Girl

The short story Girl by Jamaica Kincaid is about a mother telling her daughter how to be a lady. As the story goes on, the directions progress and get more harsh. The advice progresses as the daughter ages through time. The mother in this story uses references to take the place of sensitive topics that women deal with. For example, the mother refers to cleavage and how the daughter dresses as eating fruit in the street. She also refers to abortion as making a child go away before it is a child and she refers to male parts as bread. This mother tells her daughter how to survive while being a classic lady, the way people expect her to be. She tells her daughter how to be fake to people she doesn't like and let them think she likes them. She also touched base on how to get men and get rid of them if she doesn't like them without seeming like a slut. This story outlines basic gender roles set by society. The most important role set though out the story is how a woman must find a guy to sleep with to get their financial support. At the end of all the advice, the daughter asks, 'what if I can't get a guy to have sex with me?' in the form of "what if the baker won't let me feel the bread?" The mother then asks her back, 'you're really going to be a woman men won't sleep with after all of my advice?' in the form of "you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won't let near the bread?"
The tone of this short story is very serious and informative. By making the mother badger the daughter with advice, the writer accomplished the serious, informative effect. If someone tried to give me this advice, I would be offended and I would definitely not listen to such shallow advice. I am comfortable being who I am. If people don't like me, then I think that's okay because being superficial is nothing to be proud of.