Girl By Jamaica Kincaide Analysis

In the short story, “Girl”, by Jamaica Kincaide, she shows that the female authority figure who is giving the advice thinks she is helping the girl she is speaking to, but is actually hurting her by providing harsh advice. Directly speaking about the main point of the story, the female authority figure says, “...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…”. This shows that the advice being given to the girl is about social status and making sure other people don’t think poorly of women. If a woman does something to be considered a slut then their social status will decrease. The woman providing the advice believes that success is more

The girl is not really given any chance to express her feelings. All of the harsh advice which seems to never end revolves around the fact that women in the Caribbean are treated unfairly and the only thing that matters is maintaining a high social status. There is only one point in the story where the female authority figure talks about something fun, but she turns it into a negative, she says, “...don’t squat down to play marbles-you are not a boy, you know…”. This is again an example of advice that revolves around the main topic of social status and not becoming or being considered a slut. This is the only activity in the story that is considered fun, and the speaker turns it into a lesson on how to behave and what not to do. The speaker is implying that if a girl squats while playing marbles it is considered unladylike and it is frowned upon. Even though certain positions a woman sits in in our society is considered unladylike or improper, the way the woman continuously addresses each topic as a rule that each girl must follow to maintain a high social status is very forceful. The advice is being presented as rules, and is putting a lot of pressure on the