Jamaican Kincaid's "girl"

When first reading “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, it appears to be a unique short story of a mother advising her daughter the social behaviors she is expected to assume upon becoming a woman. After reading the short story thoroughly, the one overall prevalent theme is the notion of female sexuality. Kincaid “uses predominantly female adult voices offering mainly criticism mixed with little pieces of advice carefully designed to instill self-doubt, destructive sexist expectations, and social fears into a young girl” (Dodsworth, 1). In this reflection paper, I am going to talk about multiple themes in “Girl” that I found intriguing, including female sexuality perceived by a mother, the domestication of women, and the idea that promiscuity leads to condemnation.

Even though the daughter doesn’t seem to have reached adolescence, the mother seems to worry that if her current behavior continues, it will lead to a life of promiscuity. “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” (Kincaid 469). This unusual method of writing helps create the fierce and pressing tone of the mother, while also implying a sense of worry about her daughter. It is obvious that the mother believes that a woman’s reputation or respectability will determine the quality of her life in the community in the future, therefore her mother must inundate the social behaviors she was brought up with in order for her daughter to be accepted in the future.

A second prominent theme is the disempowerment and domestication of women in society. According to Dodsworth, “While the piled on statements in “Girl” appear as simple instructions, these comments are deliberately designed to limit her options and diminish her sense of independence” (Dodsworth 1). Each statement reaffirms the collective ideas that persistently restricts the behavior of women and