Reading Notes W15: Girl , Part B


Jamaica Kincaid rose from humble beginnings to become a successful contemporary writer, well known for her books and magazine articles about the immigrant experience. Kincaid learned the practice of voodoo from her mother and grandmother, which she later incorporated into her fiction. Her family, because Kincaid was a girl, no value was placed on her gifts. We see this played out in the story of “Girl”.
The story starts off with what appears to be a mother instruction to a daughter coming into womanhood indicating that she has started her period (white clothes). It is also a warning because it appears that the mother is concerned about the daughter’s behavior, “on Sunday’s try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming” (1146). She is questioning her daughter’s choice of music, accusing her rather. The daughter reply lets readers know that she is not who the mother perceives her to be. She has enough respect for herself to not sing benna (music full of gossip) on Sunday let alone in the church. She continues to insinuate now that her daughter has started her menstrual she is receptive to many men. It’s interesting and quite humorous that the mother feels that after all the advice/instructions she has given her daughter, that in the end, she would be a slut after all. “You mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread” (1146).
The mother never mentions any other attribute that her daughter possesses other than being a house wife and mother.


Comments

  1. UnknownMay 7, 2018 at 11:20 AM

    Hi Tiffany! I agree on your analysis of this story, and I really enjoyed reading it. I think it did a great job of pointing out how limited the roles girls have to choose from are, and I think you did a great job of pointing this out by saying that the mother never mentions any other traits that would be important for her daughter to have besides making a good house wife and mother. It's sad how judgmental this mother is, but then you realize that she likely received the same long list of rules when she was only a girl. Excellent analysis!

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