“Girl” is a poem written by Jamaica Kincaid which was published in 1978 in The New Yorker. It was her first piece of published work. She is from Antigua, and most of her work contains stories of Antiguan life. As an African women, Kincaid always explores in her writing about class, race and gender discrimination. “Girl” is not exceptional from her other writing. Here she creates the image of Western Caribbean domestic lifestyle. The theme of this story is mother and daughter argument. In this story, the mother teaches her daughter how to be a perfect lady in this society. According to old fashion many mother teaches their daughters about what a women should be. “Girl” is a perfect example of this relationship.
“Girl” has two characters, one …show more content…
According to writer, “wash the white cloths on Monday and put them on the stone heap; wash the color cloths on Tuesday and put them on the clothesline to dry.” The reason for this is that so her daughter can prepare herself as a perfect lady for future. The another important reason is culture and tradition. She advises her, “this is how you make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child” so basically this advice allows womanly experience. But the story doesn’t tell a women to go to school, how to build up her career successfully or how to work outside of the home. In this story she pretends her daughter in three different conditions to protect her daughter from sextual activities or being sextual harresment. In the story mother uses a word many times and that word is “slut”. I obtain that the daughter is being alleged of being a whore even though there is no proof in the story that behalfs such a condemnation. “On Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming; don't sing benna in Sunday school; you mustn't speak to wharf-rat boys, not even to give directions”. At the end she says, “this is how to behave in the presence of men who don't know you …show more content…
Even though she tries to do well behave but she has to protest against her mom when she call her slut “but I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school” she appears to be protecting herself. Whereas the girl doesn't have so many dialogue in the story, as a reader I perceive that because of her mother’s too much messages makes her the passive narrator and conductor. The daughter describes “Girl” as if remembering the memory of her mother from a remote future place. “Girl” is not a rigorously copy of a real conversation between the mother and daughter but a collection of advice the daughter retains her mother saying. She remembers, for example, how she being accused by her mother continually, promiscuity and incompatibility, an accusation that has possibly inhabited her through the years. The retention of like that comments in the story interprets how densely they invaded her while she is growing up and how strong a mother’s impact and thoughts can be on her children. The girl is the receiver of all this rules and regulations and her work is to learn them all because it’s really complicated to be a
“Girl” has two characters, one …show more content…
According to writer, “wash the white cloths on Monday and put them on the stone heap; wash the color cloths on Tuesday and put them on the clothesline to dry.” The reason for this is that so her daughter can prepare herself as a perfect lady for future. The another important reason is culture and tradition. She advises her, “this is how you make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child” so basically this advice allows womanly experience. But the story doesn’t tell a women to go to school, how to build up her career successfully or how to work outside of the home. In this story she pretends her daughter in three different conditions to protect her daughter from sextual activities or being sextual harresment. In the story mother uses a word many times and that word is “slut”. I obtain that the daughter is being alleged of being a whore even though there is no proof in the story that behalfs such a condemnation. “On Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming; don't sing benna in Sunday school; you mustn't speak to wharf-rat boys, not even to give directions”. At the end she says, “this is how to behave in the presence of men who don't know you …show more content…
Even though she tries to do well behave but she has to protest against her mom when she call her slut “but I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school” she appears to be protecting herself. Whereas the girl doesn't have so many dialogue in the story, as a reader I perceive that because of her mother’s too much messages makes her the passive narrator and conductor. The daughter describes “Girl” as if remembering the memory of her mother from a remote future place. “Girl” is not a rigorously copy of a real conversation between the mother and daughter but a collection of advice the daughter retains her mother saying. She remembers, for example, how she being accused by her mother continually, promiscuity and incompatibility, an accusation that has possibly inhabited her through the years. The retention of like that comments in the story interprets how densely they invaded her while she is growing up and how strong a mother’s impact and thoughts can be on her children. The girl is the receiver of all this rules and regulations and her work is to learn them all because it’s really complicated to be a