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Literary analysis on girl by jamaica kincaid
Literary analysis on girl by jamaica kincaid
Treatment of women in literature
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Even though women are still the main homemaker, being the nurturer and the one in charge of keeping their family life running smoothly, men have started to take on some of the roles that were once only expected of women, making for a whole new dynamic in the average home. If you had told someone 100 years ago woman will have the write to vote, be world scholars, serve in the military, or even run for president they probably would of laughed in your face and told you women are good for one thing and one thing only, and that is to be a wife and a mother. Women were meant to be seen and not heard. They were to cook, clean, do laundry, be the perfect wife, and tend to all their husbands needs.
In the story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, a mother is talking to her daughter about all of the things that a respectful lady does. She 's telling her young daughter that if she acts like a slut then no one will respect her in society. The mother in this story seems to us to be extremely brutal. But back when this story was written women were not seen as members of
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It leaves you questioning if this young girls mother is having a talk with her daughter about how to represent herself as a classy lady because she hasn 't done so in the past. Her mother states many times throughout the text that she 's trying to help “prevent you from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming” (Kincaid 120). The text ends with the girl simply asking “but what if the baker won’t let me feel the bread”? (Kincaid 120). In which her mother scolds her “You mean that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread”? (Kincaid 121). The young girl barely rarely speaks through out the story leaving the question of weather she took what her mother was saying to seriously. Her rare remarks have a slight condescending tone to them almost as if she 's not phased by her mothers
In the article, “American Marriage in Transition”, Andrew Cherlin, a specialist in the sociology of families and public policy, writes about the changing division of labor in the latter part of the 20th century when he mentions “The distinct roles of homemaker and breadwinner were fading as more married women entered the paid labor force. Looking into the future, I thought that perhaps and equitable division of household labor might become institutionalized” (46). Cherlin puts it perfectly when he describes previous roles of a married couple and being the homemaker and the breadwinner. While women took care of their homes and made sure everything ran smoothly, men went out to earn money in order to put food on the table. These were the ways of the early 1900s. Cherlin goes on to mention how these roles were beginning to fade over time as more women left their homes to pursue jobs. As this trend has been present for nearly 100 years, Cherlin believes that it will continue on until the workforce is split as close to 50/50 as it can get. Cherlin goes on the speak about how designated roles are no longer relevant as when he states “Men do somewhat more housework than they used to do, but there is wide variation, and each couple must work out their own arrangement without clear guidelines” (46). In the early 20th century, men were expected to work and women were expected to take care of the home. These expectations were the basic guidelines that society had set for married couple. As Cherlin observes, these guidelines have slowly began to fade as men and women are no longer thought to have designated roles. Families have become more diverse in the sense that they can arrange their family roles without societal expectations and pressures getting in the way. This giant shift that took place throughout the
Gender have a big effect on how a mother feels about her child, traditionally, every mother has a wish for her children to be the best they can be. But at what point does a simple instruction become words that have been said to many times? Traditionally, If it is a boy the one wish of a mother is for him to get married to some women who can cook and take care of him. In the other hand, there are two kinds of mother wishes for her daughter, one where the mother sees other children with amazing talents or grades and thinks her child could be just like them, if not more; continually places pressure on her daughter to become some kind of genius or have some talent. The second is for her to get married to a rich guy who she can take care of. In the short story the mother went over and over rules her daughter must follow for society to accept her. “don’t walk bare-head in the hot sun . . .always eat your food in such a way that it won’t turn someone else’s stomach. . .” (813). All this comments are about how not to look like a slut around people. And how not to embarrass
The story “Girl” takes the form of a series of lessons; the point of the lessons, according to the mother, is to teach her daughter to behave and act properly. Kincaid’s complicated relationship with her mother comes out in the mother-daughter dynamic in the story. The mother mentions practical and helpful advice that will help her daughter keep a house of her own someday and also how to have a life of her own. It can be argued that in Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl” that the mother 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.
“Girl” written by Jamaica Kincaid is essentially a set of instructions given by an adult, who is assumed to be the mother of the girl, who is laying out the rules of womanhood, in Caribbean society, as expected by the daughter’s gender. These instructions set out by the mother are related to topics including household chores, manners, cooking, social conduct, and relationships. The reader may see these instructions as demanding, but these are a mother’s attempt, out of care for the daughter, to help the daughter to grow up properly. The daughter does not appear to have yet reached adolescence, however, her mother believes that her current behavior will lead her to a life of promiscuity. The mother postulates that her daughter can be saved from a life of promiscuity and ruin by having domestic knowledge that would, in turn also, empower her as a productive member in their community and the head of her future household. This is because the mother assumes that a woman’s reputation and respectability predisposes the quality of a woman’s life in the community.
