Please respond to any two of the following questions. Share your responses by Monday, December 5th. If you’d like, you can hear Jamaica Kincaid reading “Girl” HERE.
–How would you describe the STYLE of this text? Be specific in illustrating your response.
–Where do we see conflict in this text? What is the nature of the conflict?
–What does this text tell us about the expectations placed on girls and women?
–Explain the text’s last line: “you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread? “.
–Choose a specific instruction or prohibition from the text that stands out to you. What do you make of it?
–To what extent do you feel that you have been given, either explicitly or implicitly, instructions about what it means to be a woman or a man? Share an example of an instruction that you have received.
How would you describe the STYLE of this text? Be specific in illustrating your response.
The style of text seems like a list of instructions. It’s the mother telling the girl what to do separated by semicolons. The girl dosent really speak as much.
Choose a specific instruction or prohibition from the text that stands out to you. What do you make of it?
The instruction that stands out to me is when the mother says “this is how you set a table for lunch” and follows with more similar instructions for other stuff. It stood out to me because the instructions followed by that are very gender role oriented. It’s like her mothers preparing her to play society’s version of a woman’s role for a family. Which is very shocking because most parents usually try to justify that gender roles shouldn’t be existent in a relationshiHow would you describe the STYLE of this text? Be specific in illustrating your response.
What does this text tell us about the expectations placed on girls and women?
The expectations placed on girls and women is that they constantly have to look at their appearance, their actions, and constantly be aware of what people around them say about them since they will be criticized by anything. Also that girls have to learn from a young age on how to act in order to become a women.
Choose a specific instruction or prohibition from the text that stands out to you. What do you make of it?
When Kincaid states “this is how you iron your fathers khaki shirt so that it doesn’t have a crease; this is how you iron your fathers khaki pants so that they dont have a crease”, this stood out to me because these are instructions being given to the girl and it gives it a feeling that she is being turned into a “maid”. Also that she has to be up to men expectations and is being taught at an early age.
What does this text tell us about the expectations placed on girls and women?
This text tells us that girls and women are expected to be almost perfect and have a certain role in society that they must fill. Jamaica Kincaid describes many things that a girl should know how to do and most of it revolves around cooking, cleaning, and caretaking. She also points to the expectation for girls to adjust themselves to their environment accordingly, but always be nice while doing it. I think she is implying that a girl who does not follow these standards is less of a girl according to society. If she can’t cook, clean, or caretake, what’s her purpose then?
To what extent do you feel that you have been given, either explicitly or implicitly, instructions about what it means to be a woman or a man? Share an example of an instruction that you have received.
I have heard similar things to what Jamaica Kincaid listed, most of my life. They would happen explicitly and implicitly. One moment that this text reminded me of was when I was about 11, my grandmother and mom always told me to learn to cook or else no one would marry me. This was confusing to hear as an 11-year-old. It’s not that I hated cooking, I just never picked up. I think they were quick to put that expectation on me because my older sister of three years was very involved in the kitchen. I think that instruction made me not want to try cooking at all, even though I had nothing against it in the first place. I hear less of it now and have overcome the feeling that cooking meant that I’m falling into some expectation or stereotype. Now, I try to cook whenever I feel inspired to, especially during the holidays.
Explain the text’s last line: “you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread?”.
When you think about the expectation people have for women is that you expect them to do all the cleaning, cooking and baking, as Jamaica Kancaid had listed. As the text is constantly comparing the two, what it means to be a woman or a slut. So “the kind of woman” refers to the slutty kind of woman. So the line is basically saying that if a woman can’t or refuses to stay in the kitchen, then she is no different from a slut.
What does this text tell us about the expectations placed on girls and women?
Jamaica Kincaid lists out many things a woman is expected to do, to cook, clean, sew and act ladylike. If you are not staying at home and taking care of the house, and fall short of the expectation, you are considered a slut. The text also constantly throws a list of “this is how…”, to show that womans are dumb and have to be constantly told how to do things correctly.
