Essays on Girl By Jamaica Kincaid

Many people struggle daily with their own identity. It can be hard for most to express theirs due to pressure or lack of acceptance from friends, family, and society. This theme of identity struggle is explored in the stories told by Girl, Trying to Find Chinatown, and Mistaken Identity. Girl by Jamaica Kincaid highlights the passing on of identity between mothers and young daughters. In a single sentence of dialogue, a mother relays life advice, such as how to uphold…...

In the stories, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid and “Talking Back” by bell hooks, the stories show a very strong oppression towards females. Females are looked down upon and have no say in what they want, it is seen that women are stereotyped by society and viewed as someone who is meant to stay in the house and abide by intensive rules and regulation just because they are women. In Kincaid’s piece, the mother is seen giving advice to her daughter…...

Conversations around gender and gender roles have been existent since time immemorial. Gender roles refer to social characters that define actions, approaches, and conceptions that are considered tolerable, desirable, and suitable for people based on their alleged sex. Gender stereotyping roots from such definitions and has taken over the day to day cultures of individuals. It has become a tradition passed from generation to the next, even in the wake of liberal individuals. Girls and boys are taught how society…...

The readings “Stay Sweet As You Are,” by Doug Lantry and “Girl,” by Jamaica Kincaid have many similarities and differences. Both target women but, have differences in time period and behavior. These stories both have interesting backgrounds. In "Stay As Sweet As You Are" Lantry analyzes a few different articles in different decades to prove Women's behavior to be unique in each case. While the background in “Girl” Jamaica Kincaid from New York tells also is about the women's behavior,…...

The short story 'Girl' as written by Jamaica Kincaid, is an exciting and captivating piece that depicts several elements from literature and a reflection of various aspects of society. Most of the story is told in the second person containing a conversation between a mother and daughter; the conversation is about how the daughter should behave, how to go about doing her daily tasks, and her life. The dialogue as it flows depicts several items perceived as a how-to-do list…...

Women’s Rights is an extremely ethical topic that is surrounded by ethical theories and has a lot of history. While some of the theoretical systems in ethics have helped to gain women their rights, others have assisted in preventing women's rights. Women in America have seen much improvement in our modern-day society regarding Women’s Rights, but what about the women in less economically stable countries? Women continue to fight against abuse, hatred, and discrimination worldwide. I will be discussing not…...

Conversations around gender and gender roles have been existent since time immemorial. Gender roles refer to social characters that define actions, approaches, and conceptions that are considered tolerable, desirable, and suitable for people based on their alleged sex. Gender stereotyping roots from such definitions and has taken over the day to day cultures of individuals. It has become a tradition passed from generation to the next, even in the wake of liberal individuals. Girls and boys are taught how society…...

Jamaica Kincaid wrote a short story in 1978 called “Girl,” which was based on the advice of a mother to her daughter at a tender age. If the story was changed to “Boy,” the excerpt would completely take another turn. In “Girl,” the mother's advice the girl on how to acquire a man, dressing appropriately, cleaning, gardening, cooking, and other life skills that she needs to learn in the male-dominated community. The mother’s advice is both negative and positive, which…...

Jamaica Kincaid’s story “Girl” provides a brief glimpse on the demanding and strict parenting style, used by Caribbean people only twenty years ago. The short story is composed of a series of instructions and prescriptions and obviously it lacks encouragement and empowerment and points to the considerable distance between the daughter and the mother. Structurally, the story consists of one long sentence, from which one can derive a conclusion that the list of expectations the mother has concerning her child…...

A Mother Daughter Relationship Mother And Daughter RelationshipsA Mother Daughter RelationshipMost parents expect many things from their children but most importantly wish their children to be successful and happy, but parents hold different expectations based on their child’s gender. The expectations that both mothers have are common because both of them have daughters. These differences in expectations of gender can be seen in literature such as Girl by Jamaica Kincaid where she will list everything a women is expected of…...

In the short story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid the author gives a perspective of the relationship between a strict mother and her young daughter. Jamaica Kincaid wrote series of sentences that sets the tone of the story to be uptight, oppressive, and informative. The author described her daughter into becoming a ‘slut’ which tells the readers that the mother is worried and is disapproving of her daughters actions. Others might think that the story is only about the daughter repeating…...

The short story of “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid is about a mother and her relationship with her daughter. It is a harsh one sided conversation between the narrator and her mother, with the mother doing all the talking. The story gives a rich description of what her mother expects from her in all aspects of her life, from chores, to how she plays, to what she sings in church. From each line you see the viewpoint of how her mother…...

In Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl,” the mother is very disapproving of her daughter’s attitude towards life. She wants to educate her daughter about developing into a respectable woman, domesticating herself and proper etiquette in the presence of men. The relationship between mother and daughter depicts a traditional Caribbean “dictatorship” in which the mother shows her love in a controlling manner and the daughter’s only option is to follow her mother’s instructions. It appears that the mother is very old…...

The story of Jamaica Kincaid “Girl” is about a mother giving the instructions to her daughter. The mother uses strict, demanding tone while parenting her daughter. She gives the orders, and expects listening and obedience, regardless what the girl says. Through mother’s words to her daughter, through the directions she wants her to follow, the mother reveals strictness, egocentricity, and exactingness that are her most conspicuous traits. The mother believes that numerous instructions will make her daughter become a proper…...