The roles of women reflected in the late nineteenth century up until the 1960’s were known to be portrayals of the perfect housewife or of one who lacked status. Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” and Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” both represent the gender role that was expected of woman in their time period and their restrictions to having their own identity. Mrs. Mallard and Girl are similar because they both lack their own true identity and have expectations from others as to how they should act and who they should be. A common theme shown in both stories is repression. Mrs. Mallard’s character comes off as a weak woman who probably doesn’t go out much and stay’s in the shadow of her husband. After Mrs. Mallard locks herself in her room upon
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The story “Girl” revolves entirely on the mother berating her daughter and teaching her what she’s expected to become and the role she has as an Antiguan women. The reader can infer that the author could possibly be talking about her own life when she was a small child. It’s obvious that as a woman in that time period, one had to live up to certain expectations. For example, the mother tells her daughter that she has to sweep the whole house, set the table for dinner, sew and iron clothes, along with many household chores. Perhaps the author was told this by her own mother out of fear for her child. In the eyes of the mother, the child must do all these things in order to prevent herself from being shunned by the community and becoming a “slut”. Girl also has a set of expectations from her mother on how she should act and behave. Choosing not to behave the way she’s taught to could result in losing her social standing. The only time her mother show’s sympathy toward her daughter is when speaking of the relationships her daughter will one day have with men. Her mother tells her how men will bully her, and how she should respond to them. It’s almost as if her mother is warning her that men will dominate and women should retaliate in a certain
The story “Girl” revolves entirely on the mother berating her daughter and teaching her what she’s expected to become and the role she has as an Antiguan women. The reader can infer that the author could possibly be talking about her own life when she was a small child. It’s obvious that as a woman in that time period, one had to live up to certain expectations. For example, the mother tells her daughter that she has to sweep the whole house, set the table for dinner, sew and iron clothes, along with many household chores. Perhaps the author was told this by her own mother out of fear for her child. In the eyes of the mother, the child must do all these things in order to prevent herself from being shunned by the community and becoming a “slut”. Girl also has a set of expectations from her mother on how she should act and behave. Choosing not to behave the way she’s taught to could result in losing her social standing. The only time her mother show’s sympathy toward her daughter is when speaking of the relationships her daughter will one day have with men. Her mother tells her how men will bully her, and how she should respond to them. It’s almost as if her mother is warning her that men will dominate and women should retaliate in a certain