will also serve as a way for her to gain respect in the antiguan community. Girl’s mother states the endless list of tasks she needs to maintain throughout her home in order maintain the respectable image her mother seeks after. As stated in the text “Wash the white clothes on monday and put them on the stone heap; wash the color cloths on tuesday and put them on the clothesline to dry”(Kincaid 296). Her mother tells her daughter the way things should be done in order to maintain her important role around her home. Reading her mother's precise list of instructions we can infer the devotion her mother has in the power of domesticity. In our society today and all throughout the world, the image of a woman is sought to be of them staying home and completing numerous tasks around their
We live in a society where the similarities between female and males are seen at birth. It begins innocently with the toddlers; girls get pink while boys get blue. The gap between boys and girls develops with time and becomes increasingly apparent. There are still gender stereotypes today, but it is not as bad as it was in the past. Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl” perfectly portrays gender stereotypes. It represents gender concepts as cultural constructs in the period it was written. These conceptions are comparable to current stereotypes about gender. The book gives us a list of commands from a mother to a daughter. Men in the society are dominant to the women, and the set of rules is a product of patriarchy whereby the mother and daughter appear as subordinates to the men in their lives. The article makes one aware of the prevailing masculine hierarchy that exists in a family, and how it creates firm gender roles for females in the society.
The women of the story are not treated with the respect, which reflects their social standings. The first image of the women that the reader gets is a typical housewife. They are imaged as “wearing faded house dresses and
In Jamaica Kincaid’s story, Girl, a mother is talking to her daughter about all the proper things she must do to be considered a good girl to her family and to the public, and when she grows up, a proper lady. She must follow the rules that are given to her by her own mother and by society. The mother also teaches the daughter how to act when things don’t go her way. She is told that along with being a proper lady, she must also be able to get what she wants and be independent. This story was written in the late 1970’s and gender roles, for women, back then were not being “followed” because women wanted equal opportunities (Women In the Workforce). “Gender stereotypes are beliefs regarding the traits and behavioral characteristics given to individuals on the basis of their gender” (Deuhr). This essay will discuss the gender roles that were given to women in the story, during the late 70’s, and in today’s society.