The literary device that I see present all throughout this short story is symbolism. In the text a mother is telling her daughter all the things that she believes her daughter needs to know. Which in my eyes is a very common thing. In this society, people believe that there is a certain way that all women should act and things they should know. In other words women are held to certain expectations. In the text her mother was just trying to teach her the do’s and dont’s of being a woman. For example, her mother said “ 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 being” (96). Her mother was trying to teach her that respectable women don’t eat like savages and they walk without drawing negative attention. Her mother also went on to say “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” (page 96). She was trying to inform her that there is a certain way you have to act around men you don’t know, you don’t want to be too friendly. Men respect women that respect themselves.