Intense Instructions Essay

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Intense Instructions Can you picture a little girl being taught by her mother about how to conduct herself as a woman? Can you imagine hearing a mother saying, “...on Sundays try to walk like a woman and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming...?” Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl” can be interpreted in many different ways based on the tone, theme, and how the characters conduct themselves. In Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl,” the tone is harsh whereas the Mother is “putting her foot down” and letting the girl know how she is expected to act and how to conduct herself. The tone of the story, which plays a strong role, is harsh and can come off a bit cruel. It seems demanding and forced. In Girl, Jamaica Kincaid wrote, “...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...” (Kincaid). When speaking of the tone of the story, take a look at the word “slut” the mother continuously uses through out the story. According to the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, a slut is “a promiscuous woman” (980). The mother wants her daughter to act the way she thinks she should. The mother’s use of the word “slut” makes the story have a harsh tone, and the tone it is persistent throughout the story. Despite the harsh and belittling tone, “Putting her foot down” on her daughter is the theme of the story. The mother is giving advice, or what is perceived to be as demands, about what a woman is supposed to be like. Case in point, “...on Sundays try to walk like a lady...you mustn’t speak to wharf-rat boys, not even to give directions...this is how to sew on
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