Jamaica Kincaid's Girl Essay

Although Zora Neale Hurston and Jamaica Kincaid lived in different times, thematically their writing had similar themes. If they had been contemporaries, they most certainly would have discussed their common experiences as black women who faced financial challenges and the racial divide that they experienced in their daily lives. Without a doubt, their writing was personally cathartic. Although in Kincaid’s writing, she addresses her issues with her mother head on, I have no doubt that Hurston’s

of being subject to unjust treatment or control. In today’s world oppression is prevalent in society despite race, gender, or sexuality. In the short story, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid shows the use of oppression of women in her time and home. The narrative coming from the perspective of her mother creates a list of lessons and guides that a girl must follow. Each lesson lays out the guidelines for how the daughter should act, appear to be, and do. Each guideline lays out the rules for what is deemed

of the house and are to be the financial supporters while women are typically categorized as being the homemaker and caretaker. The complexity and importance of being a woman the “right” way is shown through Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl”, a short story reflecting her growing up in Antigua. “Girl” expresses all the in’s and out’s of being a good womanly figure and also illustrates how demanding and high pressure it is to get this role right. Through the repetitive use

When I first read through Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl,” I’ll admit my first reaction to the piece was relief at the short length. However, as I processed what she was writing, my appreciation for the piece deepened. It is rapid and blatantly lays out the standards that Kincaid was held to during her childhood. It is written as though the reader is on the receiving end of a harsh set of rules, seeing their brutality from Kincaid’s perspective. Originally, I believed Kincaid’s purpose for writing this piece

Effects of Colonialism in The Tempest and Annie John Jamaica Kincaid’s novel Annie John and Shakespeare’s play The Tempest both deal with European racism towards minorities. Kincaid’s novel uses first person narration to show how deeply this racism affects Annie. On the other hand, The Tempest uses it’s plot and the characters spoken narration to show this racism. By examining the ways Shakespeare’s play The Tempest and Jamaica Kincaid’s novel Annie John represent different perspectives and ideals

The Differences in the Mother and Child Relationship Ernest Gaines’s short story, “The Sky Is Gray” and Jamaica Kincaid’s short story, “Girl,” both detail the relationship between a mother and her child. The two stories describe two parents who raise their kids differently and have different goals set for them based on the world around them. The two stories analyze the parenting skills of a black mother as well as the theme of societal stereotypes. The children in each story must grow up to try

husbands, tend to the laundry and chores around the house. In her short story “Girl”, Jamaica Kincaid provides a long one sentence short story about a mother giving specific instructions to her daughter but with one question towards the end, with the daughter’s mother telling her daughter if she had done all the instructions to become a so called “perfect” woman, every man would want her. Kincaid’s structuring in “Girl,” captures a demanding and commanding tone. This short story relates to feminist

Devor talks about how quickly children develop, and placed into their gender group.He also discusses about the gender role behaviors and attitudes . In Jamaica Kincaid’s ,”Girl”, Kincaid focussed on her relationship with her mother, mainly on the expectations her mother had for her. From the personal observations, examples from Devor and Kincaid’s passages, I see that gender roles are not rooted into our biology, but formed from expectations from society.

a gender and came with progress but also with opposition. While many acknowledged the oppression toward women in society, others accepted the divide between men and women as only immutable differences and not prejudice. Although both Jamaica Kincaid, author of “Girl,” and Anna Quindlen, author of “Between the Sexes, A Great Divide,” agree that there is a great social divide between men and women, Kincaid establishes a demanding, harsh tone in her passage to demonstrate that the gender divide is absolutely

result of tradition, fear, and entrapment by the husband and by other women in fear of judgement. Jamaica Kincaid’s use of theme, motifs, and cultural context demonstrates the demanding submissions passed on by women within a patriarchal society by the repetitive behavior women practice day to day adding the sense of entrapment; furthermore, focusing on even the dark aspects of femininity every girl and woman must possess to be the perfect housewife and mother. In the cultural