September 16, 2013 Angela Williams English 96 Ms. J. Berger Analysis of “Girl” All throughout a girl’s life, before reaching womanhood, girls are given advice on how to present themselves. This advice helps to shape the mind, thoughts, and personality of a woman. It may also even help determine a woman’s role in society. Jamaica Kincaid’s story “Girl” is about a mother delivering al long series of instructions and warnings to her daughter. She gives her instructions on how to speak, act, cook, clean, and how to carry herself as a lady.
Culture and Women In “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, and “How to date a browngirl, blackgirl, whitegirl or halfie” by Junot Diaz, both authors elaborate on culture, and how it shapes the outlook on women. In Jamaica Kincaid's “Girl” a mother enforces her cultures strong beliefs on appropriate female behavior onto her daughter. To do so, she displays her parental authority with a series of short commands influenced by her culture. A sense of naivety can be seen in the young girl after questioning her mother's request. The culture associated with “Girl” has a definite attitude towards women, believing they should live a modest, conservative lifestyle.
In “Girl,” by Jamaica Kincaid, the author portrays a mother’s concern for her daughter’s behavior and upbringing in her community. The story portrays life from Kincaid’s childhood in Antigua during the 1950s.This short story warns of the dangers of female sexuality and the importance of the power of domesticity. Throughout the the story, the mother, who is also the main narrator, seems to teach her daughter important lessons, but also scold her on her improper behavior. This story expresses the importance of female domesticity. The mother figure in the story makes a list of tasks she is teaching her daughter.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini displays many themes throughout the novel. One of which being the diversity in education for women in Afghanistan. Mariam is born under the guidance of a women where education is seen as unimportant whereas Laila is raised with the understanding that education is the most important asset to an Afghanistan women’s life, but they both come together to raise a girl who learns the educational values from both perspectives. Mariam, tutored by Mullah Faizullah, becomes fluent in the Koran at a very early age. Yet, when she begs her mother to go to school her mother replies, “Only one skill.
A little girl grows up to become a great writer, and remembers Sister Flowers with great admiration as the woman who changed her life. Similarly, in my life there's someone who helped me become a better human being. Her name is Betty Friedan and she's the person responsible for the Modern Women's Rights Movement. As a married woman with 3 children, Betty Friedan devoted all her time to being a wife and a mother. Her life as a homemaker led her to develop a theory on women.
Although she looses Tea Cake at the end of the novel, Janie is finally satisfied since she has achieved the fulfilment she sought. She has also matured and regards herself able to face the next part of her life. Janie grows up sheltered by her grandmother and not knowing about the difficulties a woman and at the same time a black one often has to face. Her grandmother who has experienced all those things herself, since she grew up in slavery, tries hard to keep any kind of harassment and exploitation from her. Janie dreams of real love, something she expects to find in marriage one day.
Because Skeeter’s parents weren’t a big part of her life as a child, they left their help to raise their daughter. Constantine encouraged Skeeter and gave her confidence. She taught Skeeter that each day she would have to decide wether or not she would listen to what others said about her. She also made Skeeter to believe that she could do what she wanted with her life, “All my life I’d been told what to believe about politics, coloreds, being a girl. But with Constantine’s thumb pressed in my hand, I realized I actually had a choice in what I could believe” (00).
The girl’s parents have already instilled a visualization of what the perfect woman is like. It shows she should learn to cook, iron, and wear makeup to look pretty. The girl is already learning her place in society, it portrays the woman’s place is in the kitchen and as a caretaker of the kids. Quickly one can fall prey to unrealistic standards of acceptability. Through adolescence, looks and appearance begin to take a hold of a young woman’s life and their self-esteem becomes vulnerable.
As time has passed it has become normal to see a single mother raising her child(ren). It is painful to see a single mother taking care of a son without a father because a women cannot teach a boy to be a man. Only a man can teach and nurture a boy into a man. Different Teaching Methods As girls are raised and taught by their mother they are taught different things in life that will carry them as they grow into women. Boys need the same teaching, but from a man preferable their father.
Since childhood, women are taught to put on makeup when they go out, dress feminine, be well-groomed in order to be attractive. Every morning before school, I watched my three sisters put on makeup, straighten their hair, and take forever to pick out their outfits. These habits were instilled in them at an early age not only through my parents’ expectations of their physical appearance, but the influence their friends had on their way of dress. Just this morning I heard my now, twenty-six year old sister say that sometimes, she does not go out in public because she does not have the motivation to put on makeup. This statement only further proves how society teaches women how to and how not to present themselves in public.