Girl by Jamaica Kincaid by Samuel Lee

Cooking

samuellee10 — 2024-10-29 14:30:42 UTC

Chores

samuellee10 — 2024-10-29 14:31:48 UTC

heidiblanton3 — 2024-10-29 14:31:58 UTC

"cook pumpkin fritters in very hot sweet oil"

heidiblanton3 — 2024-10-29 14:32:25 UTC

"soak salt fish overnight before you cook it"

samuellee10 — 2024-10-29 14:32:26 UTC

"soak salt fish overnight before you cook it"

samuellee10 — 2024-10-29 14:33:38 UTC

"this is how you sweep a yard"

heidiblanton3 — 2024-10-29 14:34:18 UTC

"this is how to make a bread pudding"

samuellee10 — 2024-10-29 14:34:28 UTC

"this is how you set a table for dinner"

samuellee10 — 2024-10-29 14:34:49 UTC

"this is how you set a table for dinner"

heidiblanton3 — 2024-10-29 14:35:48 UTC

"this is how to make doukona"

Manners

samuellee10 — 2024-10-29 14:35:49 UTC

Manners

emiliadoncov3 — 2024-10-29 14:35:54 UTC

heidiblanton3 — 2024-10-29 14:36:04 UTC

"this is how to make pepper pot"

samuellee10 — 2024-10-29 14:36:43 UTC

"this is how to make a buttonhole for the button you have just sewed on"

heidiblanton3 — 2024-10-29 14:37:49 UTC

"this is how to behave in the presence of men who don’t know you very well, and this way they won’t recognize immediately the slut I have warned you against becoming"

samuellee10 — 2024-10-29 14:37:53 UTC

"this is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming"

emiliadoncov3 — 2024-10-29 14:38:08 UTC

"this is how you smile to someone you don't like too much;"

heidiblanton3 — 2024-10-29 14:38:22 UTC

don’t squat down to play marbles—you are not a boy, you know

emiliadoncov3 — 2024-10-29 14:39:43 UTC

"this is how to behave in the presence of men you don't know very well"

Gender Expectations

heidiblanton3 — 2024-10-29 14:42:44 UTC

heidiblanton3 — 2024-10-29 14:44:08 UTC

"you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread?"

samuellee10 — 2024-10-29 14:44:46 UTC

Some of the advice given seems like it could never have been spoken, but only inferred: “this 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.” Consider the story as a form of interior monologue instead of a record of the mother’s actual voice. If the story is an interior monologue and not a dialogue, how does this change in voice/point of view affect the story’s meaning?

heidiblanton3 — 2024-10-29 14:44:50 UTC

"this is how to bully a man; this is how a man bullies you"

heidiblanton3 — 2024-10-29 14:45:33 UTC

"this is how to love a man"

samuellee10 — 2024-10-29 14:48:42 UTC

If the story wasn't spoken by the mom and instead a monologue, it would make the story much different because the girl would be telling herself these rules. She is enforcing how she thinks she should act rather than having someone else tell her how to. Furthermore, her monologue would be things she learned how to do, rather than having instructions. For example, "this is how you sweep a yard," and "this is how you set a table for dinner," wouldn't be based on her mother's actions of showing the girl how to complete these tasks. The girl would do them herself without guidance.

-Sam

emiliadoncov3 — 2024-10-29 14:49:35 UTC

heidiblanton3 — 2024-10-29 14:50:00 UTC

The change in the voice/point of view affects the story's meaning because instead of her being instructed to do all of these habits it is stuff that she picked up from others around her. This means that she is trying to act the way she thinks that women are supposed to act and instead of being forced to be like that she sees what her mom is doing and does it herself. For example in the phrase "this is how you set a table for tea; this is how you set a table for dinner; this is how you set a table for dinner with an important guest; this is how you set a table for lunch; this is how you set a table for breakfast" This message could have been picked up from observing them way her mom set the table. This means that her mom had an effect on her even if she wasn't telling her things she picked up her moms habits because it was what she thought a good women to act like because of how her mom acts.

-Heidi

2024-10-29 15:18:56 UTC

if this story is an interior monologue and not a dialogue, I think it changes the stories meaning because it is not things that her mom has taught her, but things that she expects of herself based off of examples form her mother. She is enforcing how she thinks she should act, instead of her mother enforcing it. Just like every mother, there are lessons that are taught to almost every child. For example, her mother says, "on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming." This is her mother trying to keep her daughter on track for being a polite modest woman. However, if this was her inner voice, this could be her speaking from past experience. Perhaps her mother did things that the daughter does not want to represent when she is older. If the roles were reversed this way, it sheds light on how children oftentimes have to teach themselves lessons they learned through not wanting to be like their parents.