Feminist "Girl"

Girl, written by Jamaica Kincaid has a very powerful message behind it in the way that many girls have been raised by example. The poem is written in the shape of a list of things to do and how to do them right. The story could be analyzed through Feminist Criticism, due to the fact that the list that it reads off as directions on how to do the roles they are culturally expected to do to be a woman. Also, the poem brings in the wrong way to do it as well which results in the narrator speaking to the girl stating that she needs to “prevent yourself from looking like the slut you are so bent on becoming(Kincaid 2)” by doing the things in the manner in which she is told. No woman would ever want to be portrayed as a slut that no man would ever love. This just makes the story have a greater meaning behind it which has the reader questioning if not performing these things really make the person a slut.

            While reading through the poem it has many tell tale signs that Jamaica was making sure that the message of how women are raised to grow up is like a great big list of things they need to do to find a man to keep. Although this poem was written in 1978 it still has a great deal of relevance to the present day. Many of the things that are listed in the poem still hold true to some of the things that women are somewhat held accountable to perform on a daily basis. The ones that have the most noticeable duties are those about house keeping such as “this is how you sweep a whole house (Kincaid 2)” or “This is how you set a table for dinner (Kincaid 2).” Even to this day there are many stay at home mothers who perform a majority of these tasks. The most important factor that the poem reverts to towards the beginning, middle, and end however is about not becoming a slut. A slut in the context of this story is being a woman that a man will not want to be with due to the fact that she doesn’t exercise all of these rules and regulations that the narrator is speaking of. Although this story has a few things still relevant to the current years there are a few things that are from the past. One example that for the most part is beyond its time is mentioned at the very beginning of the poem where it states “Wash the white clothes…and put them on the stone heap (Kincaid 2).” Today most people are not even aware what the stone heap is that the narrator is speaking of. The last line of the poem also seems to add a bit of humor. The narrator states “don’t swat down to play marbles- you are not a boy, you know (Kincaid 2).” because it sounds just like one of those things a mother would tell her daughter about being more ladylike. Overall the story has a good portrayal of something analyzed from the feminist perspective due to the manner in which the narrator is speaking to a girl to act