In
"," Kincaid's narrator speaks in a command form as she gives advice to her daughter
about how to live as a woman in Antiguan society. The woman is expected to do household chores
like laundry and cooking. The narrator, presumably an older woman like the titular girl's
mother, also tells the girl how to act like a "proper" girl so as not to harm her
reputation. She gives the girl directives on how to act at Sunday school and how to wear her
clothing so as not to "look like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming." This
strong use of language and accusatory tone indicate that the mother's main concern in educating
her daughter is teaching her how to protect her "virtue." Only by maintaining that
virtue can she get married and have the privilege to perform all of the domestic jobs for which
her mother is training her.
The text is written as one long sentence,
separated by semicolons, that spans two pages. Theconveys how overwhelmed the girl might feel to
be getting so many...
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