I've pasted "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid below because there were errors in the handout I gave you in class. Remember that you will write a summary of the short story and that you also have to read the Jerome Stern short story posted under this one. We will discuss both in class.
Girl by Jamaica Kincaid
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 barehead 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 on 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 button-hole 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?
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12 comments:
YOMARIS:
I Think A harsh reality present in many parts of the world is reflected through this unique narration. One where women are destined to live by certain rules and attitudes. Such as staying in charge of the house, doing chores, attending men as superior identities and most of all inhibiting any way of thinking or feelings distinct of those already established for women by society. I see girl as one of many young ladies who are in training mode which are confronted with the decision as to whether ignore her own heart's desire or to follow it.
The story "Girl" its about a woman who is trying to show everything to her daughter. This woman is teaching her because she is scared that she may turn into a slut. The women teaches her how to be around man, how to clean, how to walk and many other things. After all she tells her she is still scared that her daughter is going to turn into that kind of person she doesn't want her to be like.
Reading Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl", I got the feeling that this girl whom the speaker is talking to is being given instructions on how to do everything from the moment she wakes up until the very moment she goes to bed. These arent suggestions given to a secretary or some sort of professional either, this is for a stay at home girl in the transition of becoming a woman. There are instructions on how to smile at people, wash your clothes, and how to set tables. A constant warning on showing any signs of being a slut. There's a constant push at being decent which sort of goes with the systematic-ness of the instructions.It's seems that if with this ongoing list there isn't a way possible that you will be undecent. The list goes on in a motherlike tone, with no room for argument or pause to ask questions. when a question is asked then it is evidence to the speaker that you would have become the very 'slut' that you've been warned against, almost lost in between all the words but fiercely present as if the whole paragraph of instructions screamed, "Don't be a Slut!"
The story clearly shows a mom confirming a future waiting to her daughter. We know its a woman talking to her daughter because of the things she is teaching her. The very strange part is that some of the things she teaches her can in fact turn her in to slut. Is she doing it as a preventive way or does she want this to happen?
the mom is not trying to show her how to be a normal woman of that time because no mom shows her daughter how to make an abortion or how to manipulate a man. i believe the mom is a slut and in her own concern of loneliness she is trying to add her daughter in the story.
I beleive this story showed a bit of suffering and strictness on behalf of girl by jamaica kincaid.There are alot of emotions from this story that it makes the reader fell compasion and sorrow.This story made me think alot of how sometimes people control and manipulate others.
The story gives a great example about the pressure parents sometimes give to their kids...
If you read the story you can see the "girl" little by little turn more rebellious against her mother while she gives her more advice making her do more bad things finally turning her into the slut her mom always tried to avoid.
The mom seems to be a little bit hard on the girl… For me the girl is like a tomboy and that’s the reason for the mom to teach her all what a women is suppose to do for the housekeeping and to make happy “the man”
The story "girl" only reflects the reality that many women have been living for centuries, always thinking about what others have to say, and how others want them to behave. Women all over the history have been forced to fallow some rules and patterns so the society doesn’t judge them as a bad influence, the woman who reveals against everything what already this settled down and breaks the barriers always has been marginalized and that is what this reflected history.
Jeniely
In the tittle of this story gaves the reader an idea of what the story is about. The author is telling by the tittle Girl that cant be a general concept of things that can happent to all girls. The stroy is about a conversation between a mother an his daugther about how to be and behave; to become a woman.
I think this story refects in some way how our parents try to teach us the way we must do things. But, in this case specialy, the mother is overdoing it because of the way she treats her daugther, like if the child was really destined to become a slut. I don´t really think you can forsee what a child will become when it´s older,not in such a harsh way. Maybe this a critic to the way sociaty molds people.
This is a narration presents a woman trying to show how to behave to a girl that maybe is her daughter. It is like if they were people of a high social class. The woman tries to teach the girl those manners, so people can't think or get the perspective of the girl as a slut.
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