Kincaid on Life Lessons

Girl isn’t so much a story as a lecture.  Jamaica Kincaid’s first published story is a long list of expectations handed down from a mother to a daughter.  The speaker goes on in one long sentence, how to do this, when to that, why this needs to be done.  A lot of it is practical advice.  A lot of it is about keeping house, and taking care of yourself.  A lot of it is about relationships, how to handle people, how to handle yourself.  All of it is written in the tone of an exasperated mother.  You can feel the listener cowering in response to this deluge of edicts.  So many expectations, so many disappointments to overcome.  The mother repeatedly reminds the listener not to “act like the slut you are so bent on becoming” although the daughter is still young enough to be playing marbles ( 1725).   The two times the daughter tries to interject the mother either ignores her or insults her. 

Although the tone is cold and practical I think most daughters can recognize the lecture.  These are the things women need to know.  This is how life is.  The mother seems to have learned all of it the hard way, and now the daughter has her turn.  “This is life, this is what you need to do- don’t screw up” seems to be the message.    And Kincaid has captured the cadence of the mother’s lecture.  Half practical, half magical it is an initiation into womanhood.  And it’s hard being a woman.

Kincaid, Jamaica.  Girl. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2013.  1724-1726. Print.