On Sundays Try To Walk Like A Woman

She feels it is wrought with sexuality and temptation, not only in the media but in the clothing choices of Americans. She finds the media images of women very offensive because of their lack of clothing and sexual suggestions. She believes that this objectification of women is immoral in all senses, and criticizes the media for such actions. What upsets her even further, is that regular American women dress and act in a similar manner to these media portrayals. She believes that women should not parade their bodies around as such. When other women expose themselves, she herself feels exposed. Her and these women all have a female body under their clothing, so when women dress in a revealing way, men can easily imagine what they look like naked. This makes Abigail feel that men can thus imagine her body as well. She worries that they may feel prompted to have inappropriate thoughts about her if this idea is brought to their attention. How then also will women expect to be given any respect or to have a proper family? I interpreted Abigail’s words to be similar to Katz’s view that “If she is normally developed…her sexual desire is small. If this were not the case, the whole world would become a brothel and marriage and a family impossible.” (31). When women dress so promiscuously, they seem to create a sexual environment that would make legitimate marriage impossible. This, in Abigail’s view, is occurring in America now, as the majority of relationships involve pre-marital sex and divorce rates are increasing. Women must be modest to keep order in the world. This idea makes it clear that women are valued for their ability to provide sex. It seems, women can mainly gain respect by withholding the one thing men want, and if they give that up, then they are useless to men and

In Girl, the mother makes three separate and seemingly hostile accusations towards her daughter about her becoming a slut. “and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming” is a common way for the mother to draw a comparison between what the daughter’s behavior should and should not be like. These strong feelings most likely arise from the mother’s desire for respect in the community, but are also influenced by religion. We know the mother is religious because of the mother’s comment “is it true that you sing benna in Sunday school?”. Sunday school is a time for children to learn about their religion, and the mother’s concern about benna due to an aversion to irreligious music. A focus on religion was common on the islands of Antigua where the author of Girl grew up. From this, it is a short jump in logic to assume that the mother’s concern about her daughter becoming a slut are originating from the local

Despite being looked at in a certain way, Women are being portrayed as “going exactly where their mothers and grandmothers have already ‘been’: into sexual bondage at the hands of a male ‘Friend’” (Christle 1). This is showing how even though women are changing the way society works, some people still want it to be the same. In the story Connie’s mom wanted Connie to be like her and her sister, just the average, not overly pretty looking lady. Some people think that “women have been silenced,” (Spelman and Lugones 574) but Connie had other ideas, she wanted to be different from them. She was constantly looking at herself in the mirror and thinking about what others were thinking about her. When she went out, she would always wear nice clothes that would get her noticed. Looking through a feminist lens one can conclude that Connie’s family sees women now as they always were.

352). In today’s society there are no rules that prevent a person from doing all their laundry in the same day. A majority of people have probably learned from their parents or from experience that it doesn’t work so well if you wash whites and darks together; otherwise stating there are no instructions that come along with the task of laundry. In Kincaid’s (2011) story “Girl” the reader gathers the idea from the tone of the text, as it is the women’s role to do the laundry; whereas, in today’s society it is not always the woman completing the task of laundry. In some families, more often than less the women and men share the responsibility of doing laundry. In viewing the story “Girl” from a feminist perspective, another occurrence of gender roles would be the narrator’s statement “soak salt water fish overnight before you cook it” (Kincaid, 2011, p. 352). In the society that the story takes place, it is the woman’s responsibility to cook, compared to the twentieth century family, the meals may be prepared by every member of the family. Prior to the feminist laws women were treated with little to no respect for the things that they were expected to accomplish on a daily basis. In the era the story is written, women were often wives, housekeepers, cooks, and teachers. “This is how you iron your father’s khaki shirt so that it doesn’t have a crease; this is how you iron your father’s khaki pants so that they don’t have a crease,” and “this is how you sweep a

In 1950’s society, both women and men had their place. Although men may have more opportunities and differentiation than women, they both still have their places. Generally, a woman’s literal place is in the household, often the kitchen to be more exact. The typical housewife wears a conservative dress, heels, pearls, and possibly an apron depending on whether they are “on duty” or not. This standard lifestyle of women is portrayed well through Gidget’s mother. Gidget, however, does not seem to want to follow in the footsteps of her mother in this jail cell of a stereotypical matriarchal role. Instead of wiping cake batter off her fingers, Gidget would rather wipe sand off her feet after a long day of surfing. While

In “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, we have a mother conveying important life advice to her daughter in order for her to adapt to cultural customs and most important to learn the rules of social behavior. Her mother's advice is not only intentionally told in order for her to become the proper antiguan woman she believes in raising, but is also told to criticize her actions and everyday doings. Her mother makes it very clear, in order to live a proper antiguan life, there are many rules that one must follow. With deeper interpretation of Kincaid’s work we come to the realization that her overall message suggests the idea that women as a whole should be domestic and should behave a certain way in our society in order to avoid being viewed as a promiscuous woman.

