The Impact of Gender Roles in "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid Essay

"Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid gives its audience a view into the harsh, tough ways used by parents in the past to raise their children. Kincaid carefully structures Girl, making her audience to capture the narrative's powerful tenor. The girl's association with her mother portrays distance and empowerment as realized in the girl's brief dialogue within the text. 'Girl' notably demonstrates to its audience how specific instructions were issued to the young ones in the past."Girl" through its theme on gender roles firmly proposes the specific ways in which a woman ought to act and be domesticated. The idea of Girlreinforces this theme, and hence this essay intends to analyze the narrative and discuss the gender role and attitude towards feminism as portrayed by Kincaid.

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A caring and strict mother characterize Kincaid's logical monologue. The author gives a how-to-guide on how one transforms from a young girl to a mature lady by revealing gender roles. Several lines in the text begin with 'this is how you...', and this directly tells the audience what to do and not to do to be a reputable woman in the society. Even though Kincaid wrote this story as a single block of text with less than seven hundred words, he has straight themes which come up as one reads in-depth. From light farming work to cleaning, to cooking, the author explains the roles of women. Even though the story was written in 1978, the gender role of women is still felt in the contemporary society. On most occasions, women are perceived as caretakers of the homes. It is a prerequisite for them to maintain a full-time career in managing the family, care for the children, and maintain all household duties. Just as her mother and the prior generations taught her, the narrator informs her daughter of the women's roles.

Throughout time, daughter/mother relations have been dilapidated as women's freedom takes place. Several mothers have an old-fashioned perspective on what a woman ought to be. The third person's viewpoint puts a significant role in reinforcing the notion of a lady's place being the homestead. "On Monday, clean the white garment and hang it on the pebble pile; on Tuesday, hang the colored attires on the clothesline after cleaning them" (Kincaid, 320). The mother instructs the daughter on what ought to be done. The mother goes ahead to explain to the daughter how to pick out bread, cooking skills, how to sweep a corner, and set the table for different meals. However, the narrative doe does not tell a woman to go to school, engage in a fruitful the career, or get employed to work away from home.

The characterization of this story also plays a significant role in understanding the theme of gender roles. It reinforces the idea that older women perceive that a lady belongs in the homestead. Women in the society feel that girls ought to behave in specific ways. "walk like a girl on days of worship, and not as a slut" (Kincaid 320). Through the mother, Kincaid emphasizes that how a lady walks governs her sexual history. Through "girl," Kincaid narrates a sad story of a daughter/mother affiliation and the pressure that small girls encounter when they interact with the society. Throughout the text, the mother continuously blames the daughter of attempting to become a slut. The girl's conduct, however, does not seem to support the suspicions. The daughter inclined to behave as required as she states, "I never hum Benna in the church not even in Sunday school" (Kincaid 320).

Society continues to stereotype children and their different roles, this is illustrated in the narrative. The several ideas and directions which the mother gives to her daughter discriminate women in the society. "You are not a boy, do not squat to play marbles" (Kincaid 321). By indicating that the girl is prohibited from playing marbles like boys, the author gladly shows that there are certain things which girls ought not to engage in - there are things that can be done by boys, but girls are not allowed to participate in, thus creating the gap between these genders. Moreover, by saying that girls should engage in household chores, the mother voluntarily splits her daughter from boys. Kincaid shows that women are restricted to household chores, but men are allowed to go out with no limitations. More expressively, by using the term 'slut,' the author portrays how daughters are characterized in a derogative manner. As a result, the mother reconstructs in her daughter the type of discernment against women which the mother experienced at first. She inherently concludes that there are two types of women: 'sluts' and respectable women. Through the narrative, the mother's implications on the daughter being a 'slut; fails to be aggravated by the girl's character.

"Girl" has been inscribed in a verbal style as performance, monologue, and dialogue. The narrative feels urgent, has power, and the stakes feel high as if one gets punished for failing to abide by the rules, even though it does not state what the penalties could be. The audience goes past the narrative's immediate horizon, past the author's affiliation with her daughter to anyone who has had a daughter or has been one, or maybe to anyone brought up by their mother. The text appears like an assertion, although what is being processed precisely is more unclear: a proclamation of the unfavorable restrictions put on females, the anxious difficulties of navigating social worlds as a girl, the severe pains of women, and the intricate relationships between daughters and their mothers.

Conclusion

In this narrative, Kincaid exceptionally demonstrated the absence of power experienced by the girl as she grows into an adult woman, and the burdens put on her by the preceding generations to uphold their traditions and values. He has unruffled attractive messages in the narrative concerning willpower, strength, and rising above gender roles to be influential. The audience might perceive the responsibilities as too demanding, but it's a mother's effort, out of care, to aid the daughter in maturing appropriately. The girl does not seem to have attained puberty, but the mother believes that her conduct will contribute to a promiscuous life. She postulates that the daughter may be protected from a life of devastation and promiscuity by being conversant with domestic knowledge which would then sanction her as a prolific member of the society. The author perceives that a woman's decency and character influence the value of a woman's life. Girl, the first and perhaps most crucial piece of Kincaid's writings, points her reminiscent application of language, as she discovers themes of enculturation and male-dominated politics of tyranny towards the female gender as well as the negative attitudes towards sexuality.

Work Cited

Kincaid, Jamaica. "Girl." The story and its writer: An introduction to short fiction. 6thEd. Ann Charters. St. Martin's Press, 2003. 320-321.