A girl reflecting on "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid

There are a few things one can say right off the bat after reading Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl”. She is narrating in her mother’s voice what her childhood was like. She uses her mother to depict what it was like for her as a young girl and what was expected of her. Jamaica Kincaid does a beautiful job at captivating the reader and getting them involved in her perspective of things. She is very good at making you become emotionally involved in what she writes, especially when it comes to feelings of anger and resentment. Kincaid experiences these emotions and portrays them very well throughout many of her stories but in my opinion this one is special.

The young girl cannot question her mother or what she tells her to do. She is doomed to remaining, in her mother’s eyes, whatever her mother’s opinion of her is. To her mother, becoming a slut is inevitable but she still drills order after order into her head. If you ask me, she will never be good enough for her mother. All of the things she is told to do revolve around one thing: being a “proper lady”. There is a specific way to do all the domestic chores she is allowed to do, nothing past that. There is a right way to wash clothes, which must be washed every day. There is a right way to talk to men so that they don’t see immediately that she is a slut. There is a right way to be what she is expected to be but she will never be it, not really at least.

In my opinion, Jamaica Kinkaid wrote Girl in an attempt to stand up to her mother and her past. To finally speak up and use her own voice. I am opposed to the idea that women are only meant to do housework, not to mention, be prim and proper. I love it when people stand up for themselves of for something that they believe in so I admire Jamaica Kinkaid and I am a big fan of this particular piece of literature.