Jamaica Kincaid Girl Analysis
1.Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” is a daughter’s mimicry of how her mother tells her to perform housekeeping and other sensitive topics for proper behavior. Because of the content and demanding tone, do you find the mother abusive and demeaning, or is something else going on?
The mother seems to be abusive, demeaning and cold. Her tone throughout the story is critical and commanding. The way she talks to her daughter makes me feel as if there were no warm feelings in their relationship. The mother gives orders, scolds her daughter and demands things “on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming.” The mother doesn’t respect her daughter and accuses her of behaving in a wrong way. She seems to be bitter and cold. The mother dictates how her daughter should act “don’t squat down to play marbles-you are not a boy, you know; don’t pick people flowers-you may catch something…” It seems that it’s important for the mother that her daughter is not rejected from the society and follows social norms. She tells her daughter “how to make a good medicine to throw away a child …show more content…
In “Girl” the author shows the difficulty of being a woman in the Antiguan society. The mother wants her daughter to have a good reputation in the society. As a woman the daughter has to know how to iron, saw, prepare food, smile at a person, and love a man. There is tradition that has to be followed. The mother asks her daughter “Is it true that you sing benna in Sunday school?” Benna is one of the earliest types of local music in Antigua and Barbuda (https://bestantigua.wordpress.com/2015/06/21/popular-music-of-antigua-and-barbuda/) which indicates that it is not an American story. The mother tells her daughter how to prepare the food in a traditional way (which is not American). The mother also instructs her daughter how to grow okra. Okra is cultivated in tropical temperatures, which indicates it is not North
The mother seems to be abusive, demeaning and cold. Her tone throughout the story is critical and commanding. The way she talks to her daughter makes me feel as if there were no warm feelings in their relationship. The mother gives orders, scolds her daughter and demands things “on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming.” The mother doesn’t respect her daughter and accuses her of behaving in a wrong way. She seems to be bitter and cold. The mother dictates how her daughter should act “don’t squat down to play marbles-you are not a boy, you know; don’t pick people flowers-you may catch something…” It seems that it’s important for the mother that her daughter is not rejected from the society and follows social norms. She tells her daughter “how to make a good medicine to throw away a child …show more content…
In “Girl” the author shows the difficulty of being a woman in the Antiguan society. The mother wants her daughter to have a good reputation in the society. As a woman the daughter has to know how to iron, saw, prepare food, smile at a person, and love a man. There is tradition that has to be followed. The mother asks her daughter “Is it true that you sing benna in Sunday school?” Benna is one of the earliest types of local music in Antigua and Barbuda (https://bestantigua.wordpress.com/2015/06/21/popular-music-of-antigua-and-barbuda/) which indicates that it is not an American story. The mother tells her daughter how to prepare the food in a traditional way (which is not American). The mother also instructs her daughter how to grow okra. Okra is cultivated in tropical temperatures, which indicates it is not North