Girl

Kincaid’s text is layered with repetition. On the one level, the speaker repeatedly uses the same infinitive, imperative form of verbs. The usage of this verb form creates a commanding tone and even deploys a sense of urgency to the reader. The mother tells the daughter to “cook pumpkin fritters” (Lines 6-7) and to “soak your little cloths right after you take them off” (Lines 8-9). The imperative sentence structure implies that the tasks need to be done immediately and correctly.

The other level of repetition is at the phrasal level. The speaker often repeats the same wording at the beginning of her instructions. She constantly instructs her daughter that “this is how” something is specifically done, or “this is how” it is proper to act. The repetition of this phrase heightens the didactic tone of the work and helps to cement the mother as a controlling, powerful figure in the daughter’s life.

The mother repeats other concepts and phrases, such as the daughter becoming a “slut” and whether the daughter does “sing benna in Sunday school” (Lines 13-14 and 16). Such repetition highlights the mother’s anxiety over these particular actions (or supposed actions) on the part of her daughter. Of the latter phrases, the anxiety stems from the meaning of “benna” and her daughter’s blossoming sexuality. Authors often utilize repetition to draw attention to some aspect of their writing or to reiterate a message or point. In the case of “Girl,” repetition helps to characterize the mother as the authoritarian and the girl as the reluctant recipient of her mother’s cultural and communal wisdom.

Syntax is how the author arranges, or structures, words and phrases in a text. “Girl” consists of a single sentence comprised of 53 phrases. The phrases, which the author separates with semicolons, form a list of the mother’s directives with two interjections from the daughter. Each instruction or phrase that makes up this list could possibly stand on its own as a complete sentence, or an independent clause. That is, each listed item contains a subject and a verb, which makes it a complete thought. For example, “don’t pick people’s flowers” has the implied “you” subject and the verb phrase “do pick” (Line 39). Even though each phrase is a complete thought in and of itself, they are strung together grammatically using semicolons. Visually, the daughter’s voice is lost among the tirade of her mother’s behavioral directives.

This usage of semicolons could also fall under the repetition category noted above. By keeping the listed items as a single sentence, the text keeps a forward momentum and even seems to pick up pace as one listed item gives way to the next. The semicolons do not provide a hard enough stop, or pause, to impede the text’s momentum. The momentum only slows when the daughter interjects and when a question is asked. The questions in the last few lines of the text make readers pull back and consider the inquiry posed by the daughter to the mother and vice versa. The urgency and momentum created by the single-sentence structure of the text supplements the same sensation created by the imperative tone and infinitive verbs. It also matches the urgency and anxiety with which the mother strives to impart knowledge to her daughter. In turn, readers can quite literally see how the mother overshadows the daughter.