Jamaica Kincaid's Girl

282 Words1 Page

In the short story, "Girl," by Jamaica Kincaid, the character of the mother can be seen as tyrannical. This oppressive trait of hers is reiterated several times throughout this story. It is first displayed in her initial remarks, rather than asking her daughter to do things, she lists things in a robotic manner, "Wash the white clothes on Monday, wash the colored clothes on Tuesday." Not only is she robotic, but she appears to believe that she has been sent to save her daughter from promiscuity. Her narcissistic viewpoint of being a savior is one that is consistent with that of a tyrant. This perspective is evident through commands such as "try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming." She abuses her parental power

Show More
Related

  • Sharon Olds' The Possessive

    1266 Words  | 3 Pages

    Teenage rebellion is typically portrayed in stories, films, and other genres as a testosterone-based phenomenon. There is an overplayed need for one to acknowledge a boy’s rebellion against his father, his life direction, the “system,” in an effort to become a man, or rather an adult. However, rarely is the female addressed in such a scenario. What happens when little girls grow up? Do they rebel? Do they, in a sudden overpowering rush of estrogen, deny what has been taught to them from birth and shed their former youthful façades? Do they turn on their mothers? In Sharon Olds’ poem, “The Possessive,” the reader is finally introduced to the female version of the popular coming-of-age theme as a simple haircut becomes a symbol for the growing breach between mother and daughter through the use of striking images and specific word choice.

    Read More

  • Mis And Insecurity In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

    1180 Words  | 3 Pages

    The protagonist, Mama, shows two distinct traits throughout the story. She possesses a hard working demeanor and rugged features, leading to her insecurities shown throughout the story. She raised two children without the assistance of a man in her life, forcing her to take on both roles, and further transforming her into a coarse, tough, and burly woman. Mama portrays this through her own account of herself, saying “[i]n real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man”(Walker 1312). It is very difficult for Mama to raise her kids on her own, but she does whatever

    Read More

  • Jamaica Kincaid's On Seeing England for the First Time

    832 Words  | 2 Pages

    Imagine your culture being thrown aside and a new one was all that was taught to you? How would you react to it? In this story the author, Jamaica Kincaid, is talking about how she reacted to this and what happened to her. The author grows up in a place where England colonization had taken place. She grew up in Antigua, a small island in the Caribbean. She is taught all her life about England, a place she has never seen. At an early age she started to realize that the English had taken over her culture. After many years of hating this country she had to see the place that had taught her a different culture and ideas. When she arrives there the hate for the country tripled and she starts to pick apart the entire place and everywhere she goes. As she moves through the countryside her feelings of hate start to show them self’s in her thought and words. The feeling of deja vu, she has been there before, starts to come in after all of the years of maps and description of the foreign land.

    Read More

  • The Influence of Gender in "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid

    672 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ughter to realize that she is “not a boy” (171) and that she needs to act like a lady. Doing so will win the daughter the respect from the community that her mother wants for her.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Jamaica Kincaid's 'Girl'

    1010 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the short story, “Girl,” the narrator describes certain tasks a woman should be responsible for based on the narrator’s culture, time period, and social standing. This story also reflects the coming of age of this girl, her transition into a lady, and shows the age gap between the mother and the daughter. The mother has certain beliefs that she is trying to pass to her daughter for her well-being, but the daughter is confused by this regimented life style. The author, Jamaica Kincaid, uses various tones to show a second person point of view and repetition to demonstrate what these responsibilities felt like, how she had to behave based on her social standing, and how to follow traditional customs.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Ivan Bunin's 'Light Breathing'

    726 Words  | 2 Pages

    She is scolded for acting like a woman, whereas previously she had been scolded for acting like a child. According to AUTHORS in their study The roles of situational factors, attributions, and guilt in the well-being of women who have experienced sexual coercion, Olya is “socially encouraged to "look at [herself]" for reasons as to why [she is] victimized” (CITE). She is also told that her appearance is her responsibility, as are the actions of those around her as her clothing influences them. The principal of her school rants at her, saying INSERT RANT HERE to dress more modestly, however she is dressing like a woman and, specifically, a woman of a higher class. She receives other messages from society, pointing her out as the cause of men’s actions. Olya begins to understand how society views her and how she can incite specific reactions from the men in her life.

    Read More

  • The Sleepover Question By Jamaica Kincaid

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    The time period from “Girl” portrays how women were treated and forced to act when they were raised as oppose of young boys. Through out the story we understand that young ladies were forced to learn how do domestic duties from a very young age. An example of this is” this is how you sew on a button…this

    Read More

  • Riding the Red

    1342 Words  | 3 Pages

    “I've told her and I've told her: daughter, you have to teach that child the facts of life before it's too late” (Hopkinson 1). These are the first three lines of Nalo Hopkinson's short story “Riding the Red”, a modern adaptation of Charles Perrault's “Little Red Riding Hood”. In his fairy tale Perrault prevents girls from men's nature. In Hopkinson's adaptation, the goal remains the same: through the grandmother biographic narration, the author elaborates a slightly revisited plot without altering the moral: young girls should beware of men; especially when they seem innocent.

    Read More

  • The Theme Of Feminism In The Handmaid's Tale?