Women are still expected to follow rules that society has set for them. Advertisements with unrealistic beauty standards are shown millions of times everyday. Women are still expected to stay at home and cook and clean while men go to work. Scout is a very brave girl who is not afraid to break the rules society has set for her. In every chapter, Scout shows the reader that she is not afraid to be herself.
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.
Roles seem to be changing gradually over time and no one is sure if this will be a positive or negative effect for the future. Women have come a long way from being house wife’s and being under the control of men.
The short story, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid deals with being a young female in a poor country. This can be seen because Kincaid’s complicated relationship with her own mother is illustrated with the mother-daughter dynamic in the story. As I continued to read the story, I saw bitterness and worriness from the mother grow towards her daughter as she became a teenager. Throughout the story, the mother would tell her daughter, “this is how you do this… and you must act like this,” forcing the young women to act and be someone she did not want to be. It was like she was protective of her daughter and did not want her to ruin her life. Throughout the whole story, the mother was telling the daughter how to do chores a certain way so when she grew into a woman she knew how to do them
When Kincaid wrote, “this is how you hem a buttonhole…” the process to hem a buttonhole began to symbolize a sense of domesticity to save her “sexual reputation”. The mother is so strongly bent on straying the daughter away from anything that could affect their reputation. Consequently, she is forcing her daughter into social norms and stereotypical ways a woman is expected to behave. In a way, it can be said that the mother is domesticating her daughter into a life to keep her from promiscuity. Before the mother says, “… the slut you are so bent on becoming” (Kincaid 92) each time, she states a certain way the daughter should behave. From this we can see that the mother believes that women can only be seen two ways: of respect or of promiscuity. Due to this belief, it can be concluded that the mother will say and do anything to her daughter to shape her into a respectable member in their society and creating her into the stereotypical woman. Kincaid faced this exact situation in her childhood when her mother tried to domesticate her, when she did not seek to be a social norm. Kincaid was disapproved of by her family when she became a writer, much like the daughter in Girl would be. Kincaid uses the mother’s instructions on sweeping, cooking, cleaning, shopping, and gardening to express the domesticity that is expected from the daughter to turn her into the
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.
In American society, the woman has always been viewed in the traditional viewpoint of what role she should play in the home; that she is the homemaker or caretaker. Even when women break from the stereotypical role of "housewife" and join the workforce, they still are not given an equal opportunity at acquiring a job that is seen to be as advancing or of higher recognition, as they would like to have. Men usually already take those positions.
Do you believe that women of this present generation have always received the same level of respect as they receive now? Today, women are treated exceptionally well as compared to their counterparts in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and treated even better than those in the very early years of America. Women in the past were restricted from freedoms and rights; their individuality was stripped and they were constantly forced to meet the constraining view of a “traditional” America. In contrast, women of modern America are granted a level of recognition and respect unexplored by American women of previous generations.
In the past, many people believed that women’s exclusive responsibilities were to serve their husband, to be great mothers and to be the perfect wives. Those people considered women to be more appropriate for homemaking rather than to be involved in business or politics. This meant that women were not allowed to have a job, to own property or to enjoy the same major rights as men. The world is changing and so is the role of women in society. In today’s society, women have rights that they never had before and higher opportunities to succeed.
Since the dawn of time, men and women have held very distinct places in society. For example, in regards to family life, men have traditionally served as the hunters, gatherers, and providers. Conversely, women have historically served as cooks, cleaners, and caretakers to their husbands and children. For centuries, these family roles were the cultural norm, especially in the typical American household. However, in recent years, society has seen a gradual shift away from this family dynamic. Many married women are no longer just caretakers, but are major contributors to the family income. In fact, there are many households in which the husband stays at home and the wife works. This change reflects a shift in societal attitudes and expectations
Men have assumed a more aggressive and dominant role “Many traditional gender-based stereotypes are widely accepted in our society. Someof the prevailing notions about men maintain that they are aggressive” (Crooks and Bauer, 2014: p 134), whereas, woman are supposed to nature and run the household “Women are frequently viewed as nonassertive, illogical, emotional, subordinate, warm, and nurturing (Crooks and Buaer, 2014: p 134). However, in today’s society gender equality has become a more common practice where both sexes take on masculine and feminine roles to in every day life “Research suggests that women are less entrenched than men in rigid gender-role stereotypes and are more inclined to embrace positions of equality with men (Ben-David & Schneider, 2005)” as cited in (Crooks and Bauer, 2014: p 135). Due to ability to work from home, woman have accepted a modern role of holding a career as well as raising a family and men are seen working and helping out with regular house hold chores. People are beginning to conform to are less traditional view, but in my personal experience woman still hold a more traditional role and men are still the primary providers for a family. Women tend to be stay at home moms and only work part time jobs, while men establish a career and focus primarily on their work. In smaller communities this seems to be more of a