puberty bring with it a complex tradition of restrictions and behavioral guidelines. Kincaid’s poem reveals the rigidity and complexity of the social confines the girl is expected to operate underl. A girl is an induction into the women community as well as an orientation into the act of womanhood (Walkerdine et. al.). The lectured instructions given to the silent girl child vary from the housekeeping, “this is how you sweep a whole house”, to dealing with intimate relationships, “this is how a man bullies you; …how to bully a man” to medicine, “this is how to make good medicine (to abort)” (Kincaid).The inane patriarchal society expects gender stereotypes to prevail. The mother is tasked to give her daughter instructions on how to be a good woman in the stereotyped society. The advice the mother gives to the daughter cements the gender stereotype and portrays limitations on a woman (Bailey and Carol 107).

In this poem the mother give her daughter a long string of advice to hopefully teach the daughter how to properly run the house and live respectably. The mother seems as though she is scolding the girl between her words of wisdom because she is so fearful her daughter will adopt life as a “slut.” At the same time the mother take the time to share her knowledge, this shows how much she cares about her daughter. This concerned mother feels she can save her daughter from becoming a slut. The daughter says very little and when she did speak it was only to defend herself against her

Society is often seen to have different biases or perspectives on topics such as the role and perception of women. The short story, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, consists primarily of a catalog of commands and instructions, the purpose of which is to make sure that the mother’s daughter is constantly in check and not getting into any trouble. Jamaica Kincaid utilizes a wide range of techniques such as symbolism and diction in order to showcase the theme of how the depiction of women rely mainly on how they present themselves in the public and how they are so easily described as impure or filthy.

The narration of the mother lecturing her daughter with commanding diction leads to the theme of women conforming to domesticity and if they don’t conform then they will lead a life of promiscuity that will affect the way people perceive them. Women in the past believed that a woman’s role was that of a domesticated housewife. The narration of the third point of view in this story and the commanding diction of it places an importance in the reinforcement of this idea, that if a woman doesn’t follow social norms, she will eventually turn to a “slut” one that her family will be ashamed of. She must set the table for lunch and for breakfast that is “how to behave in the presence of men who don’t know [her] very well, and that it the way they won’t recognize immediately the slut that [the mother has] warned her against becoming.”(Kincaid 485) through her commanding diction, the mother is telling her daughter how to set a table, how to cook, she

The location of the story plays a large role in understanding the character’s interactions.  The story opens with instructions on cleaning clothes upon a “stone heap” (Kincaid 118). In 1983 America, most households would have already had washing machines or at least a wash board and bucket rather than the older form of washing clothes at the river and utilizing stones. The next

It is clear that the mother is worried about her daughter leading a life of promiscuity, “[T]ry to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming” (8-9). I’m assuming that the daughter is at the age where like most of us, is beginning to become curious of boys and sexuality. The mother tries to get the point across that if she acts like a lady she will be treated like a lady.

From the beginning, the house and clothing functions as the daughter has to have cleanliness because people are always watching and will judge her reputation and social class. Kincaid states, “this is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming” (17). In this line, the mother gives a clear understanding of why the clothes must be properly taken care of because, no matter what, people seem to be watching the appearance of clothes worn, looked and they will treat someone the way they think that someone should be treated if they are dressed indecent. The mother speaks to her daughter with a commanding tone and never says “please” when giving

Women are meant to behave and act proper. Though it may not be quite the same today, however, every once in awhile society still expects women to behave and act a certain way. In the past women were supposed to act like ladies and be the proper quiet housewife. Women were raised to speak, behave, and perform tasks a certain way that society deemed as right and proper. Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl” shows just that. Her story is about a girl who is basically scolded by her mother on how to act and perform daily tasks. Her mother's belief is that a woman's reputation is everything and if her daughter keeps acting the way she does she will lead a promiscuous life. She does not want that for her daughter, or for her daughters reputation to come back to her if it is not a good one. Kincaid utilizes the theme of image and social acceptance are most important for woman through symbolism, repetition, and tone .

In Jamaica Kincaid’s fiction short story “Girl” a mother is teaching her young daughter on how to society wants her to act as a female. She is teaching the young girl not to form her own identity and beliefs but to live by how others want her to live. The mother gives the daughter several rules to live by and suggests that if she doesn’t live by these rules she will become a slut. The setting of this story seems to take place in a Caribbean island. This shows that no matter what a female culture is, she is taught the same things like the rest of the world. The mother tells the daughter “This is how you iron your fathers khaki shirt so that they don’t have a crease; this is how you iron your fathers pants so that they don’t have a crease.” (Jamaica Kincaid 566) The mother is not teaching the daughter how to survive as an individual but how to survive and be accepted by a community that is more than likely ruled by men.