I found Kincaid’s style of writing very interesting. Her short story was really one long sentence with the exception of some semi colons. I think Kincaid does this on purpose. She’s overwhelming the reader, the same way she’s overwhelming the girl in the story with all the instructions from the mother type character. The girl is being burdened with more and more information that she’s supposed to process and she’s supposed to change her behavior and act in a certain way, all to be a “proper young lady.
And I noticed that when the girl speaks Kincaid uses italics rather than quotes. It seems as if she did that because quotes would interrupt that flow and Kincaid wants the girl and reader to be overwhelmed. I had also initially thought of the character as the mother, but after completing the reading, I’ve realized that the “mother” can quite possibly be the “voice of society.”