Literature Review: Comparison-Contrast Organizational Plan
Each of the stories “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid and “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen introduce a Girl to the reader through a third party, the narrator. Ironing is an activity in both stories. Kincaid’s Girl is receiving many lessons on how to wash clothes, cook pumpkin fritters and other household duties including ironing her “father’s khaki shirt” and “khaki pants so they don’t have a crease” (380). Ironing is only one of the tasks in a long list of tasks Girl needs to learn and to do.
On the other hand the Olsen’s Girl is the subject of her mother’s conversation as the mother irons and irons. The first line is “I stand here ironing, and what you asked me moves tormented back and forth with the iron” (223). This is a great first line because what can move with an iron, and what is tormented, are both the iron and the mystery object of the question tormented? The first line is so short yet initiates so many different thoughts that the reader must read on to learn more.
The mother of Kincaid’s girl is speaking in a stream of consciousness explaining what day to do what task but then sometimes simply listing tasks and advice. The Girl speaks in the Kincaid story but only twice. The mother says accusingly “on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming; don’t sing benna in Sunday school” (380). ‘Benna songs’ are songs of the island, calypso songs.
The word ‘slut’ is unexpected and the accusation of singing songs the daughter should never sing in Sunday school, are slipped into the repetition of the list. The repetition is so overwhelming the word ‘slut’ almost slips by without comment. One can imagine that the mother never even stopped to take a breath between subjects. The daughter finally finds a space to protest after being called a slut, accused of singing benna, told not to even give directions to wharf-rat boys let alone talk to them, and to never eat fruit on Sundays so flies won’t follow her. “. . . but I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school” protests the daughter. But the mother continues her list - how to make a buttonhole, how to hem a dress, and how not to look like a slut. This is the second time the mother calls her daughter a slut! The mother is teaching her daughter about hemming a dress “so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming” (380). But the daughter does not speak again until at the end when her mother says “this is how to make ends meet; always squeeze bread to make sure it’s fresh.” (381). The daughter asks what to do if the baker won’t let her squeeze the bread. The mother slings one more insult at the end of the story “. . . 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 bed?”
Olsen’s Girl named “Emily” is not set on a poor island but she is in a poor family like Kincaid’s unnamed Girl does. Emily’s mother does not speak in a dialect like in “Girl” but she does speak in the language of a mother; the mothers failed to meet their own dreams and they don’t even know (or are motivated) to support their own daughters in meeting dreams. Ironing is the common activity in both stories. Ironing is a mother’s job and in hard times a mother irons for other people. The ironing requires standing that causes a person to tire easily and seems to cause mothers to resent their daughters who are not doing the ironing.
Emily’s mother is not happy being a mother; motherhood is hard work especially in the world of the story, which is probably before automatic washing machines. The bond between the mother and the child is not a spiritual, romantic bond according to Emily’s mom. A purpose of the visitor is to ask the mother to come to school for a meeting about Emily. On top of all of here work now the mother has to deal with one of Emily’s problems, but the mother really does not seem to feel bound to help Emily or go to the school.
More than the mother on the island, this mother continuously ironing is unhappy and if the visitor was not there about Emily the mother probably would feel so badly. The mother is not really talking about Emily but about herself and her life that is so different than what she dreamed.
The unnamed Girl is insulted with the word ‘slut’ that has a sexual context; is the mother making a flat out accusation about her daughter or is this the way she warns her daughter to avoid sexual encounters. The mother even tells the daughter how to handle men that bully and how to bully so she seems to be warning the girl not to ruin her life. The way Kincaid’s mother lists all the domestic duties and how to accomplish the tasks well, may be the advice to get married and be a good housewife and never, never be a slut.
Emily’s mother does not seem to feel as involved with her daughter or emotionally connected to even call the daughter a ‘slut.’ In a way the first mother on the island is the ore caring, while Emily’s mother is full of regret when Emily’s problem comes up.
Relationships are a big part of the stories and we start to understand each Girl’s place in the world as we continue reading. The reader learns about the relationships between the mothers who are narrating the story that involve their daughters. The mothers are similar in the way they do not approve of their daughters and the reader does not even find a kind, loving feeling from the mothers to their daughters. The stories both talk about ironing and teach us about the burdens of being a mother; an unromantic picture is drawn of the mothers’ lives.
Kincaid, J. “Girl.” pp. 380-381
Olsen, T. “I Stand here Ironing.” pp. 223-228
