Inequalities And Double Standards In Jamaica Kincaid's Girl

442 Words1 Page

A double standard exists between men and women when it comes to sex. If a man has sex, then it is no big deal; but if a woman was to ever have sex, then she would be defiled forever and immediately branded a slut. This is slut shaming. Slut shaming is most prominently used against women and generally by other women to make them feel bad, a sort of bullying for being promiscuous. Men face very little of this bashing when it comes to their sex lives. Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl” tackles these inequalities and double standards. The short story details a mother advice to her daughter that varies from helpful and practical to undiscerning and even attacking the daughter’s actions and behavior through small remarks. The girl for the most part listens to the mother and only interrupts twice to defend herself or to ask a questions. The advice all mostly involves tricks and tips for being a good house wife and how to take care of a house along with a future husband or her …show more content…

The story contains no clear beginning, middle and end like most short stories have. The story rather resides in the syntax and tone of the mother and the reaction of the girl to her mother’s instructions. The story also reads more like a poem then a short story. It almost appears to be poetry written in prose. Kincaid could be doing this to downplay the actual advice the mother is giving and highlighting the meaning behind them, much like poetry is to be read between the lines. The audience is lead to read in-between the words and advice the mother is giving and to find the story. The existential situation that the mother and daughter are in at the beginning of the story cannot be seen until later on in the story when more information is given. The tone and syntax are made the most important part of understanding this short story and Kincaid makes her audience see

Show More
Related

  • Comparing 'All The Years Of Her Life And A New Perspective'

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    The mother and daughter have a very distant relationship because her mother is ill and not capable to be there, the mother wishes she could be but is physically unable. “I only remember my mother walking one time. She walked me to kindergarten." (Fein). The daughter’s point of view of her mother changes by having a child herself. In the short story the son has a mother that is willing to be helpful and there for him, but he does not take the time to care and listen to his mother, and the mother begins to get fed up with how Alfred behaves. "Be quiet don't speak to me, you've disgraced me again and again."(Callaghan). Another difference is the maturity level the son is a teenager that left school and is a trouble maker. The daughter is an adult who is reflecting back on her childhood by the feeling of being cheated in life, but sees in the end her mother was the one who was truly being cheated. “I may never understand why some of us are cheated in life. I only know, from this perspective, that I am not the one who was.” (Fein). The differences in the essay and short story show how the children do not realize how much their mothers care and love

    Read More

  • Motive Syntax And Intense Diction In Jamaica Kincaid's Girl

    127 Words  | 1 Pages

    In “Girl,” Jamaica Kincaid’s use of repetitive syntax and intense diction help to underscore the harsh confines within which women are expected to exist. The entire essay is told from the point of view of a mother lecturing her daughter about how to be a proper lady. The speaker shifts seamlessly between domestic chores—”This is how you sweep a house”—and larger lessons: “This is how you smile to someone you don’t like too much; this is how you smile to someone you don’t like at all…” (Kincaid 1). The way in which the speaker bombards the girl overwhelms the reader, too. Every aspect of her life is managed, to the point where all of the lessons she receives throughout her girlhood blur together as one run-on sentence.

    Read More

  • The Story Of An Hour And Jamaica Kincaid's Girl: Literary Analysis

    1045 Words  | 3 Pages

    Even with the advancement of women in society, their roles and societal expectations have not changed. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” are two stories with varied elements set in different periods in history, that show the role society has deemed as belonging to women. "The Story of an Hour" was written in the year 1894, almost a century before Kincaid wrote "Girl". However, despite the large gap in the times of the authors, a common theme emerges and that is the theme of the oppression of women and the role they are expected to assume in society.

    Read More

  • Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

    2274 Words  | 5 Pages

    illustrates the discrimination against women and the issues that arise from a gender double standard society.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Jamaica Kincaid's 'Girl'

    1010 Words  | 3 Pages

    The second person point of view helps the reader to connect with the girl in this story. It shows the reader a better understanding of this character and how she is being raised to be a respectable woman. This point of view also gives us an insight on the life of women and shows us how they fit into their society. Through this point of view, the reader can also identify the important aspects of the social class and culture. The daughter tries to assert a sense of selfhood by replying to the mother but it is visible that the mother is being over whelming and constraining her daughter to prepare her for

    Read More

  • Comparing A Doll's House And Hills Like White Elephants

    1941 Words  | 4 Pages

    As women, there has always been an issue with equality between themselves and men. Even though there has been a significant amount of progress in the United States throughout the years, there are women that still suffer with equal rights around the world. In A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, and “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, there are many aspects throughout them that relate to each other in numerous ways. The main theme between them is the way woman are treated and how they appear to be less equal of the men in their lives. Even though men are presumed to be the more dominate gender, women should be just as equal socially, financially, and academically, and not feel pressured by men. For the women and girl in A Doll’s House, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, and “Hills Like White Elephants”, they suffer with the idea of feeling compelled to do what the men say and follow his direction of how their life should be.