–What does this text tell us about the expectations placed on girls and women?
This text tells us how young girls and women are supposed to act in public. They shouldn’t do anything that they will remember later. Also, how they should change their behavior in public. They should stay at home, cook, clean, and take care of the household.
–To what extent do you feel that you have been given, either explicitly or implicitly, instructions about what it means to be a woman or a man? Share an example of an instruction that you have received.
I have heard a similar thing about African culture and experienced it. When the girl’s mom told her how to do something, it reminded me of African parents because they always wanted their girls to know how to cook, clean, and become exemplary mothers for their children. Before I was 13, my mom showed me how to keep the house clean and talk to people respectfully. They wanted their daughters to know how to cook and maintain the house clean because they always said when you get married. So, no one at your home is telling you what to do. So, it would be best to learn everything before getting married. They don’t want to feel embarrassed to hear that their daughter doesn’t know how to cook or do the cleaning.
1. How would you describe the STYLE of this text? Be specific in illustrating your response.
The style of this text is instructional. It is written in such a way that the reader imagines her mother telling her these things. How to take care of a home, how to act so people don’t think you’re a slut, how to be a good woman. I think it is very intriguing to be styled in such a way. It made listening to it extremely emotional for me because of how I was raised to be. As well, the instructional aspect perpetrates the idea or the concept of the things pushed onto us (as women) from a very early age as to be perceived in a certain way.
6.To what extent do you feel that you have been given, either explicitly or implicitly, instructions about what it means to be a woman or a man? Share an example of an instruction that you have received.
I feel that I’ve been given a lot of instruction, both implicit and explicit, about what it means to be a woman. In my house my mother raised me and my sister very strictly because she was very concerned, similar to Kincaid’s mother, that we would become “sluts.” We weren’t allowed to wear leggings, makeup, or anything that would appear that we were trying to look or act older than we were. I remember when me and my sister would visit with our grandpa, he would always tell us to “close our legs,” and I never really knew what it meant until I was older. We were taught how to be well-mannered, and well-rounded women, but specifically for the fact of other people thinking we were so.
How would you describe the STYLE of this text? Be specific in illustrating your response.
I agree with my classmates that say this style of text is instructional, because it seems that the mother is telling her daughter everything she needs to do in order to not be seen as a slut to others. The author keeps repeating “this is how to” or “this is how you” to show the reader what to focus on when reading this text, because these repetitions emphasize how important it is for the daughter to listen to her mother. In addition, I found it interesting how there isn’t a period until the end of the text to show that this is meant to be read by just flowing through it.
Explain the text’s last line: “you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread? “.
I think this line means how the mom thinks the daughter will just ignore her instructions and guidance to become the person that the mom is trying to prevent the daughter from becoming. The mom saying “ you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread?”, refers to how the baker will despise the type of person the daughter has become and despise her because of this.
–Choose a specific instruction or prohibition from the text that stands out to you. What do you make of it?
A specific prohibition that specifically stood out to me was the following: “Dont throw stones at blackbirds, because it might not be a blackbird at all.” Many of the other instructions and prohibitions seem stereotypical and ordinary for the time. However, this instruction in particular holds a strange reasoning. I am not sure about the significance of blackbirds in this context, however, the last part of the statement stands out to me. It seems to question the validity of a women’s perception. It suggests that a woman’s judgement should not be trusted, even by herself. Although she believes it to be a blackbird, her femininity predisposes her to being wrong and her perceptions are always taken with a grain of salt.
–To what extent do you feel that you have been given, either explicitly or implicitly, instructions about what it means to be a woman or a man? Share an example of an instruction that you have received.
I definitely believe that in my culture there are several instructions which are given to girls on what it means to be a true woman, both implicit and explicit. The many implicit indications were seen primarily in the treatment of my siblings and I growing up. My sister and I were always expected to wash the dishes and take responsibility for the cleaning in the house, my brother was never asked to do these things. Rather, he would get an allowance for helping my grandfather fix things or take out the garbage. My grandmother was always more explicit with these instruction, telling us that there was no reason for my brother to cook or clean because he had two sisters. It was only when I got older that I was able to see these double standards as being unfair, because growing up it just seemed like the norm.
