Girl by Jamaica Kincaid

“[T]his is how you smile to someone you don’t like too much; this is how you smile to someone you don’t like at all; this is how you smile to someone you like completely;”

                As the mother in “Girl” continues to advise her child on what to do and what is appropriate, she explains how to smile, whether fake or real. She tells her daughter to smile at everyone because that is what a lady does, no matter what terms of the relationship may be on. She clearly does not want her to be the slut that the daughter wants to become. She wants her daughter to be a prominent woman within society that everyone respects, a woman who follows her duties and does them well. 

“[T]his 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”

                Throughout the mother’s entire rambling on being a lady and not becoming a slut, the mother teaches her daughter how to do something only boys do and yet when they are very little and immature. She teaches her daughter how to spit in the air and dodge it before it splats on her face. This is odd because the mother scorns her daughter for her behavior and demands of her daughter to behave respectably. Spitting in the air is not proper behavior especially for a lady.

“[B]ut what if the baker won’t let me feel the bread?”

                The baker gives the young girl a look as if she is not worthy to touch the bread, therefore forcing the advisor, possibly a mother figure, to ridicule her daughter for being socially out casted by the public. Throughout the short story, the main narrator tells the young girl to stop trying to become a slut and the baker proves exactly what she has been thinking. The main narrator becomes so angry with the young girl that the ending questions create awkward and uncomfortable silence at the end, which will lead the young girl to resent this person.

benna- calypso like genre of music (Girl, 1)

wharf-rat- concert goers (Girl, 1)

okrbafar- must grow okra far from the house (Girl, 1)

dasheen- a tuber from China (Girl, 1)

doukona- a kind of pudding made from starchy food which is sweetened, spiced, and traditionally wrapped in plantain...or banana leaf (Girl, 1)