Jamaica KIncaid- Girl
The poem "Girl" by author Jamaica Kincaid shows love and family togetherness by creating microcosmic images of Western Caribbean familial practices and imbedding them in a seemingly incomprehensible text. Upon closer examination, the reader sees that the text is a string of images that are the cultural practices and moral principles that a Caribbean woman is passing along to her young daughter. Jamaica Kincaid has taken common advice that daughters are constantly hearing from their mothers and tied them into a series of commands that a mother uses to prevent her daughter from turning into "the slut that she is so bent on becoming" (23). But they are more than commands; the phrases are a mother's way of insuring that her daughter has the tools that she needs to survive as an adult. The fact that the mother takes the time to train the daughter in the proper ways for a lady to act in their culture is indicative of their familial love; the fact that there are so many rules and moral principles that are being passed to the daughter indicates that mother and daughter spend a lot of time together. The reader gets the impression that the advice that the mother gives her daughter has been passed down from many
At times in the story it seems as if the mother does not like the daughter and is only giving her advice because it is her duty. The ideas that she uses are probably direct quotes that she heard as a girl. But in the context of the West Indies, these details allow the reader to take in the story without worrying over why a woman in L. But "Girl" also shows the hostility and family dissension that the females suffer. If an analysis has to be a chore or a nightmare of picking the text to pieces, then reading for enjoyment and for exposure to new cultures and ideas becomes an unpleasant burden. The incorporation of Reader Response criticism into an excellent personal critical style is one of the most important concepts. The use of biographical criticism would further investigate the context of the author's sex as well as his/her biographical influence on the text. An excellent personal critical style can be created by including elements from feminine criticism, biographical criticism, and reader response criticism. At both points, she tries to gain advantage over her mother's advice by offering objections to her mother's words. Men could only guess at those elements. The reader knows that there was some woman in the past who learned this lesson the hard way, and included it in the litany of advice for future generations. Reader Response gives the reader the latitude to read and interpret a text without the artificial constraints of deconstruction or New Criticism. The mother, too, constantly hints that the girl is intent upon becoming a slut, which creates even more dissension and hostility between the two.
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Acceptance Essays