Explain the text’s last line: “you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread? “.
This line translates to me how the mom is very protective over her daughter. Even with all the protection she still is afraid she won’t follow her explicit rules and become exactly who her mother doesn’t want her to become. The quote talks about the baker and how the baker won’t like who the girl becomes.
To what extent do you feel that you have been given, either explicitly or implicitly, instructions about what it means to be a woman or a man? Share an example of an instruction that you have received.
There have been many situations where I have been given explicit rules to be the perfect role for a man. Dancing has been a huge role as something frowned upon so heavily. My parents always said dancing is something done by females and that I should never dance. Another scenario I have seen explicit rules to be a man was when I wanted to get jewelry. This is fairly recent too, I wanted to get a necklace, earrings, and bracelets and my parents did not let me get anything because it resembled female characteristics.
–What does this text tell us about the expectations placed on girls and women?
This text tells us about the high expectations society places on girls and women. It is expected for girls and women to do the right thing all the time and behave adequately. Furthermore, girls and women are expected to take care of the household and uphold certain manners that are deemed feminine like “always eat your food in such a way that it won’t turn someone else’s stomach” (1145). This shows how even the way girls and women eat food has to be perfect. Essentially, girls and women have an expected role to fulfill in society.
–To what extent do you feel that you have been given, either explicitly or implicitly, instructions about what it means to be a woman or a man? Share an example of an instruction that you have received.
I feel that I’ve given instructions about what it means to be a woman in explicit and implicit ways. I have been thought to cross my legs when I’m sitting because it is proper and lady-like. I was also thought to suppress any kind of emotion in order to not be seen as weak. Also, to always be aware of your surroundings when walking alone at any time during the day.
How would you describe the STYLE of this text? Be specific in illustrating your response.
I would describe the style of this text as instructional because the writer is telling a list of things that her mother always tells her to do, and how to be a woman so the society wont judge her. The things that she mentions in the text, is an example of how others see women. In a way, we have to follow traditions in order to be a good woman.
–What does this text tell us about the expectations placed on girls and women?
The expectations placed on girls and women are very traditional because society expects women to stay home, take care of her children and husband, dress in a proper way, cook, clean, be careful the way you act in front of people, etc. I feel that nowadays women have changed some of these expectations because now we see how a woman can have the same job as the man, and how men help the woman to clean, cook, etc. A woman cannot be defined by those expectations. Society likes to judge women on everything they do, different from men. In this text the girl seems to be tired of hearing the same thing over and over again.
How would you describe the STYLE of this text? Be specific in illustrating your response.
The style of this text, I would say, is a mother instructing her daughter. It’s a list of instructions, written in a way that the mother is telling her daughter how to be an ‘ideal’ woman. The mother speaks about how to take care of the house, how to act in the kitchen, and how to be viewed as a ‘slut’. Throughout, we only see the mother listing instructions to her daughter which are separated by semicolons.
Choose a specific instruction or prohibition from the text that stands out to you. What do you make of it?
The instruction that truly struck me is, “this is how you sweep a corner. This is how you sweep a whole house. This is how you sweep a yard”. This conveys a message of the mother converting her daughter into ‘maid’ that the society respects and accepts. The mother is telling her daughter to behave in a way and live up to the expectations that the society has set for being the ‘ideal’ woman who stays at home and nurtures the family without doing anything else. This is so emotional because it talks about actions and activities that are gender specific roles.
The text shows us the expectations placed on women by showing how much our behavior is scrutinized. We have to smile a certain way to people we like but that smile is different for people we don’t like. We have to be able to set the table for certain dinners, and there is so much to remember. There isn’t room for error or we will be seen as a slut.
