Jamaica Kincaid's Girl

The Talk-Funny Girl by Roland Merullo has many critical approaches within it, but the gender approach was one consistent approach with its three concepts of gender roles, masculinity and femininity, and patriarchy and matriarchy. From the beginning of this reading, the gender roles concept was frequently used to compare characters and their roles in the story. As a punishment, Marjorie would be forced to act like a boy by her parents, who referred to it as “boying” days. “On boying days there would always be a job to do, a house repair project usually…it was almost as if he really did want a son there to help him” (Merullo 74). As a female, it was as uncommon for one to participate in house repairs and outdoor work, so the roles of gender were altered in this setting.

In the story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaide shows that the authority figure’s advice is having a negative impact because she’s forcing the girl to conform to social norms. Throughout the entire story the speaker is reading off a list of things the girl has to do. The only time the speaker brings up a fun topic she turns it into something negative when she says “don’t squat to play marbles- you are not a boy, you know;” This is telling the girl that she cannot have any fun because she is a girl. Telling girls to act in a certain manner can affect their self esteem in a negative way. When someone is forced to conform it is a rejection of individuality which leads to a lack of respect and appreciation for that person.

In the short story, “Girl”, by Jamaica Kincaide, she shows that the female authority figure who is giving the advice thinks she is helping the girl she is speaking to, but is actually hurting her by providing harsh advice. Directly speaking about the main point of the story, the female authority figure says, “...this is how to behave in the presence of men who don’t know you very well and this way they won’t recognize immediately the slut I have warned you against becoming…”. This shows that the advice being given to the girl is about social status and making sure other people don’t think poorly of women. If a woman does something to be considered a slut then their social status will decrease. The woman providing the advice believes that success is more

Jamaica Kincaid's Lucy is another work that could be portrayed under the ladies' lobbyist law. The ladies' extremist expressions in this five-area novel could be found in the exchanges between the women characters. The imaginative and point by point examination concerning the associations among mothers and young ladies, rich and poor, and high difference in the book conveys the author's thoughts on ladies' freedom. The way that Lucy is a semi-self-depicting record of Kincaid's instructive experiences makes its voice all the more authentic. The tangibility of ladies' dissident theories in Rebecca was as to the storyteller's relationship with Maxim and his dead Mistress Rebecca.

In Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl,” the narration style of a mother lecturing her daughter with sharp, commanding diction and unusual syntax affects the evolution of a scornful tone regarding the daughter’s behavior which will eventually lead her to a life of promiscuity that will change the way people perceive and respect her within her social circle. It also emphasizes expectations for young women to conform to a feminine ideal of domesticity as a social norm during this time and emphasizes the dangers of female sexuality. The narration of the mother lecturing her daughter with forceful diction contributes to the theme of women conforming to domesticity and the warning that if they do not conform, then they will lead a life of promiscuity

In her thought provoking essay “In History,” author Jamaica Kincaid explores the idea of naming things in a historical context through various anecdotes. Kincaid makes a purposeful choice to tell her story non chronologically, beginning with the tale of Columbus, putting her own reflection on plant nomenclature in the middle, and ending with an overview of Carl Linnaeus, the inventor of the plant naming system. This choice gives Kincaid the opportunity to fully vet out each point that she makes, an opportunity she wouldn’t have gotten had she written her essay in chronological order. Throughout each anecdote that Kincaid tells, the theme of names and giving things names is central. Kincaid argues that by giving something a name, one unrightfully takes ownership of it and erases its history.

Jamaica Kincaid depicts an instructional survival guiding theme in “Girl,” about a mother giving essential advice to the daughter about very critical life issues. The advice consists of how to do many domestic acts such as Antiguan dishes, being a respectable young lady and many small suggestions to not have a ruined reputation amongst the society the young girl is living in. Throughout the short story uses symbolism to emphasize the theme entirely so the girl learns to behave and be pure in front of others who watch her every move. Moreover, the mother in this short story advises her daughter by telling her how to make certain foods. In many instances the mother does not hesitate to tell the daughter how and where to grow the vegetables needed for the dishes in which the daughter must learn to make.

