Girl Jamaica Kincaid Analysis

Jamaica Kincaid “Girl” Meet the author, Elaine Cynthia Potter Richardson, a girl born and raised in the West Indies, who later changed her name to Jamaica Kincaid. Jamaica wrote the short story “Girl” that talk about a fictional character having a very difficult upbringing, being raised in a place that was under British rule, which parents stuck to the old African cultures for the children upbringing. It seemed the mother was very fearful of the environment in which her daughter was growing up in, she felt society would take control of her daughter and she would become a “slut”. Kincaid was culturally torn between the evolving British society and the old customs from her parent’s African heritage. Throughout the story Kincaid’s mother gives her African values and expectations on how a girl should carry herself, cook, and clean.
“Girl” refer to a woman of any age, is highly likely to be considered old-fashioned or to cause offence. Kincaid, is a Scottish surname. In relation to the author, femininity is hard work; this means cooking, cleaning house, ironing and looking good while you’re doing it. The mother is so concerned with the daughter’s behavior that she gives her instructions on getting an abortion if she finds herself pregnant. The mother seemed very cruel throughout …show more content…
The mother was giving her tough love so that she might go in the right direction and not become a simple woman and lose respect in the eyes of her community. Within today’s language we might call that verbal abuse, but in the culture of her mother that was an acceptable tolerance of words. This story shows a breakdown on new culture and customs comparing them to old traditional customs and cultures. Jamaica moving on to pursue her goal as a writer, showed that her mother comments and words were not in vain but they were near and dear to her heart and pushed her to be a good