Jamaica Kincaid's Girl

In Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl,” The main speaker is the mother. The mother sees herself as the only person who can save her daughter from living a disrespectful life. She believes that the girl has already started down this path because of her everyday life. The three central themes in the story are sexual reputation, domesticity, and the mother and daughter’s relationship.

In the story, the mother is very wise; not only does she know how to cook, clean and keep a household, but she is also very etiquette. From the first clause, when the mother tells her daughter to put freshly washed white clothes on a stone heap and to wash the “color clothes” on Tuesday, I was able to recognize that the story’s setting is not present day. The speaker tells the daughter how to soak salt fish, how to cook pumpkin fritters, how to iron her father’s shirt and pants properly, how to grow okra and dasheen, how to sweep the house and yard.

Throughout the story, many of the mother’s directions are aimed at preventing the girl from becoming the “slut” her mother obviously thinks she longs to be.

She directs her not to sing popular music in Sunday school, not to talk to wharf-rat boys for any reason, and not to eat fruit on the street, because it will make flies follow her. The mother’s sexual advice is followed with social advice. She tells the girl how to smile at someone she does not like, as well as how to smile at someone she likes very much, and tells her how to avoid evil

spirits.

The mother’s negative tone indicates that she has little hope of her daughter’s growing into decent adulthood, so that the daughter’s two protests create the story’s tension. Nevertheless, the mother has the last word. When the girl asks what to do if the baker will not let her test the bread’s freshness by squeezing it, the mother wonders if her daughter will become the “kind of woman the baker won’t let near the bread.”
I think that the mother seemed surprised when the daughter got less defensive and somewhat disappointed. Throughout the story, the mother keeps making remarks about what a horrible person she is going to be when she grows up. At the end of the story, the girl isn’t as defensive which shifts her character. Overall, I think this may have altered the Mother’s point of view because it shows how the daughter changes over time.

In conclusion, In Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl,” I believe that after tons of advice from her mother, the girl still doesn’t get it. She's so focused on the details that she's missing Mom's overall point. These rules are simply a way to conform to her culture. The story feels satisfying in the end but it also feels like a mean way for the mom to get the last word.