Jamaica Kincaid's Girl Essay

both parties have valid points. Many of the points refer to the gender double standard and expectation that both genders are expected to maintain. Many of these “expectations” occur in adolescent years of the individual (Axinn). In Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl” I do believe that society also played a role in the expectations of this mother’s idea of femininity. This story was written in the early 1980’s. Around this time frame, women were coming up in society. They were moving into professional

and see themselves. Aaron H. Devor explains the differences between masculinity and femininity as well as describes how women are portrayed in our society. In a prose poem to her daughter, Jamaica Kincaid lists how her daughter should go about her life with instructions on how to walk, greet, and act as a young girl. Both authors give attention to how this society views and treats its women. As said in the web article, Women in American Media: A Culture of Misperception, women are essentially expected

Deanna Jones Jamaica Kincaid, Girl 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

Growing up, from being a child to an adult is where most of us try to find ourselves. We tend to struggle during this transition period, people around us tell us what to be and not to be, Jamaica Kincaidt in her short story, “Girl” tells just that, the setting is presented as a set of life instructions to a girl by her mother to live properly. The mother soberly

Lucy, the eponymous character of Jamaica Kincaid’s second novel, moves from Antigua to New York not in an arbitrary move, but in a calculated effort to explore her latent queer sexuality and gradually escape the gendered labor of her homeland. By working as an au pair for an upper class white woman named Mariah, Lucy trades birthing labor for domestic labor in a move that initially seems lateral, but serves as a potential gateway to freedom from caretaking that would have been inaccessible in Antigua

The role of an ideal servant in a White people’s family, where ‘she found beauty, order, cleanliness, and praise’ satisfied all of her needs (ibid., 127),” and by “accepting this role (at the expense of her children, however) she finds a positive place for herself” in white society (Miniotaitė, 54). Pecola knew that as long as she remained invisible, she would not be dragged into fights or given any unwanted attention that may negatively impact her, whether it be from her mother, father, peers,

manipulation of another woman in order to get what you want or to move higher on the ladder of success. In Jamaica Kincaid’s “The Autobiography of my Mother”, the protagonist, Xuela, encounters a woman, Madam Labatte, that misuses her jurisdiction over Xuela for her own selfish desires. In comparison, “Tracks” by Louise Erdrich introduces us to Pauline, who exploits a young, beautiful girl, Sophie, for a different set of selfish desires. Pauline and Sophie’s relationship and Madame Labatte and Xuela’s

Today’s headlines have been plastered with news regarding sexual assault scandals. Many of these names who the general public look-up to have been caught doing horribly inappropriate things to others. Many of these stars have been defended by others who are also looking up to. Donald Trump, a wealthy businessman and TV personality who has made his way to the title of the President, has been accused of sexual assault. He has even admitted to some of it on video, but nothing has been done to punish

controversy about women's "proper" roles”. Even after all the backlash, she continued to hold conventions for the sake of women’s right. Furthermore, events such as Stanton’s conventions were the first of many. A century after the first convention, in “Girl” it states, “you mean to say that after all you are going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread?” This is the answer the mother gives to her daughter, after she asked what if the baker won’t let her near the bread. The mother

In determining someone to be an other—someone seen as separate from the rest of the community—many factors are at play. One of the biggest of these factors is a person’s race. Primarily, this concept causes people who are not white to be treated different, as others, in their society. However, the drive between races and the ignorance of people towards other races can be driven by other aspects of life. Things like an individual’s belongings, the environment he is in, and the attitudes of others