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Jamaica Kincaid Girl

Decent Essays

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

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