The characters are being viewed are from a first-person narrative since the narrator is telling her story. The story is told in a very lax, kind of stream-of-consciousness voice, and the mother--except for two, speaks every line in the piece.
b. Who are the characters being viewed? The characters that are being viewed in text are the narrator who is the “Girl.” Girl consists of a short set of writing concerning dramatic monologue in which a considered mother gives advice to her daughter throughout the literature, who is known as the girl.
2a. From what perspective are the events being viewed? The perspective that the events are being viewed in is in a first-person narrative. The mother is guiding her daughter about how to reside
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The mother distributes a long list of advice to her daughter to teach her how to properly run a household and live respectably. The mother’s instructions suggest that community plays a large role in Antiguans’ lives and that social standing within the community bears a great deal of weight.
4a. How many voices are present within “Girl”? There is one voice present within “Girl.” In its place of doing all the listening, Girl is doing all the talking. “Girl” is not a word-for-word transcript of an actual conversation between the mother and daughter but a compilation of advice the daughter remembers her mother saying. The central voice is that of the unidentified mother; the reader must assume that the “girl” of the title is seemingly her daughter, though the correlation is never specified. b. Are there voices both acknowledged and unacknowledged (be specific)? How do you know? Yes, there are voices both acknowledge and unacknowledged. To explain, the texts that the reader reads in italicized are the narrators’ actual inner thoughts as if she was talking to herself. And the regular text is all the things that her mother would command her to do to cook, clean etc. Yet at the same time, there is bitterness in the mother’s voice, and she takes her anger and frustration out on her daughter. Twice the daughter’s say (indicated by italics) disrupts her mother to protest the implications of her orders, but the mother
Next, evidence that shows a daughter is briefly heard is the other character interjects and asks a question. The character interjects when the mother asks if she sang Benna in Sunday school, the girl interjects and said she never did that. A daughter would want to interject with her mother to tell her she did not sing an un-lady like song in. Also, the character asks what she should do if the baker will not let her squeeze the bread to see if it is fresh. The mother replies by asking, “you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker wont let near the bread?” This shows a mother is talking to her daughter because the speaker sounds disappointed after her daughter she is still going to have a bad reputation after all the mother has done for her. In conclusion, the speaker in the text “Girl” is a mother and the person briefly heard is the daughter. This is because the speaker is telling the other person tips to make chores easier and advice for her life, which is something mothers do for their daughters. The other character
From a young age, our interactions with our parents play an instrumental role in how we perceive ourselves and the world around us. The short story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid exhibits the relationship between an Antiguan mother and her daughter in a patriarchal society where the list of rules and regulations for women is exhaustive and almost never-ending. By analyzing the unique and often tense dynamic between the mother and daughter, “Girl” showcases the direct influence mothers have on their children, and how traditional and patriarchal customs can influence that relationship. The main themes are represented by the subjects the mother spends the most time on as well as the overall tone of the piece and how it relates to the mother-daughter
In the short story “Girl”, by Jamaica Kincaid is told from the perspective of two different people. There is a bonding relationship that is happening between the two people in this short story. The mother seems to be the main character in this essay uses a very strict tone to her daughter. The daughter is being told about how to do things in her life the correct way. The daughter barely speaks during this essay, she is doing more analyzing than arguing with her mother. When the mother gives the daughter advise she was trying to give her words of wisdom. But, at the same time, some of the ideas the mother gave to her child was offensive like “slut”. The mother has different perspectives throughout this essay with a lot of different
The point of view in the story is the third person because there is a narrator who
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
Have you ever wished that someone had given you a guide on how live the right way? Jamaica Kincaid does just that in her short story, Girl. The narrative is presented as a set of life instructions to a girl by her mother to live properly in Antigua in the 1980’s. While the setting of the story is not expressly stated by the author in the narrative, the reader is able to understand the culture for which Girl was written.
In Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl,” the narration of a mother lecturing her daughter with sharp, commanding diction and unusual syntax, both affect the evolution of a scornful tone, that her daughter’s behavior will eventually lead her to a life of promiscuity that will affect the way people perceive her and respect her within her social circle. As well as the fact that it emphasizes expectations for young women to conform to a certain feminine ideal of domesticity as a social norm during this time and the danger of female sexuality.
“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.
The mother and daughter in the story live in a West Indian town and the author makes many connections to the culture, like talking about singing benna, which is a carnival style song and dance, or referencing two traditional Antiguan dishes (229). The story is written as if the mother was trying to pass of life
In order for readers to be able to bloom their visual imagery from “Girl,” Kincaid uses repetition in two main ideas throughout the short story. The first idea she really wants to get across is singing benna, a type of music that centers on scandalous gossip. She writes, “is it true that you sing benna in Sunday school?” This is toward the beginning of the story, and readers who do not recognize the word “benna” will be
Throughout the history, in all cultures the roles of males and females are different. Relating to the piece of literature “Girl” written by Jamaica Kincaid for the time, when women’s roles were to work in the home. By examining
For centuries, women have had the role of being the perfect and typical house wife; needs to stay home and watch the children, cook for husbands, tend to the laundry and chores around the house. In her short story “Girl”, Jamaica Kincaid provides a long one sentence short story about a mother giving specific instructions to her daughter but with one question towards the end, with the daughter’s mother telling her daughter if she had done all the instructions to become a so called “perfect” woman, every man would want her. Kincaid’s structuring in “Girl,” captures a demanding and commanding tone. This short story relates to feminist perspectives. The mother expects a great deal from her daughter to have a certain potential and she does not hesitate to let her daughter understand that. As a matter of fact, the story is about two pages long, made into one long sentence - almost the whole time the mother is giving her daughter directions to follow - conveys a message to the reader that the mother demands and expects great potential in her daughter. The daughter is forced to listen and learn from what her mother is telling her to do to become the perfect housewife. Throughout the story, Kincaid uses the symbols of the house and clothing, benna and food to represent the meanings of becoming a young girl to a woman and being treated like one in society. Women are portrayed to appeal to a man to become the ideal woman in society, while men can do anything they please.
From the start, it is clearly shown that the story is in the first-person point of view. This type of view is not as direct towards the reader when compared to a third-person point of view. The narrator can influence the reader’s opinion and confused them with her plight. She is the only primary source the reader is in contact with, and that is due to the narrator writing her thoughts in a diary. Throughout her writing, she describes her experience and opinions that she may have. This could promote sympathy
The story, “Girl” by Kinkaid is told in the second person point of view. I know this because the person narrating the story uses the word you, you’re, and your instead of I, he, or her. The story is about a mother explaining to her daughter the responsibilities, and personality she must have as a woman. I know that the young women she is talking to is her daughter because the narrator says “this is how you iron your father’s khaki shirt so that it doesn’t have a crease”. Although the story is written in the second person point of view there are interjections from the daughter in response to her mother's words. If the story, “Girl” was written in the third person I believe I would be able to get a clearer view of what is occurring in the
While this text is set from a third person viewpoint, it also uses an interesting narrative technique, which is known as 'free indirect discourse' or 'free indirect style'. This is when a third person story uses certain features of first person speech. This style is different in the fact that introductory expressions such as, ‘she thought’, and ‘they said’, are not used. Using this technique allows a third person text to utilise a first person perspective, portraying the characters thoughts and words more directly.