Jamaica Kincaid Girl

A Girl can be termed as a prose poem and Jamaica Kincaid wrote this prose poem. The New Yorker published it in the year 1978. The Girl was one of the initial pieces of work by Kincaid that got published. Kincaid belonged to Antigua, and this is why most of her writings revolve around Antiguan life. Kincaid was of African descent, and this is why most of her work comprised of class, race and gender issues. Knowing that Jamaica Kincaid background that she grew up in a poverty in Antigua giving the reader clues that this short story could be about her relationship with her mother when she was a young girl. Moreover, Girl is also no exception, and it tends to exemplify many of these themes. The two main characters of the Girl are a mother and daughter. The story created by her loving relationship with a mother and a daughter. The mother gives advice to her daughter on important life issues. The advice is regarding domestic behaviors and advice also revolves around being a respectable woman. However, the advice sound more like teaching and commands. …show more content…
Throughout the story, you can tell by the voice of her mother that she wants her to be a woman that should be domestic and there are certain ways she should act. From the first line, the mother seems to be teaching her how to do things like “ wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap”(line1). The setting played an important role to establish the meaning in the story and it gives one interpretation of the theme of the story. Later on, her mother seems she is giving her order instead of teaching her for instance “this is how you smile to someone you don't like too much”(line 20-21). In this case, the mother began to teaching her at a certain age then start to giving her order do or do