This is Cathy Lee.
In the simplicity of the title “Girl”, Kincaid implies several different things about the protagonist of the story. She is nameless, and not defined by a unique personality or characteristic, but by the fact that her behaviour is shaped by a fixed set of societal expectations. She is also defined by her gender, as exemplified in the story by frequent mentions of the need for an adherence to conservative gender roles, and the protagonist being told to refrain from actions such as “[squatting] down to play marbles” because she is not a boy, and therefore should not behave as such.
Kincaid also utilises the format of the story to great effect. What at first glance seems like a wall of text is a lengthy, repetitive list of instructions a mother is giving her daughter on how to behave as society expects of her. The protagonist only speaks twice, and Kincaid distinguishes her voice from her mother’s by italicising her words, effectively delineating that the space the protagonist is taking up in the conversation is smaller, almost as if her voice is less heard than her mother’s, as the latter’s voice overpowers the former’s. When her mother continues giving instructions without answering her protest of “but I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school”, it reinforces the notion that the daughter’s voice is continually unheard. The voice that the protagonist lacks in this story (as it is overpowered by her mother), as well as the continuous stream of instructions on propriety her mother gives her, contributes to the theme of conformity that is central to this story.
In the simplicity of the title “Girl”, Kincaid implies several different things about the protagonist of the story. She is nameless, and not defined by a unique personality or characteristic, but by the fact that her behaviour is shaped by a fixed set of societal expectations. She is also defined by her gender, as exemplified in the story by frequent mentions of the need for an adherence to conservative gender roles, and the protagonist being told to refrain from actions such as “[squatting] down to play marbles” because she is not a boy, and therefore should not behave as such.
Kincaid also utilises the format of the story to great effect. What at first glance seems like a wall of text is a lengthy, repetitive list of instructions a mother is giving her daughter on how to behave as society expects of her. The protagonist only speaks twice, and Kincaid distinguishes her voice from her mother’s by italicising her words, effectively delineating that the space the protagonist is taking up in the conversation is smaller, almost as if her voice is less heard than her mother’s, as the latter’s voice overpowers the former’s. When her mother continues giving instructions without answering her protest of “but I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school”, it reinforces the notion that the daughter’s voice is continually unheard. The voice that the protagonist lacks in this story (as it is overpowered by her mother), as well as the continuous stream of instructions on propriety her mother gives her, contributes to the theme of conformity that is central to this story.
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