Jamaica Kincaid's Girl

In “Blackness” by Jamaica Kincaid, the narrator begins the short story by speaking of a “blackness” that fills up her own being and eventually becomes one with it. Yet, unaware of her own nature and the narrator foreshadows the development of her consciousness as she isolates herself, attempting to place her consciousness under a category of industry and glory and a her original, simple, natural history. Jamaica Kincaid creates a metaphor for the colonialism that affected the narrator by the narrator’s dream of “bands of men… their guns and canons… emptied of bullets and shells” (472). These bands of men that she dreams of represent the colonizers after they attempted to destroy the narrator’s true heritage and replace it with their own.

The purpose behind Dennis Lehane’s use of second person was to capture the reader’s attention and hold it throughout the story, making them feel more involved with the plot. As the story and its characters develop, the reader develops an attachment to Bobby

The story is written as a second person narrative. This style puts the reader in the position of the main character. We are never told the main character’s name, making it easier for the reader to relate to the character. Writing in the second person also challenges the reader, putting them in the position of the main character.

The point of view of a narrator can make or break a story, as the narrator is extremely important to the reader's understanding of a story. Different points of view and different narrators can oftentimes affect the point the story is attempting to portray and it even change what the reader believes the story is about. If someone were to go through a story written in a first-person narrative story and change all the pronouns to a third-person point of view, or even a first person plural point of view, it can distort the way the reader understands and comprehends the story.

“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.

It is told in the first person so that the reader feels they are present while the story is happening. Even though it is told by a young girl of thirteen as she recounts the details as if reliving the incident. She takes the time to introduce each character in a way that gives them life and personality. Josie is a young newly married woman, pregnant and facing physical abuse

This story is told in the first person point of view. The author chose the story to be first person to build a connection with the reader, and to tell stories from their own perspective, since they are more reliable than being told by someone else. First person also allows the reader to create a relationship with the protagonist and get to to know the character by the choices he made and the life experiences he had.

1. Describe the focus or focalization in Girl. Do we see what one person sees, or observe one person in particular? Describe the voice of the narrator in Girl. Who is the “you”? How do the focus and voice contribute to the reader’s response to the story?It about a girl’s womanhood set at the moment of separation between the age of innocence and the confusing, transfiguring entrance into womanhood experience. It is the story of a mother’s attempt to train her adolescent daughter to learn appropriate cultural customs and more important, the rules of social behavior, especially that of proper sexual conduct befitting a well-reared girl. Yes! We observe what the mother is trying to teach her young daughterto do for a man. It helps her too learned in order, to achieve something that her mother is trying to teach her to do and how to act as a young woman and what to expect as a young woman growing up.

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.

We do not typically see second person stories, so we are not accustomed to reading them. However, once you get a grasp on the writing style, the story flows smoothly and really catches the reader's attention.

Many times throughout history it has been shown that people are shaped and molded into what society calls, “perfect people.” Jamaica Kincaid is the author of the short story titled, “Girl.” In her story there are two characters, an authoritative mother and her young daughter. Throughout the story, the mother expects so much of her daughter in various ways. She teaches her how to cook, what to wear, how to behave, and many other attributes she views to be significant for her daughter’s role in society. Kincaid elaborates the theme of how to be the “ideal,” or “flawless” woman in a society, along with being respected through the literary elements of diction, imagery, and mood.

Within “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, family relations were explored between a mother and daughter’s relationship. The author seems to get the nitty gritty of how the mother disapproves of her daughter behaviors including called her a “slut” multiple times throughout the section directly expressing the lack of support and the cruelness the mother feels towards her daughter. The lines with the word slut provide us with more meaning than her mom belittling her but how much this society thought of the way women walked and behaved correlated the sexuality of women. “On Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut” (Kincaid). We can only assume the mother’s words are invalid because the daughter interjects twice which goes to show that she doesn’t even do what her mother is claiming she is doing,

There are lots of better writer and novelist in the world who have given so many books and novels for reading, I have read some of them and some are discussed with everyone. There are famous writers like A. A. Milne, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, J K Rowling, Lewis Carroll and the list does not end here. They have given books for fiction, Children’s Literature, Literature, plays, short stories, Biographies, Fantasy, Poetry, and so on… First of all, what is First person narration? The first person narration is ‘The Story is told by a character that participates in the action of the story itself. First person Narrative is used by an author who wants a personal/subjective/intimate point of view’. In this essay, I will discuss the ways that first person narration affects the overall story which contains many things like Plot, settings of the story, Characters, the point of view, tone, irony, and symbolism. The story also contains many things for the third person too. But apart from all this, I m going to discuss the effects of the first person three main points are on styles and variations point of view and benefits of writing in the first person. Some other points are displayed in front. First I will discuss the style and variations then everything else.

Jamaica Kincaid’s Girl explores these controversies and writes a long form poem that includes a list of rules for young girls to follow as advice that will help them be more likeable and become a reputable “woman”. These rules are delivered in a direct emphasis with strict undertone. The guidelines given to the young girl can be inferred as a mother teaching her daughter who is at the age of adolescence. Jamaica Kincaid’s long form poem Girl highlights the stereotypical social responsibilities of young girls which is heavily defined by language, culture, and mothers. In the poem the mother figure covers everything from how to

The story is written in third person narrative. I feel the choice of narrative style is important, because it adds effect to the story to engage the reader.