Jamaica Kincaid writes “girl” A story or poem that is something like a lecture from a mother figure to a daughter figure. There is an enormous amount of ways to present the tone. The tone of “Girl” is loving, caring, but strict. Jamaica uses literary devices to achieve the tone. She uses characters, setting, plot, point of view and style to establish a tone.

Girl: Summary and Analysis “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, eloquently draws readers into an interaction between a mother teaching her daughter about the ways of a domestic wife and not a slut. The mother gives her a list of rules and tells her to follow these particular rules or she will be deemed a slut. There is an exorbitant amount of rules about laundry, cooking, and behaviors, ranging from what days it is proper to do laundry to “this is how to spit up in the air if you feel like it, and this is how to move quick so that it doesn’t fall on you” (Kincaid). During the entire dialogue the mother repeatedly tells the girl that her behavior is that of a slut. The girl only says two sentences.

“As a female, you shouldn’t…” is a sentence that almost all girls have been lectured on, no matter it was decades ago or now. Society has always had a deep-rooted prejudice against women. Women’s clothing is severely curbed, and for the jobs available for both male and female, the ability of female applicants has ever been questioned due to their gender. For too long, women have lived by societal stereotypes, and were forced to endure the sexual discrimination. Nevertheless, the closer people get to modern times, the more universal education becomes.

The girl wanted to be closer to her father in spite of the fact she was afraid of him a little and did not know what he thought about, unlike her mother. “In this he was quite different from my mother, who... would tell me all sorts of things” (Munro 3). Narrator’s mother was ready to share her memories with daughter, but the girl did not view her as a true ally. The woman wanted to implant her child woman behavior, and the narrator did not want to play a standardized female role. The girl did not like any types of the housework and did not obey to her mother or other female relatives.

As one can see, many mothers in today 's society would not be nearly as picky and constructive as the mother within "Girl" written by Jamaica Kincaid. Young girls almost always look up first to their mother for guidance and instruction on how to be a woman. Although the advice used in this story was used to help the young girl, it was also used to scold her as well. The mother 's strong belief in a woman having domestic knowledge is what drives her to preach the life lessons of a good woman to her daughter. It is through these lessons that she hopes for her daughter to be respected within her own home and by her community as well.

The narrator in this short story is not clearly stated, but, based on the details given, the narrator is a mother who is speaking to her daughter. The parental figure is attempting to teach the child about how a girl/woman should act based on her own beliefs and experiences. The mother is a firm believer in gender roles based on the context; one can assume this is because of the time period that the mother

Many critics agree on one fact about Canadian author Alice Munro: one of her most notable qualities in regards to her work is the distinct use of realism in her writing. Her writing provides a strong sense of familiarity to the reader, while also containing stronger metaphorical meanings that one can note when they begin to closely look at her work. Her short story “Boys and Girls” portrays the socialization of a young girl, once very close to her father and unaware of any sort of gender bias within her society, into a young woman with a pessimistic view of femininity and her expected position in society. This story shows the socialization process in a way that makes it easy to recognize, illustrating circumstances that the reader can notice the blatant sexism and misogyny; however, its portrayal is extremely realistic, allowing the reader to recall how oblivious they may have been in the past during times that they have been impacted by social biases in our world. Critics of Munro typically agree on her overall theme of femininity and coming of age in her writings; “Boys and Girls” emphasizes the ways in which young girls are socialized into a seemingly natural understanding of the sexist expectations and gender roles.

Anne Sexton outlines how women are originally in the household doing chores and works for a living. However, women are still looked down upon even if they fulfill their labeled duties, such as cooking. In the end, she clarifies that women who do not pass the feminine ideals are not ashamed of who they are because of the opportunities they have done besides the ideals of society. Through the use of various poetic techniques, Sexton depicts that deviant women understand the sufferings of each other because of how society misunderstands