English
“Girl” is a short story written by Jamaica Kincaid and lists things a daughter should do and when to do them. In this story “girl”, a mother tries to give advice and instructions to her daughter who is growing up. The poem between the mother and the daughter ends with the exchange whereby the daughter directs questions to the mother after all the comments. Girl’s theme is a mother-daughter dispute as the mother goes all the way teaching her daughter on how to be a good woman in the future times. The daughter seems not to appreciate the mother’s advice and after talking she asks what to do if she could not meet her mother’s standards. This essay aims at giving response to the story of “girl” in relation to how gender is perceived across cultures.
Cultures perceive women as more caring when compared to men and more concerned with the welfare of their children. The women normally feel the greater pinch in the rearing of the children especially when it comes to families that the men work. The woman in this context struggles to make her daughter a good woman in the future. This woman teaches her daughter the basic skills that are required of a woman. She does not want to allow her daughter to get to her home with unnecessary problems. Suggesting being a neat woman, she teaches her daughter the basic activities like washing, ironing and table setting so that the daughter may also grow up to be like her. Teaching her daughter how to fish and make herbal medicines also depict that she cares about the daughter and wants her to have the same skills that would give her a livelihood. By teaching her daughter how to work, the mother in this context too wants her daughter to be responsible in the future, and this is great caring from the mother.
The mother in this context gives helpful and practical advice to her daughter regarding issues of keeping her house pretty. This mother aims that her daughter will one day grow up and develop to be a woman just like her and has her house. Household chores included in the teachings are setting the table, sewing, cooking, ironing and washing. In reaction to the teachings, the mother has hope that her daughter will one day have her house and maybe get married. The chores she teaches her daughter are basic in maintaining a house especially when one has a partner. The mother thus must be a good and responsible woman who would love to have a responsible daughter too. The daughter could have been a spoilt one who does not know her roles or just a lazy girl who inflicts fear in her mother that she may continue that way. Societies and cultures require women to be responsible in teaching their daughters and molding them for future purposes. Men are never mentioned when it comes to upbringing of the children and bad characters among children often bring pointing at the women. The female gender is thus given so many duties that would require even the males.
Besides the basic household chores, the mother also tells her daughter about other things that should be known. Such include how to make herbal medicine and catch fish. The making of herbal medicines and catching fish suggest that the women live in a rural setting characterized by poverty. The mother also suggests that her daughter will continue living the same lifestyle even after going to her house and expects no change. Hardship is thus the order of the day, and such basic advice of chores like catching fish is essential for day to day living. The daughter too could not be having knowledge of what is required of her like running daily house chores and that could be the reason the mother was passing such skills on her daughter. In the gender context, women are non-professionals and best jobs are held by men. Most societies just allow women to live simple lives like fishing and taking care of the home. Hardship is a common issue for women, and they get used to just as the context suggests the woman and the daughter were living in hardship. For third world countries, women never even get to urban areas but remain in the villages taking care of the families whereas the men enjoy staying wherever they want to.
In concluding, the daughter later asks the mother what to do in case she could not meet her mother’s requirements. It is unappreciative because the girl is expected to do what the mother orders and practice to know. The society across several cultures depicts women as lesser in their understanding as compared to men. That is why the women are given lesser opportunities when it comes to issues of cognitive advancement like education. The story of the girl gives information that the girl could be lazy, not able to understand and maybe opposes knowledge. A just society would have proved the girl to understand the mother and agree to the information given. The context also sees women as opposing individuals, and that is why the women get more chances in the opposition as compared to the ruling bodies. The simple instructions given by the mother are thus just proved to be difficult for a girl as the society supports that women understand slowly.
Works Cited
Edwards, Justin D. Understanding Jamaica Kincaid. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2007. Print.
Bouson, J B. Jamaica Kincaid: Writing Memory, Writing Back to the Mother. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005. Internet resource.
