Since the late 1970s the gender role has seemed to slightly switch up from where it was. Cooking and cleaning were mandatory house work for wives a few decades ago. In today’s time it really does not matter who does it, as long as everything gets done. Being proper and lady-like was a must and being indiscriminate and “talking to wharf-rat boys”. (Kincaid, 1978 p.352) Nowadays women are thrown into categories based on how they act and present themselves, and it should not be this way. Women have fought their way up to where they stand today, and even though we are still being categorized we stand tall and keep pushing forward.…
Within every story or poem, there is always an interpretation made by the reader whether right or wrong. In doing so, one must thoughtfully analyze all aspects of the story in order to make the most accurate assessment based on the literary elements the author has used. Compared and contrasted within the two short stories, "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid, and John Updike 's "A&P," the literary elements character and theme are made evident. These two elements are prominent in each of the differing stories yet similarities are found through each by studying the elements. The girls ' innocence and naivety as characters act as passages to show something superior, oppression in society shown towards women that is not equally shown towards men.…
The short story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid was a bittersweet warning from a mother to her daughter. The reader is experiencing the viewpoint of the protagonist through the soliloquy of her mother’s instructions that batter her like bugs smacking the windshield. This scolding reminds me of conversations with my own grandmother. The author doesn’t use periods or capital letters to symbolize the endless barrage of words, which I mistakenly perceived as nagging during my first review. A second reading brought about feelings of sympathy in the lament of a regretful mother’s memories; this reminded me of my own mixed perceptions of past conversations with family. I enjoyed the mother’s attempts to convey her own experience in life through her instructions on how to do mundane chores. When the mother in the story says, “Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them in the stone heap” refers to laundry, “Cook pumpkin fritters in very hot sweet oil, and “Soak salt fish before you cook it” refers to meal preparation (Kincaid 541). After repeated warnings to her daughter against walking like “the slut you are so bent on becoming”, I felt sympathy for the mother’s obvious experience with a hard life as she describes making medicine “to throw away a child before it even becomes a child”, and “bullying and being bullied by a man” (Kincaid 542). I wondered if the mother had been raped. My favorite reference on revenge was her instruction to “spit up in the air if you feel like it”, and “how to…
“You sissy! Stop being such a girl! What are you afraid of?” These condescending remarks bounced through out my mind as I looked over the edge of a 30 foot cliff into the cold water. Soon the loud voice of my brother yelled at me from bellow-- “Just Jump.” I knew that I was going to live but I was held back by the harsh remarked thrown at me from my friend. I couldn’t comprehend what they were saying. Girls were afraid? That couldn’t be true, women had jumped off before I had. The misconception that the word “girl” is a symbol of weakness and fear, can only be labeled as gender bias. Equally so, examples of gender bias can be found in in the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. From Scout and Mayela to the missionary society , gender bias sticks out as one of the large underling concept in this book.…
When reading “Girl,” the reader must make inferences based off of hints in the text. This will bring them to the conclusion that the person speaking is indeed a mother talking to her daughter. Not once in this short story does Kincaid use the words mother or daughter, instead she uses subtle hints to inquire that this is so. For instance, at the beginning of the story the mother states “soak your little cloths right after you take them off” (202). The use of the word “little” helps the reader understand that the person being spoken to is small and more than likely a child. It is also mentioned that the daughter must learn to “iron [her] father’s khaki pants,” at this point it is almost made positive that the person being spoken to is a child that is growing up and will need to take on her mother’s chores soon (200). The reader can also make the assumption that…
Female roles have been depicted differently under different culture background. From the example I list above, we can see how culture background has shaped the imagines of roles differently in traditional tales, and how those traditional tales impact children’s life in the same…
The Emergence of Femininity in "The One Girl at The Boys Party" by Sharon Olds.…
“Girl” is one long enduring sentence that is characterized as a poem by Jamaica Kincaid that brings to light the tensions between mother and daughter at a young vital age. Throughout the poem we see a list of loaded commands and a detailed blueprint from mother to daughter on the topics of household chores, how to cook, proper table and social etiquette, and relationships with men from mother to daughter, but the poem mainly depicts the dynamic of a their relationship. Even though it is never revealed if the speaker is actually the mother, we can assume this based on nature of her advices, domestic commands and even what she says in line 14, “ this is how you iron your father’s khaki pants.” We see the juxtaposition of a woman of one generation and that of a daughter in a different generation but also a development of the central tension of the mother’s more experienced maturity versus the innocence of the daughter.…
Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” is about a traditional mother who is trying to teach her young daughter the traditional way of growing up to be a woman. Simmons, Diane discuses: “The story begins with the mother’s voice giving such simple, benevolent, and appropriately maternal advice” (1); And “In “Girl” the mother’s chant of information and advice enfolds and ensnares the daughter, rendering the girl nearly helpless before the mother’s transforming will” (2). Furthermore, the title of the story signifies that the daughter is still young and is living dependently on her mother. She still has many things to learn from her experienced mother. In her culture, there is a sign of family love and care for the young one. The mother in “Girl” gives lectures to ensure that her daughter learns basic skills to be self-sufficient, as well as basic principle of the culture and human being.…
The females in “Woman Work” and “Girl” are complete opposites. One subject is a young girl being taught “rules of life” by her mother while the other is a mother herself. The woman in “Woman Work” is experiencing the hardships of life taking it day by day. On the other hand, the young girl in “Girl” is being taught “rules” so that she can achieve what the woman in “Woman Work” has, a good standing, a family, a home, and things to tend to. With the young adolescent in “Girl” just now entering the world and being exposed to the harsh realities so soon, it creates a dark contrast to the airy tone of “Woman Work” portrayed through the woman’s actions and words.…
In the story, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, the idea and tone come from a mother, who raises her child on her own past experiences and control of being a woman in her time and tradition, she is a guide to her own daughter in this changed world, to discipline her daughters new ways and views on society and their culture on how it used to be. The author shows in the story how she thinks the women should dress, behave and the jobs they should do.…
While reading all the commands the little girl needed to know, I was appalled at how the talk was and demands were. To me in this excerpt some of the themes that I came across were race relations, representation of women, gender roles and sexuality. All of which during this time frame were suitable and women understood that.…
In contrast, the short story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid suggests that women are sentenced to patriarchy as a result of socially constructed gender stereotypes. She criticizes the idealized patriarchal norms and pressures which overshadow the lives of women. Starting early on in their childhood, little girls are explicitly exposed to the pressures and expectations of how they should live. As a result of gender stereotypes, young girls are brainwashed to believe that their role as a woman is a domestic homemaker and that they should always be kempt and maintain a feminine outer appearance. Kincaid ultimately criticizes how women and girls are trapped under a system of patriarchy that can not be erased.…
In the short story, or extremely long sentence, “Girl”, Jamaica Kincaid -the author as well as the speaker- gives a list of ongoing commands that she was receiving. As readers, we assume that these are orders coming from her mother. As we are aware, her family had certain beliefs and also did not approve of her writing later on in life. The italicized words in the text such as “…but I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school…” and “…but what if the baker won’t let me feel the bread…” give the reader a sense that Jamaica is interjecting with her mother’s instructions. Mrs. Richardson, Jamaica’s mother, is very strict about her ways and is almost forcing Jamaica to become a perfect female. Overall, her mother believes that she is “bent on becoming a slut”, and tries…
In the passage the “Girl” written by Jamaica Kincaid, discusses the role of a woman. The writing is a giant run on sentence. It talks about everyday chores from washing clothes to setting the table for meals. It examples on how girls should act and behave. “Girl” is a notable piece of literature because it pushed against the norm of its…