Mother And Daughter Relationship In Jamaica Kincaid's Girl

In Caribbean literature one cannot bare to miss the relationship between parent and child. It so happens that when it comes to one of these relationships, authors draw more attention to the relationships between mother and daughter. Why? Because many after reading such literary works with the subject of the Caribbean culture, one can see the repetition of the mother and daughter relationship has one of the most fundamental human interactions. Now like most relationship, the relationship between mothers and daughters are not simple but very complex. However, their bond is full with sympathy and unconditional love, which is not part of every relationship. Some may argue that in Caribbean literature mothers and daughters often seem distinct from each other than they really are. Most likely this is a result of an unfortunate innocent in the past, which scares both individuals, or probably the daughter who is going through her rebellious phase, which is common during adolescent years. In the end, these internal and external conflicts between mothers and daughters may damage their relationship, but as a whole their relation as mother and daughter may not physically be destroyed. One can see these complexities between Caribbean mother and daughter relationships in …show more content…
The relationship is based on the mother delivering a long list of instructions, advice, and warnings to her daughter so that the daughter can become a respectable young lady of society. According to Carol Bailey “Performance and the Gendered Body in Jamaica Kincaid's “Girl” and Oonya Kempadoo's Buxton Spice,” Bailey talks about how the mother’s (in Jamaica Kincaid's “Girl”5) “instructions relate mainly to domestic chores, but also include directions for social relations and moral conduct” (Bailey 107). The mother gives her daughter list of instructions on how to clean, cook, speak and to present herself as a