Blog #3 "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid

Let me start off by saying I was thoroughly relieved at the site of a short story as apposed to a poem! I can understand the short stories a tad bit easier then the confusing, multi-meaning poetry that we had to blog about last week. When reading “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid for the first time, I felt really sorry for the daughter who was being talked down to the entire time. I obviously do not see why the daughter is being called a slut on multiple occasions; the first time being “on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming.” Not only did this bother me as a daughter myself, it also bothered me that any mother would find it reasonable to accuse one’s own daughter of such. A daughter most likely has traits that resemble that of their mother so she is practically accusing herself of the same faults. I thought this short reading was very demanding and strict of the parent to say to the child, and it was certainly handing out a lot of rules for just a young girl. I am assuming the girl is only in grade school because the writer states, “don’t’ sing benna in Sunday school;” which means she has to be young enough to still attend that. Benna, according to an online dictionary, is a genre of Antiguan and Barbudan music and is a calypso-like genre, characterized by scandalous gossip and a call-and-response format. Knowing that, benna is yet another term that is not endearing or motherly.The assertions, directions, and suggestions that the mother informs her daughter of are mostly going to be useful at some point in here future but the constant repetition about her being or becoming a slut really throws me off. The voice in this poem leads me to believe that the speaker is not friendly nor very emotionally attached to her offspring because she is so forceful and not exactly nice. The relationship is depicted a little differently at the end when the mother switches to talking about love and failure. She says, “this is how to bully a man; this is how a man bullies you; this is how to love a man; and if this doesn't work there are other ways, and if they don't work don't feel too bad about giving up; this is how to spit up in the air if you feel like it, and this is how to move quick so that it doesn't fall on you.” These lines all show me that the mother must not totally and honestly believe in love or acting like a completely socially acceptable woman either, as much as she acts like she is perfect and all-knowing of appropriate behavior in the earlier lines. I enjoyed this short story and by comparing it to my own relationship with my mother, I realized just how good I have it!  My mom definitely does not talk to me like that, and teaches me in a very different manner than this mother decided to teach her daughter. It makes me realize how I should probably parent, at least a little bit, like my mom!