What I Am Writing: Portraying the Life Through the Works Essay

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

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

Jamaica Kincaid’s story of “Girl,” is a mind blowing experience between mother and daughter. “This Essay presents a plot summary of Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” as well as providing historical, societal, religious, scientific and biographical context for the short story. Kincaid’s unusual land difficult to classify piece of short fiction consists of a brief monologue by an Antiguan mother to her adolescent daughter” (Kim Bencel, 2) This is a story, not in verse or order that will remind you of days gone by. The mother is hell- bent on making a respectful young lady.

Written in 1983, Kincaid narrates the thoughts and moral beliefs of the time by her mother. In Girl, Kincaid uses repetition of the term “slut” to emphasize that her mother did not want her to develop a bad moral reputation (Kincaid 118-119). Later in the narration though are her mother’s thoughts on abortion, “this is how to make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child” (Kincaid 119). It shows that while the mother instructed her in moral principles, she also understood that things happen to a young woman. The practical nature of this instruction seems to indicate more modern thought while still living in a society of traditions. Another hint of the time period is the mention of divorce and how to live after it, “this is how you love a man…and if they don’t work out, don’t feel bad about giving up” (Kincaid 119). This could indicate that divorce is an accepted practice in the more modern society that Jamaica Kincaid wrote Girl in.

In the essay “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid there are references to many social problems that were prevalent earlier in society that still apply to today’s society. In this essay the author is giving advice to her teenage daughter where she teachers her the “proper” etiquette and what was expected of a woman in her view. In this story the author Kincaid seems to be the mother and the teenage daughter is probably her daughter, in a different way of viewing she may be the daughter herself reflecting on the past, but it’s not very relevant to the meaning of the literature. In this essay I will explain how the way women are viewed in today’s society have changed, as well as what remains of the past that has yet to be overcome. I will also try and analyze and give my theory as to why Kincaid decided to write her story the way she did.

“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.

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

The poem “Aunt Ida Pieces a Quilt” by Melvin Dixon and the essay “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid are both from the book Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing edited by Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. In “Aunt Ida Pieces a Quilt” by Melvin Dixon, the author describes a story of Aunt Ida and expresses her deep grief and memory of her niece through their former experience of making a quilt. The author wants to let readers understand that numerous people die because of AIDS, and all of them will be remembered in another way. The author tries to spark the readers to sense the sadness and frustration in Ida. In the reading “Girl,” Jamaica Kincaid uses a narrative mode to describe the heavy and tedious work a girl should do in her daily life. This poem-like essay contains a list of instructions given by a mother to her daughter. It seems that she cannot bear these rules anymore and begin shouting in the following article. She demonstrates her strong attitude of her annoyance and discontentment. The author argues the injustice between men and women and shows her willingness to live like men in the freedom. Both the poem and the essay use a lot of strategies in common to present their perspective towards gender such as they both use a narrative mode and they both can give us a feeling that we are at a rapid pace, what’s more, both authors are good at using comparison method in their work. Despite their similarities, each of them has some

Elaine Potter Richardson, more famously known as Jamaica Kincaid, is recognized for her writings that suggest depictions of relationships between families, mainly between a mother and daughter, and her birth place, Antigua, an island located in the West Indies. She is also familiarized with Afrocentrism and feminist point of views. Kincaid’s work is filled heavily with visual imagery that produces a mental picture in readers that helps them connect stronger to the reading. An example of this really shines through in her short story piece, “Girl.” This short story describes the life of a lower class woman living in the West Indies, and also incorporates thick detailing between the relationship between her and her mother. Jamaica Kincaid structures the story as if her mother is speaking to her. She writes broad, but straight to the point, allowing readers to imagine to picture her experience. Kincaid uses visual imagery and repetition consistently throughout “Girl” to reveal the theme and tone of the story; conflictual affair between a mother and daughter.

“Girl” is a poem written by Jamaica Kincaid that was published in 1978 in The New Yorker. It was her first piece of published work. She is from Antigua, and most of her work contains stories of Antiguan life. As an African women, Kincaid always explores in her writing about class, race and gender discrimination. “Girl” is not exceptional from her other  writing. Here she creates the image of Western Caribbean domestic lifestyle. The theme of this story is mother and daughter argument. In this story, the mother teaches her daughter how to be a perfect lady in this society. According to old fashion many mother teaches their daughters about what a women should be. “Girl” is a perfect example of this relationship.

The entire story is a list of what a women should be and not be. Even though the list is boring and uninteresting to read, it demonstrates what a real daughter mother relationship is like. Kincaid does not specifically state that the speaker is a mother, but the speaker is identified as mother because she has to follow the list herself. It is the mother’s responsibility to teach her daughter

Jamaica Kincaid was a celebrated Antiguan- American novelist, gardener and essayist, but the basic role of she is girl. In her early age, she had a very complicated relationship with her mother. The story “girl” is ostensibly a series of instructions from her mom gives to her. Like every mothers’ no breathe nagging in the real world. She tells her daughter about cleaning, cooking, behaving like a lady and how to on getting a man, etc. Unluckily, her daughter is not an active listener. She interrupted to her mother twice to ask her mother some question in order to defend herself. Retrospect from ancient times to the modern world, we can see too many mothers and daughters conflict and misunderstanding is far too common. The main reason that causes this situation is the mother usually believe herself is the only person who can control her daughter’s life. It affects everything from her daughter’s health and self esteem.

A mother teaches her daughter at an early age about values and morals. Most lessons reflect society’s expectations about what it means to be a woman. Throughout Kincaid’s poem titled Girl, I noticed the use of “how to”, followed by “duties” of a woman. Kincaid’s poem is flooded with variety of emotions, and I feel a personal connection to it. Reading the poem the time setting was in the past days. Women did not take a stand, and felt

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

Some people don't realize how simple, yet complicated life is, that the point of it is not to ‘lose or win or become successful', but to die knowing that you have lived your life to the maximum and get the satisfaction from that. That you have created and destroyed, that you lived and the sun shone on you, and most importantly, that you left a footprint behind you.