In today’s society family relationships are very important factors to how we as humans develop. However one of the most important relationships for a daughter is the one between her and her mother. In the past this relationship was more so to prime and prep the daughter to grow up and become a proper woman and mother. This can be seen in the short story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid’s where the mother is literally teaching and molding the girl the way the mother thinks a women should be, and the daughter listens obediently. But in the short story, “Saving Sourdi” by May-Lee Chai you see a mother-daughter relationship that resembles more of today’s society expectations, where the mother raises the child to believe they should grow up a certain way
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The mother also tells the girl how she is expected to act in society by enforcing the way she must act “on Sundays [, and] try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming;” (Kincaid 1) Also in the story “Saving Sourdi” you can see the girls at a young age having responsibilities and leaning the roles of woman from their mother.
This often or not lends to the mothers ending up molding their daughters to be just like them. Scholar Hammer (1976) suggests that a mother lives “through her daughter, lives both her own childhood and her own mother’s identity; by identifying with her daughter, she becomes “both her own mother and her own child” (Boyd pg292). This can be seen in the story “Saving Sourdi” in the relationship between Soudi and he mother’s interactions. Sourdi is shown to follows in her mother’s footsteps in becoming a mother at young age and being …show more content…
In the story “Saving Sourdi” the narrator Nae expresses her opposing opinion to how Sourdi and her mother reacted to a situation resulting in Sourdi to shake her until Nae took back what she said. This perfectly portrays how society normally treats those who don’t conform like Soudi who in the moment of crisis sought out her mother and followed advice that to stay in her marriage, and that’s how marriage was, despite obvious safety issues. Nae expresses her concern and understanding that the situation is wrong but when she tries to help she is shot down and told that this is how things
The mother also tells the girl how she is expected to act in society by enforcing the way she must act “on Sundays [, and] try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming;” (Kincaid 1) Also in the story “Saving Sourdi” you can see the girls at a young age having responsibilities and leaning the roles of woman from their mother.
This often or not lends to the mothers ending up molding their daughters to be just like them. Scholar Hammer (1976) suggests that a mother lives “through her daughter, lives both her own childhood and her own mother’s identity; by identifying with her daughter, she becomes “both her own mother and her own child” (Boyd pg292). This can be seen in the story “Saving Sourdi” in the relationship between Soudi and he mother’s interactions. Sourdi is shown to follows in her mother’s footsteps in becoming a mother at young age and being …show more content…
In the story “Saving Sourdi” the narrator Nae expresses her opposing opinion to how Sourdi and her mother reacted to a situation resulting in Sourdi to shake her until Nae took back what she said. This perfectly portrays how society normally treats those who don’t conform like Soudi who in the moment of crisis sought out her mother and followed advice that to stay in her marriage, and that’s how marriage was, despite obvious safety issues. Nae expresses her concern and understanding that the situation is wrong but when she tries to help she is shot down and told that this is how things