This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at NMSU chapter.
Photo by Eleni Philippou
This short story I wrote was inspired by Jamaica Kincaid’s short story, “Girl.” “Girl” strikes life’s major issues: the strain of mothers’ relationships with their daughters, the oppositions of femininity, life under Patriarchal rule, and juvenile sexuality. I followed Kincaid’s format of a single sentence consisting of commas and semicolons. What I italicized is whenever I (the narrator) am interrupted by members of the Patriarchal society who do not understand the importance of feminism and equality for all and why they remain issues. Kincaid’s use of semicolons separates the cautions and words of wisdom of the mother (the narrator) to her daughter. The mother recurrently warns her daughter against becoming a “slut.” The mother fears her daughter is already on her way to becoming a slut.
Photograph by Nina Leen / Time Life Pictures
Kincaid’s use of italicization represents the daughter interrupting her mother to ask questions or defend herself. The mother distributes sensible and helpful advice to aid her daughter in being feminine and having her own household in the future; masculine behavior such as squatting is frowned upon. The mother also teaches her daughter how to live a gratifying life. The daughter is taught how to have relationships with men, cautioning that men and women sometimes “bully” each other. She is also taught how to behave in diverse situations, including how to communicate with people she dislikes; to “smile” (Kincaid, 1978). Even in today’s society, women are told to smile rather than speaking up and being unfeminine.
The daughter’s final interruption, “but what if the baker won’t let me feel the bread?;” leads her mother to retaliate, “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” (Kincaid, 1978)? The interruption implies to the mother that her daughter becoming a slut is inevitable despite her mother’s warnings and teachings. Girls are taught at a young age how to behave, while boys are given more liberty. Any unfeminine behavior is seen as slutty. Society clings on to this belief.
Below, I have provided the link to “Girl” and a YouTube video, Jamaica Kincaid reads “Girl.”
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1978/06/26/girl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHr1HYW0mKE