Jamaica Kincaid’s portrays a mother advising her daughter
in how to become a woman. The short story “Girl” is a list of bits of seemingly random
advice from the mother to her daughter. In the format of the story, it is one long
sentence with the advice separated by semi-colons. Following the narrative literary
device of stream of consciousness, the narrator presents her thoughts and feelings as
they pass through her mind.
The mother covers several areas
in her advice:
Clothes-Washing, ironing, buying cloth, and
sewing button and hems
Cooking/cleaning- What to do with
fish, planting okra, gardening, and how to
sweep
Etiquette-Setting the table, how to eat, what not to
do at church
Behavior-Do not squat when playing marbles, do
not behave like a boy, when and how to smile, how to treat a man, how a man will treat
the woman
The mother provides this practical and helpful
information to have a satisfactory household of her own. Obviously, the mother has
lived in abject poverty since she has to make and grow
everything.
The theme of the story is found in the last
line of the story:
Mother: always squeeze, bread to make sure it’s
fresh;
Daughter: …but what if the baker won’t let me
feel the bread?
Mother: …you mean to say that after all you
are really going to be the kind of woman the baker won’t let near the
bread?
The mother interprets
the potential refusal by the baker as a sign that the daughter has already done
something that has given her a bad name. She may already be considered a
slut.
The author uses the words “feel” and “squeeze” to
turn the buying of the bread into a metaphor for sex. When the baker refuses to give
the daughter the bread, which would be a sexual reprimand or rejection. From this
seemingly innocent question, the mother bursts in to the angry
tirade.
The mother’s emphasis on this theme shows how much
she wants her daughter to realize that she is “not a boy,” and that she needs to act in
a way that will win her respect from the community.
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