Jamaica Kincaid

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Recommended: Gender roles in society and culture

Jamaica Kincaid’s ‘Girl’ and Marge Piercy’s ‘Breaking Out’ both deal with the topic of gender, but both of them do so in a very different manner. Gender is more of a social and cultural concept, rather than a biological one, and it is these social and cultural differences that both the writers try to comprehend. The comments on gender made by both the writers are truly reflective of what constitutes gender roles and the positioning of a certain gender in their context, but are remarkably different from each other.
‘Girl’ tries to explain the story of a young girl, who is yet to enter her adolescence, being given a series of advice by her mother regarding areas ranging from what constitutes appropriate behaviour in a social setting, to how to handle aspects of domesticity and her sexuality appropriately. Meanwhile, ‘Breaking Out’ refers to the story of a young girl, almost the same age as the one in ‘Girl’, who tries to explain her first rebuttal against the patriarchal system in place, or her first attempt at ‘breaking out’ of the oppressive patriarchal system. …show more content…

This represents the plight of most women in the society who accept whatever is expected out of them and comply without questioning or fighting for justice and equality. Whereas in ‘Breaking Out’, even though the young girl has been subjected to the practices of an oppressive patriarchal society and is expected to follow them, she still firmly believes that she is made for much more and will fight against the injustice in every little way that she can. This represents some of the few brave women in the society who are courageous enough to fight for their rights and make an equal place for themselves in the

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