    Read More

  • The Mother In Jamaica Kincaid's Girl By Jamaica Kincaid

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    This paper argued that the mother in Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl” is loving towards her daughter because the mother is taking time to teaching her daughter how to be a woman, and because she wants to protect her in the future from society’s judgment. Kincaid showed that the mother cared and loved her daughter. The mother wants her daughter to know how to run a home and how to keep her life in order to societies standards. Alongside practical advice, the mother instructs her daughter on how to live a fulfilling

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Jamaica Kincaid's Girl By Jamaica Kincaid

    1060 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the short story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid is a story that everyone can related to. The story is about a mother telling her daughter what to do, what not to do and how to do things. Kind of like society or parents or a friends of what to do. There has also been always been expectations of what to do and how to do things in life regards of gender, nationality or religion. The male has he’s duties and the female has different duties. However, in the typical society today, a person is supposed to graduate from high school and go straight in to an Ivy League university, to get a degree in a field of study that makes lot of money. While working a person must save money for that dream big house with the white picket fence. At the same time, you have to look for that perfect spouse so you can have the big beautiful dream wedding. After the wedding it’s the romantic honeymoon to Bora Bora. After a couple years the baby comes, and you are a happy family. Typically, that is what parents teach their children of what is what is expected of them.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Letter To My Daughter

    1119 Words  | 3 Pages

    Daughters have always had a special bond with their fathers, even at the time where women did not have the same rights as men, and were seen as the weaker sex. This father is no different, in wanting the best for his little girl. The father in this letter wants the daughter to accomplish her roles differently than the women before her because he knows that women are capable of accomplishing “male” tasks. The letter also addresses how women were seen and treated by men and the changes that were occurring in order to gain a status quo for both men and women.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Self Expression In The Yellow Wallpaper

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    Being able to have an equal partner and feel heard is not only an important thing to have in a marriage but is an important thing for one’s health. Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses her story “The Yellow Wallpaper” to discuss and emphasize the harmful effects this can have on women. With a captivating plot Gilman keeps the reader interested, and with powerful symbolism and themes teaches the reader the importance of a woman’s status in her

    Read More

  • Only Daughter By Sandra Cisneros Summary

    935 Words  | 2 Pages

    Women in general face one problem, Sexism. Its attitudes based on traditional stereotypes of sexual roles. Many women give in to these roles set in by society but there are some that break that role and do their own thing with or without that approval of their families. In the reading “Only Daughter” by Sandra Cisneros tells us how she felt growing up in with a Father who had certain cultural beliefs on women. The barrier Sandra had growing up was her own gender. She overcame it by proving that even though she is a woman she can achieve her goals, break that gender role and get the approval from her father she’s always wanted.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Gender And Class In Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees

    1569 Words  | 4 Pages

    It is no news that gender and class affect the treatment of people in mainstream America, and that explains why it is dismissed as the norm. There seem to be a desensitization against gender oppression when it comes to women, in the wake of protests from the LGBTI to be integrated into the society. There is a cultural pressure on women – sexuality, motherhood, body, identity and other intersections of who a woman is. Coupled with these pressures and unreal societal expectations is domesticity closely knit with poverty. Women especially shrink back from doing things because they are concerned with what people are going to say. These two works deal

    Read More

  • The Failure Of Centrality In George Kincaid's Girl

    1217 Words  | 3 Pages

    In George Saunders’s commencement speech to the graduating class at Syracuse University, he focused on three failures of kindness centrality, separate, and permanence. Within these three failures of kindness, Saunders expresses centrality in two different ways. Centrality is the concept that our story is the only story that matters. Centrality is a main element of both Saunders commencement speech and “Girl”. The authors have chosen to represent centrality differently. Kincaid displays centrality in “Girl” by having the mother act as if her opinion is the only one that matters, and because the short story is centered around the mother-daughter’s relationship. Saunders on the other hand portrays centrality by telling his audience a story about

    Read More

  • Perception of Love and Sex Differ in Men and Women

    492 Words  | 1 Pages

    Men are commended for their strong attitude and aggressiveness towards sex. When it comes to the subject of sex, females are taught to be discreet and demure. In our society, a man is considered to be a strong and virile when they are known to have sex with many females or boast about their sexual conquests. On the other hand, women who have many sexual encounters are considered whores, shanks, skeezers, or trash.

    Read More

  • Feminism In Girl By Jamaica Kincaid

    1189 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” shows in society how a woman should be placed and what it means to be a woman. A women doesn’t question her partner, instead she is subservient to him. A woman’s duties include staying at home taking care of the children and cooking; while the man works and brings home the money. A feministic approach to Kincaid’s “Girl” points to the idea of the stereotypes that women can only be what they do in the home, they should only be pure and virtuous, and their main focus should be satisfying their husband.

    Read More

More about Inequalities And Double Standards In Jamaica Kincaid's Girl

Open Document