ipl-logo

Verbal Abuse In Jamaica Kincaid's Girl

607 Words3 Pages

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. At the outset the “guardian” starts spouting off their list of what seems like chores. Then they tell her how to cook good food, as well as how to act socially in a proper manner. These are all things a parent or guardian says to their child, this is in order to prepare them for the “real world.” This gives me the impression that it is possible that the girl is about to leave home. However, past all of these arbitrary things, “guardian” starts to bring the hammer down just a little bit on the girl. One critic wrote that “harsh evaluative judgements like this one are not in any way differentiated from the rest of the flow of the mother’s advice.” (Becnel, 2014) Guardian’s usage of the derogatory term “slut”, even though it would be considered offensive and insulting, could really pound in the brevity and …show more content…

This is shown in their condescending comments and derogatory terms; if you excise these comments and offensive names, the “guardian” is actually giving great life advice. If a person gets too hung up on the way something was said rather than the words said, the speaker will have wasted their breath; however it is their responsibility to know what tone to use. This story overall gives me a sense of hope because the “Guardian”, even if they might be going about it the wrong way, is giving tough love and great advice in hopes that the young girl will have an easier life by applying these words of

Show More
Related
616 Words | 3 Pages

Self and Others Connected (Carol Gilligan) Book definition/examples: “When girls get disconnected, they rely on others to tell them what they feel, think, and know. Their shock and resistance to disconnection reveals the strength of their connection to childhood. This relational voice is needed in a time of self-help individualism, revealing the importance of Gilligan’s historical contribution to dialogic civility” (Arnett & Arneson, 1999, p. 161). “When a girl comes into a relationship with herself, and recognizes her responsibilities for taking care of herself, the way she is connected with others changes. These changes set boundaries of the moral of conflict girls describe when responsibility for oneself conflicts with her responsibility to others” (Arnett & Arneson, 1999, p. 161).

Read More
914 Words | 4 Pages

By doing so she is coming across as an affectionate and understanding parent, who wants their child to recognize their full potential. In another example she states, “It will be expected of you my son, that, as you are favored with superior advantages under the instructive eye of a tender parent, you improvement should bear some proportion to your advantages” (21-24). She is reminding

Read More
1074 Words | 5 Pages

Could a young girl live with only one parent. Yes, if many influences are present. Scouts character has matured because of the closet to her. Calpurnia, Atticus and Aunt Alexandra have changed Scout, throughout the book by the various lessons they taught her,that changed her perspective on how she viewed situations and developed her character.

Read More
781 Words | 4 Pages

¨Bullying is a national epidemic” (Macklemore) bullying has always been a problem but no one seems to try and stop it. In the novel Shattering Glass and the play Romeo and Juliet the evolution of bullying can be seen, but yet no one had tried to stop it in either of the books. In the play Romeo and Juliet the families bully each other around until eventually their own kids take their lives, because they could not be together due to the feud. In the book Shattering Glass by Gail Giles the characters touch a little bit on cyberbullying, but mainly they verbally and physically abuse people in the story to help them achieve what the characters want.

Read More
1503 Words | 7 Pages

She wrote the article keeping parents in mind, by telling stories and shedding light on the true points that every parent experiences. Parents were her target audience who she wrote to show them all the benefits of this new type of parenting while letting them know that she understands the overprotective urge. She presents her own opinions without pushing anyone to believe them, but she makes sure they are stated clearly. The article was well thought out and composed to bring awareness that it’s acceptable for young kids to be allowed freedom to

Read More
996 Words | 4 Pages

Every sixty-eight seconds, an American is sexually assaulted, and it is stated that only twenty-five out of every one thousand perpetrators will see the consequences of their actions (RAINN). Now, imagine if the world was a place where victims felt as if they could speak up and receive proper assistance without question and judgment. Imagine if every sexual assault case concluded with justice for the victim. Laurie Halse Anderson tells her own story of sexual violence and the struggles of the aftermath through the eyes of high school freshman, Melinda Sordino, in her work Speak. Throughout the novel, Melinda internally fights with herself on who to protect, herself and other females around her, or her attacker’s reputation.

Read More
885 Words | 4 Pages

Hood lays the foundation for the story and the generational gap from the opening line of the short story. They had Quarreled all morning, squalled all summer: how tight the girl’s cut- off jeans were, the “Every Inch a Woman” T-shirt, her choice of music… her practiced inattention, her sullen look. (Hood 410) The grandmother struggled with the girl and her free spirit as if the grandmother had been apart of this story before expecting a different result; she hoped for “The surprise gift of a smile” (Hood 411).

Read More
1388 Words | 6 Pages

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.

Read More
258 Words | 2 Pages

“That’s my girl! Dad said with a hug, then barked orders at us all to speed things up” (17). They show their kids what they believe to be a good life, and they don’t let their children think anything negative about it because that if their

Read More
1130 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
1072 Words | 5 Pages

Molding of the Perfect Woman: An Analysis of Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” “…on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming…” (Kincaid, 320). This phrase accurately represents the point that is being made in this passage. In Jamaica Kincaid’s piece, “Girl”, her mother is giving her advice on how to be and act like a proper woman. Her mother describes everything from how to properly do laundry to how to set a table for all occasions (Kincaid, 3-4).

Read More
660 Words | 3 Pages

This puts stress on the mother and shows how much the mother wants a great education for her daughter and what she will do to try and get it. We learn throughout “The First Day” that the mother is very ashamed of herself. “My mother looks at me, then looks away. I know almost all of her looks, but this one is brand new to me.” (Jones, 87)

Read More
896 Words | 4 Pages

In her thought provoking essay “In History,” author Jamaica Kincaid explores the idea of naming things in a historical context through various anecdotes. Kincaid makes a purposeful choice to tell her story non chronologically, beginning with the tale of Columbus, putting her own reflection on plant nomenclature in the middle, and ending with an overview of Carl Linnaeus, the inventor of the plant naming system. This choice gives Kincaid the opportunity to fully vet out each point that she makes, an opportunity she wouldn’t have gotten had she written her essay in chronological order. Throughout each anecdote that Kincaid tells, the theme of names and giving things names is central. Kincaid argues that by giving something a name, one unrightfully takes ownership of it and erases its history.

Read More
871 Words | 4 Pages

The daughters statement was clearly just her opinion on her mother passing not with any back up evidence which would of gave the mother a more solid thought on just her passing. So the speaker doesn’t seem so enthusiastic about the way her family judges her value, her worth, or her performance. The mother seems in distress which is also just like a student being graded in school and they don’t meet the standards that are set for them by others. The irony here is that rather than parents mark their children, it is the children and father who is marking her, which is the commonly thought to be the most important figure in the household and family.

Read More
554 Words | 3 Pages

She calls her daughter a “slut” and wants her to see she is not a boy. She tells her, “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...” (180). She must keep her reputation up. She thinks her daughter already knows too much about sexuality and that she is being disobedient by singing the benna in Sunday school.

Read More

More about Verbal Abuse In Jamaica Kincaid's Girl

Open Document