They way a person reads is greatly influenced by their personal background; their story, their culture, anything that led them to who they are today. When reading How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents written by Dominican-American Julia Alvarez, many controversial points are brought up that can be interpreted in many different ways depending on who is reading. In many scenarios, it’s the matter of where the reader comes from, in this case the Dominican Republic, or the United States. By having written from both Dominican and American perspectives, Alvarez teaches how a character’s sexuality or sexual tendencies can be perceived differently depending on the reader's personal background.
Rachel Mathews E 260 March 13, 2018 Dr. Shaun Morgan Paper #1 “Bitter in the Mouth” by Monique Truong explores race, gender and sexuality, and never had a definite theme. It starts off with a young, seven-year-old North Carolina girl, with many layered secrets, who name was Linda Hammerick. She stated that she “fell in love with” (1) her great-uncle Baby Harper. She also talks about her parents, DeAnne and Thomas, and her best friend, Kelly. She states that she was her father’s tomboy and her mother’s baton twirler and that she went far away for college and law school, now living in New York.
This illustrates how gender stereotypes shape societal expectations, leading to Minnie living in the confines of submissive roles for women, ultimately constraining their autonomy. Similarly, in Girl by Jamaica Kincaid, Girl is subjected to many societal norms, set up by her gender. For example, “This is how you smile to someone you don’t like very much; this is how you smile to someone you don’t like at all” (Kincaid 43). This further proves the gender stereotype that women are almost always pleasant and nice, leading to the social expectation that girls should behave accordingly and put politeness first, even if it is not implied. Suppressing her feelings and true self-expression,
Carmen Colón Pellot and Julia de Burgos were authors that challenge societal norms as women in the white male Hispanic Society era. At the time there were confinements placed upon blacks, which was why they both found it difficult to reunite with their heritage as mulata’s. Their gender was problematic in the white male society as well. The poems “Oh Lord, I Want to be White" by Carmen Colón Pellot and "Cry of the Kinky Haired Girl" by Julia de Burgos has made a significant impact on the “mulata” as a subject and not just a sexual object in the 20th century during the Negrista movement. First let’s look into the background of Carmen Colón Pellot born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico in 1911.
Jamaica Kincaid's Lucy is another work that could be portrayed under the ladies' lobbyist law. The ladies' extremist expressions in this five-area novel could be found in the exchanges between the women characters. The imaginative and point by point examination concerning the associations among mothers and young ladies, rich and poor, and high difference in the book conveys the author's thoughts on ladies' freedom. The way that Lucy is a semi-self-depicting record of Kincaid's instructive experiences makes its voice all the more authentic. The tangibility of ladies' dissident theories in Rebecca was as to the storyteller's relationship with Maxim and his dead Mistress Rebecca.
Her attempt to voice the voicelessness of black women has focussed on the question of the mercury identity of the postcolonial writer of the modern era. Her autobiography
In the story “Girl”, Jamaica Kincaid seems to repeat the advice to the girl because it looks like the girl is not listening to her, and she is willing to have the freedom that boys have. For example, her mother is telling her not to squat down to play marbles because there are certain rules that every girl has to follow to find a husband. There are a lot of ways to do and don’t that a girl must learn how to behave so she can’t act like a slut. If she does not follow the rules, she will have a reputation of a slut, and she won’t win a
Culture and Women In “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid and “ How to date a Brown girl, Black girl, White girl or Halfie “ by Junot Diaz, both authors elaborate on culture and how it shapes outlook on women. In Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” a mother enforces her culture’s strong beliefs on her daughter. As the result, she displays her parental authority with a sequence of short commands influenced by her culture. A sense of judgment can be seen in the young girl, after questioning her mothers’ request.
The authors of two stories, Girl and A & P, used their writing to explore social norms as they relate to females. They used their talents and penned stories that allow a reader to consider and contemplate the point of view of an oppressed human in society. Both works delve into societal norms of how a female should behave. The dialect in the short stories
In the story “Girl”, Jamaica Kincaid illustrates the talk given to a young Antiguan girl about what is expected of her in order to make a point about the cultural pressures and unfair social boundaries that come with being a girl in the Caribbean. The author plays with word choice and sentence structure in a way that makes this unconventional writing style enjoyable and metaphorically resonant. Though it is possible to read this prose as a mother talking directly to her daughter and the daughter interjecting, it is actually indicative of a larger conversation between a Caribbean society and its young women; this can be most clearly seen in the discussion of Benna, of plant, animal, and human life, of promiscuity, and of manners. Benna is a musical genre similar to calypso; its lyrics often discussed British political scandals and had lewd double meanings. The daughter is instructed not to sing it in church, because the songs are about sexuality, politics and open rebellion - however, this instruction has a much larger societal meaning.
Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” is a very interesting story. In short it is about an unspecified guardian giving life advice to a young girl; the range of this advice varies from dress and grooming to medicinal recipes. The older woman, also referred to as the “guardian”, is not censored about this advice either. While people may think that “Girl” is a minor tale of verbal abuse, I prefer to think of it as story of tough love as well as hope that the girl will do better in life then the adult.
Female African American writers tend to focus more on the experience of black women (which we will consider for this novel). Black women are often introduced as the minority in the race, especially seen in writings during the 1970’s. Most of these writings have female characters who have domestic duties, which can reveal the passing of traditions and cultures from one generation to the next and the role of a woman in an inconvenienced household. They also deal with the image and perception of the Black woman, whether through looks, skin color, or her voice. The woman’s narrative is often formed gradually, often times alongside a woman who has already discovered herself, but we must consider that “it may take the form of exploring one’s own abilities, needs, and desires” (Tyson, 391).
As one can see, many mothers in today 's society would not be nearly as picky and constructive as the mother within "Girl" written by Jamaica Kincaid. Young girls almost always look up first to their mother for guidance and instruction on how to be a woman. Although the advice used in this story was used to help the young girl, it was also used to scold her as well. The mother 's strong belief in a woman having domestic knowledge is what drives her to preach the life lessons of a good woman to her daughter. It is through these lessons that she hopes for her daughter to be respected within her own home and by her community as well.
She talks about the dangers of female sexuality because it could ruin her life. She tells how to get the power of domesticity. She also tells her how her daughters sexual reputation should be instead of what it is. Even though female sexuality can be a diverse topic, Kincaid was able to stick to one view of female
This novel is also autobiographical. Throughout history, women have been locked in a struggle to free themselves from the borderline that separates and differentiate themselves from men. In many circles, it is agreed that the battleground for this struggle and fight exists in literature. In a
