Mother And Daughter Relationships In Jamaicaaica Kincaid's Girl By Jamaica Kincaid

The author, Jamaica Kincaid in her piece “Girl”, chooses to write and develop her text as a memoir to better connect with her readers. The conflicts that are expected in a mother and daughter relationship, is a relatable issue and can allow others to become more emotionally involved with this composition. Throughout the text the author also distinguishes how the mother tends to develop a darker, more critical side that is intended to guide her daughter to reach societal expectations for her. Without the piece being a memoir, my conclusion of how the daughter is effected by her mother’s critical demands would not be reached. Considering this, I believe a memoir conducts the best strategy to convey this confliction between a mother and daughter. …show more content…
As a reader, one is able to identify the mother as a controlling but also loving mother. Her mother figure wants what is best for her daughter and does so by contributing the most efficient advice that she is aware of. Her mother’s words in attempt to guide her daughter are both caring and critical. In the mother’s endeavor to have the absolute best for her daughter, she hopes that she will see through her condemning advice. The mother’s input tends to become confusing as she switches back and forth between her polar opposite opinions. Her indecisiveness is a result from societies extreme measures for the standards of a girl her daughter’s age. Throughout the conflictions between the two, it is apparent that the mother can be excessively harsh, analytical and controlling while the daughter has little to no impute in the conversation. The daughter, in the midst of the bickering, is portrayed as apprehensive and distracted. She had little to no context in order to show the distinguished roles each party has in the …show more content…
Without the mother’s direct insight, it creates sympathy towards the daughter. If it was told from a third person point of view, the author would not be able to convey the emotional connection the reader develops with the daughter. If the work was told from the third person point of view, that would contradict the overall purpose to convey the conflicting personal relationship between the mother and daughter that is conducted by the author. If the Kincaid tried to give perception to not only the daughter’s ideas but also the mothers, third person omniscient would be the better choice as it would give insight on not only one but both of the characters in the problematic situation. Although this true, Kincaid does not want for the reader to be knowledgeable of the mother’s personal experience with her daughter because it would take away that strong emotional connection the reader would develop with the conflictions the daughter has with her own mother. She did right by writing it as a memoir to develop her personal struggle as a