Analysis of "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid (b.1949)

Name: Tutor`s Name: Course/Grade: Date: Analysis of "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid The short story "Girl" is feminine literature which describes the role of women in the Caribbean families. The author used her personal experience by describing how she used to relate with her mother. The plot setting of the story follows a traditional perspective where people used to follow the already established rules which defined their culture. The conversation between mother and daughter help us to identify the role of a woman in this community. And here, women were supposed to be submissive to their husbands and hence the need to train the girl child on how to behave and perform her duties. The short story "Girl" was a personal reflection of the Kincaid`s life. Having been brought up in a poor background and the complicated mother-daughter relationship forms the bases of the story. She described her mother as a literate woman who worked consistently to overcome her condition. Additionally, she was able to write an autobiography of her mother in 1996. In her book the "Girl" she was able to bring out her sour relationship with the mother. And as she connotes, the tension continued to pile up as she grew older. But the main cause of the tension was the increasing worry, now that her daughter was becoming a woman. Kincaid uses a one-sentence dialogue between a mother and her daughter and some other limited number of characters. The story is made up of the speech and command given by the mother to her daughter. The story is also formulated by some long instructions and warnings given to the daughter. And from the speech we are able to identify the position of a woman in the Caribbean families. The mother is therefore determined to enlighten her daughter on her important roles in the family. That is why some commanding sentences like "wash the clothes on Monday" and "this is how you iron your father`s khaki pants" are seen in (p. 124 & 125) respectively. And as we can see, the mother is already worried that her daughter is turning out to be a slut, despite her endless efforts to show her the way. The story assumes a monologue stream of consciousness, where the daugh...