“This is how you iron your father’s khaki pants so they don’t have a crease” (Kincaid 120). It is unusual for an author to write in the second-person because the style sounds like an instruction manual. Although, spite of that, Jamaica Kincaid uses this technique to her advantage in her short story, “Girl” to create the effect of a conversation between the narrator and reader in the form of a mother teaching her daughter to become a self-sufficient proper young lady. In “Girl,” the story is told in the second-person. However, due to the story being told from an overpowering mother’s point of view, it creates a degrading tone, which means the reader must ask themselves how the voice, focus, tone, and style shape the effect and meaning of the
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Yet, what is the influence of the reader acknowledging the narrator’s point of view? The significance is the narrator’s point of view determines the relationship between the narrator and reader. For example, if “Girl” is in the first-person from the mother’s point of view then there is no actual relationship between the narrator and reader because the narrator does not include the reader in the story. The first-person narrator is telling a story “about someone else or his or her own experiences” (109). One could picture the relationship like this, the narrator is the mother, and the reader is her diary. The diary knows everything the mother tells it because she writes it down. Although the diary knows her thoughts and experiences, it does not have a full understanding of what the mother is going through. No one truly understands what someone is going through until they experience it for themselves. Therefore, having the story “Girl” told in the second-person provides a greater impact because it allows the narrator to include and communicate with the reader which creates a relationship between …show more content…
Since the story is told from a mother to a daughter, it creates an overpowering and degrading tone. The focus of the mother is to shape her daughter into a strong, independent young lady. To achieves this goal, the mother overwhelms her daughter with instructions, rarely allowing her to speak. The mother’s instructions are beneficial for instance, she teaches her “how to catch a fish... always squeeze bread to make sure it’s fresh” (Kincaid 120). Occasionally, the narrator will use her advice to accuse her daughter of wanting to become a slut. “This is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are bent on becoming” (Kincaid 120). The intended tone of the story is to inform but due to the mother’s snide comments it also comes off as degrading. This then creates tension between the narrator and the reader because some people would defend the girl since the girl is unable to defend
Yet, what is the influence of the reader acknowledging the narrator’s point of view? The significance is the narrator’s point of view determines the relationship between the narrator and reader. For example, if “Girl” is in the first-person from the mother’s point of view then there is no actual relationship between the narrator and reader because the narrator does not include the reader in the story. The first-person narrator is telling a story “about someone else or his or her own experiences” (109). One could picture the relationship like this, the narrator is the mother, and the reader is her diary. The diary knows everything the mother tells it because she writes it down. Although the diary knows her thoughts and experiences, it does not have a full understanding of what the mother is going through. No one truly understands what someone is going through until they experience it for themselves. Therefore, having the story “Girl” told in the second-person provides a greater impact because it allows the narrator to include and communicate with the reader which creates a relationship between …show more content…
Since the story is told from a mother to a daughter, it creates an overpowering and degrading tone. The focus of the mother is to shape her daughter into a strong, independent young lady. To achieves this goal, the mother overwhelms her daughter with instructions, rarely allowing her to speak. The mother’s instructions are beneficial for instance, she teaches her “how to catch a fish... always squeeze bread to make sure it’s fresh” (Kincaid 120). Occasionally, the narrator will use her advice to accuse her daughter of wanting to become a slut. “This is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are bent on becoming” (Kincaid 120). The intended tone of the story is to inform but due to the mother’s snide comments it also comes off as degrading. This then creates tension between the narrator and the reader because some people would defend the girl since the girl is unable to defend