An instruction that stood out to me was “this was how to make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child”. We had made large progress so women wouldn’t have to resort to at-home abortions which are so dangerous, and the Supreme Court recently took away that right on a federal level. It just reminds me how far gone we went back with this supreme court.
What does this text tell us about the expectations placed on girls and women?
This text tells us how girls and women are conditioned from a very young age to be “proper” and they are primed to become the perfect housewife. We are taught to be feminine, but not in a provocative way, to know how to cook and clean, to be devoted homemakers, and to reproduce and care for the children. Such societal expectations hinder our ability to live our lives freely.
To what extent do you feel that you have been given, either explicitly or implicitly, instructions about what it means to be a woman or a man? Share an example of an instruction that you have received.
I have been given explicit instructions on what it means to be a woman from a close relative. I was asked if I know how to cook food properly which at the time I didn’t think much of it, but now I realized that it’s expected of women to know how to cook. As a kid, I wondered why is it the duty of the wife to cook all the meals. Also, when I decided that I was going to be a Business major, I had relatives telling me that the business sector is a male-dominated field and I should take up nursing.
–What does this text tell us about the expectations placed on girls and women?
I believe this text tells us that girls and woman should be lady like in every situation. This text is like a list of rules that girls and woman should obey and it gives you rules for specific scenarios. It’s like a text on how not to appear like a slut.
–To what extent do you feel that you have been given, either explicitly or implicitly, instructions about what it means to be a woman or a man? Share an example of an instruction that you have received.
Coming from a Hispanic house hold with a mother that always serves my fathers plate I have always heard instructions on how to be a woman ever since I was able to even comprehend things in life. But from my understanding it was like my mother wanted me to be an independent women yet she will always have me helping her clean and do laundry while my brother and father weren’t. Not only that but we were always the ones the set and clean up the table. In my head I always wondered if she was training me to one day be a loyal house wife. If a woman in my family doesn’t know how cook or clean she will always get gossiped about.
How would you describe the STYLE of this text? Be specific in illustrating your response.
This text has guide type of style. This is how you do this and this is how you do that. I seems like a mother informing her daughter on ways that stuff should be done in order for her go live her life “right”.
Explain the text’s last line: “you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread?
The way that the mother was teaching her daughter put a lot on emphasis on how she should appear to those around her. The way she should act in public, and different ways to smile. The only type of people you wouldn’t let near food would be if they were in some way dirty. The mother is trying to make sure she doesn’t become the dirty person or “slut” by giving her these tips on how act.
Q1: Choose a specific instruction or prohibition from the text that stands out to you. What do you make of it?
A1: One instruction that stood out to me was “be sure to wash every day, even if it is with your own spit”. I’m guessing this is the mother’s way of telling her daughter that she should shower to get clean everyday, even if there wasn’t any water around to use for showering. To me, having to wash your body with your own spit not only seems kind of gross but also impossible; it will take forever to get that much spit to not just rinse your body but also to wash the soap off.
Q2: How would you describe the STYLE of this text? Be specific in illustrating your response.
A2: It seems like this could be a type of monologue because the mother is the one speaking to her daughter, with all the different types of instructions she gives her in hopes of her not becoming a “slut”. But monologues are usually uninterrupted, I think thoughts from others are included when it comes to interruptions since there’s moments where we can read what the daughter is thinking when her mother speaks.
1. What does this text tell us about the expectations placed on girls and women?
The narrator of Jamaica Kincaid’s poem “Girl” considers the demands and expectations made of women and girls. The narrator describes a little girl who is listening to an older woman, who is probably her mother, give her a litany of directions and restrictions. The narrator enumerates a number of norms and expectations that are applied to women and girls. In addition to being assessed and evaluated based on their capacity to satisfy these expectations, these expectations include a wide variety of themes, including how to act, how to dress, how to take care of their appearance, and how to interact with people.
2. Where do we see conflict in this text? What is the nature of the conflict?
The conflict in this text is the sexiest and most biased judgement made towards women and how they only have to obey the expectations and rules to survive living.