Jamaica Kincaid Girl Essay

In her story “Girl”, Jamaica Kincaid describes the multitude of tasks the unnamed girl must complete, as listed out by her mother. The story, being short and not containing a single period, showcases the continual pressure the girl faces to avoid the incessant danger of being deemed a “slut”. It also highlights the internal tension the mother apparently feels to help her daughter avoid this title. One may find the story to be hauntingly familiar of another time, despite its’ age difference. By making use of a commanding tone, definitive word choice, and blunt sentence structure, Kincaid shows what it takes to become the “right” kind of woman to ultimately show the absurdity of these stipulations. To convey her message, Kincaid sets up

All of the mother’s statements have a definitive nature to them. Each statement begins with “don’t”, “you mustn't”, “always”, and most often: “this is how”. This choice of phrasing on Kincaid’s end shows the mother’s experience. This knowledge has, presumably, been learned from years of a certain kind of treatment. The main concern of the mother is that the daughter will not be respected by society and will be deemed a “slut”. This is evident by the repetition of the strongly connotative word, as it appears three times throughout the brief text. Each time it is said, it escalates, almost coming across as anger. Within the first use, “...the slut I know you are so bent on becoming”, the mother is assuming that without direction, the girl will become one. It is also said right after a comment about walking “like a lady” and not like a slut. This dual sided view- that a girl is either a lady (invokes a feeling of being proper, respected), or a slut- is not the type of lesson a loving mother would teach her daughter just because. It is instead from fear that the mother so desperately wants to teach her daughter how to be a lady. One could even go as far as to say that the culture is having affect on the mother, as in each use she assumes her daughter is “bent on becoming” a slut. The noticeable burden the mother feels to enlighten her daughter shows the

In the modern world, gender and gender roles are a controversial subject, gaining a large amount of publicity in the last few years. In a time when our country’s citizens are so divided, it is important to recognize the necessity of viewing from the other person's perspective. In the case of “Girl”, the female represents all young girls. And although not all things the girl must do relate directly to the world today, it is the message that remains universal: that a number of things a girl must do to avoid being looked down upon is unreasonable. Kincaid goes a step further by critiquing “slut” as a word to insult. She begs the audience to ask, how can something as simple as squatting to play a game make a girl slut? With this, she also forces us to question the definition of “slut”, a woman’s sexuality, and society’s place to judge that sexuality. These are the types of points that a progressive society must bring up, especially in times like these, and hopefully with a conviction as strong as