essay on Kincaid's "Girl"

Men and women are the most juxtaposed entities in the natural world. They are biologically, genetically, sexually, and emotionally different. There is no way to calculate in concrete terms the exact ways that sexes differ. Everybody’s different; however, there are slight patterns that dictate the ways in which each gender is different. Gender differences are in their most simple form in childhood. Kids are honest, pure, and products of their nature more so than products of nurture in childhood. Jamaica Kincaid wrote a short story about the implications of her sec titled “Girl.” The story is unique in its own right but it offers many stereotypes conclusive with the female sex. “Girl” is a gross representation in literary form and content of the misconceptions and expectations of women in society, family roles, sex and love, and basic survival principles.

Girl is rich with provocative stereotypes about what girls should learn in order to fulfill their required family role. The narrative is very specific and matter of fact. Girls are expected to know the correct ways to clean- “this is how you sweep a corner; this is how you sweep a whole house; this is how you sweep a yard (184, Kincaid).” Cooking is a precise art in which girls must be proficient and creative. Various recipes are indicated as necessary in the story such as bread pudding. Girls are expected to know how to iron their father’s clothing, and how to sew on a button. They are expected to know how to set a table for guests in differing degrees of importance, and how to set a table for the three different meal times. Girls must “Wash the white clothes on Monday…the color clothes on Tuesday (183, Kincaid).” All of these lessons girls must learn dictate what women should be able to do for themselves and others. These gross family roles are sad but necessary. They imply that women have little to learn in the way of intellectually expanding their mind. Nothing in the story even offers the thought that a woman should go to school or receive a higher education. Their lives are inevitably to be filled with doing the needs of others. The story does not even offer the opportunity for other people to do these things. The only way it will be done is if a girl does the task.

Societal expectations for women are also made clear in Girl. They are focused around the ways in which women should handle themselves in order for them to appear pleasing to others, “always eat your food in a way that it won’t turn someone else’s stomach (183, Kincaid).” Women should “try to walk like a lady (183, Kincaid)” and they should behave a certain way in the presence of men that do not know them very well. The list goes on and on, including don’t squat down to play marbles- you are not a boy, you know…be sure to wash everyday even if it is with your own spit…you musn’t eat fruits on the street-flies will follow you(183-184, Kincaid)”. Society expects women to be pretty and aesthetically pleasing always. They do not have to opportunity to act as boys do. They must be learning how to sew their own clothing rather than playing marbles. The only repetitive element in the story is to not be “the slut I know you are so bent on becoming (183, Kincaid).” Society declares women should treat the idea of sex much different than men are expected to. A woman is not allowed to be visually stimulating or suggestive without being named a slut. Yet, Kincaid explains how to make a medicine that will stop a child before it becomes a child. This is a necessity for a woman to know because she is not permitted to have a baby without a family that is already established. The lessons turn ones stomach because women must not look as if they act in any way impure however, if they do act impure they must hide it from the world. Many could view this as an empowerment for women like that of free choice and abortion in the world today. In the story it is almost depicted as shameful to do so. The emphasis is put on “before it becomes a baby” and may imply before the world knows said woman has become pregnant. Society still has not accepted a woman’s right to do as she pleases with her body.

In the ways of love and emotion women must always be a certain way. Even something as common as a smile should be calculated and perfected: “this is how you smile to someone you don’t like too much; this is how to smile to someone you don’t like at all; this is how to smile to someone you like completely (184, Kincaid).” Women do not get to figure these things out emotionally. They do not get to make mistakes. Everything a girl learns is pertinent to her becoming a woman which emotionally means being wanted by men. There is no room for trial and error. Even love is dictated- “this is how to love a man; and if that doesn’t work there are other ways (184, Kincaid).” Women are expected to be machines that love and feel uniformly and concisely. There is even an implied sexual image in these lines. This is how to love a man does not only mean emotional love. Girls are being instructed in ways to love sexually as well. If that doesn’t work try this is a grotesque interpretation of a woman’s duty to please her “man” in various explicit ways. Though woman notable find pleasure in sex just a much as men do, men do not have the added responsibility of pleasing their woman in this story. All the responsibility is placed upon the girl.

Girls are also offered lessons in self efficiency. “This is how to make good medicine for a cold (184, Kincaid)” suggests that women are as well responsible for themselves. This relieves the story a bit from making women seem so self sacrificing. There are a few allotted tasks allowed for themselves. Girls are taught how to bully a man, how to spit into the air and not be hit by said spit, and how to make ends meet. The duties given to a girl for only herself are sparse but there. It provides a slight glimmer of satisfaction that women are as well responsible for themselves and not just others.

Not only are the lessons exemplary of stereotypical roles of women but Kincaid’s language also suggest this. The short story is one entire long sentence only broken by semi-colons. This implies the longevity and monotonous qualities of a woman’s duties and responsibilities. They never end. The sentence goes on and on and hardly offers the reader space to breath or pause. This is uncomfortable to read and makes the story exhaustive. The exhaustive quality of the writing mirrors the exhaustive tasks women are expected to learn as children and all through their pre-adult lives. The story is also void of all metaphor and descriptive writing. There is hardly any creativity in language. Again, this is like the duties a girl is expected to enact. Everything is to the point, efficient, with little room for personal satisfaction or pleasure. The long sentence ends in a question. The question is an effective way the end the story because of its meaning- you mean to say after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread (164, Kincaid)?” This further solidifies the point that a woman’s duty is to be a perfect specimen in which everyone views as pure, self-sacrificing, motherly, maid-like, and a good partner.

The implication Kincaid’s story “Girl” places on women may seem archaic and preposterous. However, the story provides the realization that such offensive stereotypes are still present and many women still live the lives the 21st generation may believe have gone extinct. The expectation woven into this brief story are exhaustive and numerous. It is an excellent representation of gender stereotypes and the predetermined lives women are expected to live.

TELL ME IF THIS JUST SOUNDS LIKE A FEMINIST RANT or if i am projecting things that are not in the story :)