A Text Wrestling Analysis of “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid

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A text wrestling analysis of “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid

Societal norms, as well as the skewed expectations of women in society, are in large part passed down from older generations (as well as often being enforced by older generations) to susceptible young children who are just beginning to form their own moral code. “Girl” is an unconventional poem, written by Jamaica Kincaid, that illustrates a mother’s detailed instructions on what her daughter must do in order for her to be accepted and successful in society at that time. Separated by semicolons, the mother relentlessly lists the rules and duties forced onto women at that time, never allowing her to intervene or even question what she was being told. This blind (almost mindless) list of expectations of women emphasizes the oppressed role that women are faced with, and often expected to comply with without question.

As children, our morals and values are shaped not only by our own experiences, but that of our family; wisdom, along with hard life lessons that have been learned over years and generations, are passed down from a mother to child. Although the identity of the narrator is never implicitly revealed, I believe that it is a mother passing on life lessons (as bleak as they may be) to her daughter. You can see this mother-daughter relationship best in Kincaid’s concluding lines, “always squeeze bread to make sure it’s fresh; but what if the baker won’t let me feel the bread? you mean to say after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread?” (Kincaid 129). The italicized line signals that the daughter (or the “girl”) is speaking here. There is only one other instance in the poem where the daughter intervenes, interrupting her mother’s cascading list of teachings; early in the poem, the mother asks (or rather asserts), “is it true that you sing benna in Sunday school?” and then later insists, “don’t sing benna in Sunday school” (128). Chiming in a bit late, the daughter defensively inserts, “but I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all, and never in Sunday school” (128). In this instance, the mother does not acknowledge o respond to what the daughter has said, rather just continues on with her sporadic list of instructions (like a chant of “this is how you…” and “don’t…”). This illustration of the mother as a clear authoritative figure that is educating her child of the gender roles that are present (and that must be followed!) in their present society is a great representation of how these notions survive and are passed down from teachings of older generations.

Concerning the structure of the poem “Girl”, I believe that Kincaid made the choice to make her poem into one large paragraph and use semicolons to separate the mother’s advice and commands (without ending the sentence) in order to convey that all of the items on the mother’s list are related in the sense that, when they are applied together, the sum of these actions and behaviors equals what societal and gender norms say it means to be a well-behaved woman. Having the poem structured this way also creates a sense of power for the mother figure because the discussion is extremely one-sided, and her unending breath creates the sense of urgency that she must get through everything she has to say, and she doesn’t even have time to stop and breath in between her lessons. For me, this urgency projects what I consider to be fear from the mother of what will happen to her daughter if she doesn’t learn these lessons or behave according to society. This fear is most likely rooted from her own negative personal experiences, as well as knowledge passed down from former generations.

The mother does not want her daughter to be rejected from or reprimanded by society. So, although the mother is delivering her advice in such way that seems cruel and impersonal, I believe that it emphasizes her seriousness and strong belief for what she is saying. Finally, I propose that this informal structure is a method meant to contrast the insignificance that the mother feels about proper grammar (or even proper education) with the importance she feels towards having her daughter behave as a proper, well-trained woman.

Works Cited

Kincaid, Jamaica. “Girl.” The Norton Introduction to Literature, Portable 12th edition, edited by Kelly J. Mays, Norton, 2017, pp. 127-129.