Jamaica Kincaid's Girl: A Short Story

Being a mom is one of the most precious gifts that life could give. Although the road to becoming a mom was a rocky one for me, my trials and tribulations only made me stronger. In comparison to the daughter in Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl,” sometimes tough love is necessary to ensure a person’s success.

The knowledge of being pregnant was a hard pill to swallow. Depression had finally sank in as I began to think my life was over. To add insult to injury, not only was I pregnant, but I also kept it a secret. The only person that new my big secret was my cousin. When I took my first pregnancy test she was even in the bathroom with me. As we sat in the bathroom waiting on the results I didn’t know what to think. We quietly tried to bargain to God for my pregnancy test to come back negative. After realizing my test results were positive we sat in shock. I could see the fear in her eyes like flames in a fire. With her being older than me, I begged her to take me to the doctor’s office to take an official pregnancy test. As the days passed and nights grew, my cousin

continued ignored my phone calls. I began to worry that the distance between my cousin and I could only end in tragedy. With excuse after excuse, my cousin no longer wanted to take me to a health clinic. I felt like I was falling through a bottomless pit. Sitting in my room pondering on my life and how I was going to take care of a child I began to cry. After days went by my secret started to unfold when suddenly my phone rang. "Hey Nanny," I said. "Grandbaby you pregnant? You surely have been sleeping a lot” she said. With a frog in my throat, I felt my life coming to a sudden end. The thought of disappointing another human being consumed me. Without being able to say another word I burst out crying. “I don’t know what you’re crying for, it’s gone be alright grandbaby!” I knew then that I would have to tell my mom that she was going to be a grandmother.
Unfortunately, the conversation telling my mom that I was pregnant felt like an eternity. I could hear in her voice that she was more disappointed than angry. It seems as if my stomach grew bigger after my family learned about the new addition to our family. Like Kincaid’s short story I had to learn the ways of life quickly. My mom gave me tough love through various ways. She taught me how to prepare bottles, change diapers, and much more. More importantly than that, she taught me to always think positive and keep going in life even when times get tough. I came to accept myself for who I was although I nervously awaited the arrival of my baby. People looked down on the fact that I chose to keep my child. I have even had adults stoop so low as to tell me that I should go ahead and apply for Section 8 being that I would not be able to go to college. In Kincaid’s short story the mother seemed to be assertive, but the mother’s assertiveness was backed by helpful survival tips. To the daughter in Kincaid’s story, the list of rules might have been extraneous, but one day she will look back and appreciate her mother for being straightforward. In Kincaid’s story I also felt a sense of pride. It was as if the mother was proud of the woman she had become, just like my mother when she was teaching me the ways of life during my pregnancy.
The birth of my son occurred on November 28th, 2012.

I gazed into his bluish-green eyes while crying tears of joy. I could not believe that something so beautiful had grown inside of me. With a new found independence, I finally found happiness. In school my grades improved, my attitude was positive, and I figured out that my career choice was going to be to pursue a doctorate in pharmacy. My son has inspired me to excel in everything that I do. With him now being 3 years old, I have accomplished more with him than I would have without him. I have learned that sometimes we face obstacles in life that seem too much to bear. In comparison to Kincaid’s short story the tough love from my mom molded me to be the woman that I am today. Some might say that the mother in Kincaid’s story was too assertive, but I feel that the mother was only trying to give her daughter the tools in life that she

needed.