Do you know the novel of Jamaica kinacaid?
Yes that's right. Novel of Jamaica kinacaid contains about short story one of them is girl
"Girl"-Jamaica kinacaid
I like this story because it tells about the life of a woman, how to be a woman indeed who always do the activity in his house based on the text "wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap" ..
And this story is very motivating for me as a woman who sometimes likes to laze around every day off after working for one full week. That woman needs rest but there are things that should be done.
"Girl" is a short story written by Jamaica Kincaid that was included in At the Bottom of the River (1983). It appeared in the June 26, 1978 issue of The New Yorker.
The conflict in “Girl” is that of parenting vs the environment.
The narrator of the text is a mother giving advice to her daughter. The mother is concerned for the daughter because she believes that the daughter may grow up to be a slut because of the social pressures put on her. This is supported by the lines “on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming,” “you mustn’t speak to wharf-rat boys,” and “don’t squat down to play marbles,” (74). These lines suggest that by interacting with boys and not being pious will lead the daughter down the path to becoming a slut.
The persistent latent anger and scorn that a mother has for her daughter throughout the text also shows that if scolding like this continues, the girl might end up hating her mother and become a prostitute out of spite.
The last line of this text is also full of metaphorics and symbolism.
The scenario of a girl being denied the ability to touch bread symbolizes that the girl has become a social outcast because she is a prostitute.
Kincaid makes the words "feel" and "squeeze" sexually making the act of buying bread into a flirtatious act and refusal to touch bread is a metaphor for sexual advances being rebuked.
This text reminds me of "Barbie Doll" by Marge Piercy. Both texts must deal with young women who grow up in an oppressive environment and must deal with social pressures that seek to change them. "Girl" has to deal with a girl who is scolded by her mother for being a prostitute and "Barbie Doll" has to deal with a young girl who cuts her nose and legs because of intimidation.
I think Marge Piercy would think this text is somewhat parallel with hers because in every text, the two young women have to deal with social pressures that try to change it.
The only exception is that the Kincaid story does not tell the end result of whether the girl is a prostitute or not.
Point of view is the manner in which a story is narrated or depicted and who it is that tells
the story. Simply put, the point of view determines the angle and perception of the story unfolding, and
thus influences the tone in which the story takes place.
— first person POV - from a character’s view; uses “I” and “me”
— second person POV - speaking directly to reader; uses “you”; least common
— third person POV - from a narrator; can be limited to one character’s perspective or omniscient in
which the narrator knows all.
for you ladies I recommend read this. because this short story is really good even though we have to be able to understand the means of this text.
Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap; wash the color
clothes on Tuesday and put them on the clothesline to dry; don’t walk bare-head in the hot
sun; cook pumpkin fritters in very hot sweet oil; soak your little cloths right after you take
them off; when buying cotton to make yourself a nice blouse, be sure that it doesn’t have gum
in it, because that way it won’t hold up well after a wash; soak salt fish overnight before you
cook it; is it true that you sing benna in Sunday school?; always eat your food in such a way
that it won’t turn someone else’s stomach; 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; you mustn’t speak to
wharf-rat boys, not even to give directions; don’t eat fruits on the street—flies will follow you;
but I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school; this is how to sew on a button;
this is how to make a buttonhole for the button you have just sewed on; this is how to hem a
dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the
slut I know you are so bent on becoming; this is how you iron your father’s khaki shirt so that
it doesn’t have a crease; this is how you iron your father’s khaki pants so that they don’t have
a crease; this is how you grow okra—far from the house, because okra tree harbors red ants;
when you are growing dasheen, make sure it gets plenty of water or else it makes your throat
itch when you are eating it; this is how you sweep a corner; this is how you sweep a whole
house; this is how you sweep a yard; this is how you smile to someone you don’t like too
much; this is how you smile to someone you don’t like at all; this is how you smile to
someone you like completely; this is how you set a table for tea; this is how you set a table for
dinner; this is how you set a table for dinner with an important guest; this is how you set a
table for lunch; this is how you set a table for breakfast; this is how to behave in the presence
of men who don’t know you very well, and this way they won’t recognize immediately the slut
I have warned you against becoming; be sure to wash every day, even if it is with your own
spit; don’t squat down to play marbles—you are not a boy, you know; don’t pick people’s
flowers—you might catch something; don’t throw stones at blackbirds, because it might not
be a blackbird at all; this is how to make a bread pudding; this is how to make doukona; this
is how to make pepper pot; this is how to make a good medicine for a cold; this is how to
make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child; this is how to
catch a fish; this is how to throw back a fish you don’t like, and that way something bad won’t
fall on you; this is how to bully a man; this is how a man bullies you; this is how to love a
man, and if this doesn’t work there are other ways, and if they don’t work don’t feel too bad
about giving up; this is how to spit up in the air if you feel like it, and this is how to move
quick so that it doesn’t fall on you; this is how to make ends meet; always squeeze bread to
make sure it’s fresh; but what if the baker won’t let me feel the bread?; 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 bread?.
So in a way, this ending continues for Mom's lessons. People like promiscuous girls and wharf-rat boys are outside of society. No one interacts with them, so it makes sense that they wouldn't be allowed to interact with people and do everyday things. One thing that a promiscuous girl would definitely not be allowed to do is squeeze bread like an upstanding young lady, because her dirty hands would taint the bread. Obviously
There is also another possible interpretation of the end. Let's say that Mom and Girl have a bit of a "failure to communicate." Mom talks more at Girl than to her, and she seems to totally ignore Girl. But to Mom, it seems like Girl is totally missing the point. If she follows all of Mom's advice, then obviously the baker will let her squeeze the bread. It's all connected: what seems like a totally random list of advice is actually summed up by this: be the kind of woman who gets to squeeze the bread.
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