    1194 Words  | 3 Pages

    Offred and a friend of hers were walking outside one day, saw a group of tourists and thought about how “[she] used to dress like [the tourists]” (Atwood 28). The tourists were wearing clothing and makeup such as skirts above their knees and red lipstick. Offred and her friend were fascinated and envious of these women. They couldn’t imagine themselves wearing clothes like the tourist were wearing. Even though they couldn’t imagine themselves wearing those type of clothes and makeup, they used to wear it in their past. Offred remembered herself going to the laundromat and putting “[her] own clothes, [her] own soap, [and her] own money” into the machines and “having such control” over what she used to do (Atwood 24). She doesn’t have that control over her life anymore. Some women, such as Aunt Lydia, feels that she should be grateful that she doesn’t have to do those things anymore. They feel that Offred is complaining about something that is actually a good thing. Society brainwashes these women into thinking that not having that kind of freedom is a good thing. Society also makes women think that they are just good for having children and sex. Therefore, women lose self-esteem because of the pressure that they are faced with on a daily basis. For example, in the story, Offred has low self-esteem. She “[avoids] looking at her body, not so much because it 's shameful or immodest but because [she doesn’t]

    Read More

  • Challenging Gender Norms: Emma Jean's Rebellion

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    A wife and church member are two quintessential factors that share “the blame” in Emma Jean’s decision to raise her baby boy as a girl. The time period that the novel is set in is the early 1900’s, when patriarchy and gender roles were more heavily indoctrinated into society. Gus, Emma Jean’s husband, encompasses a traditional father. Despite Gus being hardworking, and instilling a highly commendable work ethic in all six of his sons, Gus neglects ‘motherly duties’ like changing diapers and being intimate and affectionate with his children. Does fatherhood extend only to physical labor and

    Read More

  • Mary Bell Murder

    1172 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mary’s mother, Betty, was a poor example of what a mother should be. A prostitute by profession often abandoned Mary to perform sex acts. Unfortunately, Mary was not always abandoned and was brought into the sex acts, abused sexually, and used as a prop for Betty’s customers. Mary reported that she was forced to perform sex acts starting at the age of five at the bequest of her mother. Mary’ mother was physically abusive to her, reportedly choking her and attempting to kill her on multiple occasions. Even as a baby, Mary was not nurtured by Betty, treating her as an object rather than a child. Actually, Betty attempted to give Mary up for adoption, which was thwarted by Betty’s sister.

    Read More

  • Exploring Misogyny: Societal Rules and Female Freedom

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    She tells the girl to “walk like a lady” (320), “hem a dress when you see the hem coming down”, and “behave in front of boys you don’t know very well” (321), so as not to “become the slut you are so bent on becoming” (320). The repetition of the word “slut” and the multitude of rules that must be obeyed so as not to be perceived as such, indicates that the suppression of sexual desire is a particularly important aspect of being a proper woman in a patriarchal society. The young girl in this poem must deny her sexual desires, a quality intrinsic to human nature, or she will be reprimanded for being a loose woman. These restrictions do not allow her to experience the freedom that her male counterparts

    Read More

  • Female Sexualism In Jamaica Kincaid's Girl By Jamaica Kincaid

    927 Words  | 2 Pages

    The short story, Girl, by Jamaica Kincaid, can very easily be related directly to the author’s own life. Kincaid had a close relationship with her mother until her three younger brothers were born. After the birth of her brothers, three major values of her mother became apparent to Kincaid. In turn, Kincaid used the three values of her mother to write the short story, Girl. Specifically, these values led to three themes being formed throughout the story. It appears in the short story that the mother was simply looking out for her daughter; however, in all reality, the mother is worried about so much more. Kincaid uses the themes of negativity towards female sexuality, social norms and stereotypes, and the significant

    Read More

  • Soap Operas and Reality TV Dating Shows

    1762 Words  | 4 Pages

    Modleski claims that this desire to build and maintain relationships is only thwarted by the presence of the ‘good mother’s’ anti-thesis: the ‘villainess’. As she signifies the contrary values of the ‘good mother’ (she is selfish, manipulative, scheming, etc.), the ‘villainess’ embodies the entirety of the spectator’s displaced, repressed anger at her own powerlessness.[4] She, as Modleski describes, takes everything that makes women vulnerable and turns it to her advantage (pregnancy, for example, is used by the villainess for the sake of manipulation, not guilt, shame or responsibility).

    Read More

  • The Theme Of Gender In Boys And Girls By Alice Munro

    1433 Words  | 3 Pages

    The characters in this story, with the exception of the main character, all follow their gender norm and develop as usual, the main character’s views however, shift and mold to the situation she’s in. The narrator’s grandmother tells her that “’Girls [do not] slam doors […].’ ‘Girls keep their knees together when they sit down.’ And worse still, when [she asks] some questions ‘[That is] none of girls’ business’” (Munro 4-5). The main character still slams the doors and sits with her legs open “thinking that by such measures [she keeps herself] free” (Munro 5). By doing this she is moving away from what her grandmother does and taught her mother to do. She makes her own decision to keep doing what makes her comfortable instead of learning and developing her attitude to meet the female standards her grandmother set for her. Furthermore, the narrator is helping her father outside when a salesman comes into the pens, her father introduces her as her helper and the salesman replies, “’ [could have] fooled me.’ […] ‘I thought it was only a girl.’” (Munro 4). The narrator continues with her work, though she was met with a distraction she would not let it conform her to how a stereotypical girl would have to act. She still prefers and wants to continue learning and helping her dad outside on the farm rather than helping her mom in the house. In

    Read More

More about Jamaica Kincaid's Girl

Open Document