Girl

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1978

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Summary

Background

Story Analysis

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Clothing

Clothing in “Girl” is associated with domestic work, femininity, and sexuality. This motif develops the themes of respect and coming-of-age. Numerous chores the mother describes have to do with clothing. In fact, the first directive imparts the proper system of caring for clothing: “Wash the white clothes on Monday” (Lines 1-2). The second dictates when the colored clothing should be washed. The mother also describes to her daughter how to “iron your father’s khaki shirt so that it doesn’t have a crease” (Line 23) and how to do the same for the pants. Clothing is a vital aspect of the domestic chores the mother describes as it directly links the concept of work and the home with womanhood.

However, personal clothing can be dangerous and provocative or representative of self-care. The mother provides guidance on how to care for women’s undergarments, “little cloths,” during menstruation. The mother also instructs her daughter about propriety: “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” (Lines 20-22). Some clothing, like a “nice blouse” (Lines 10-11) is appropriate and modest. Other clothing, like a dress or skirt with a disheveled hem, could give the wrong impression of the woman wearing it. It could make her vulnerable to unwanted advances or vulgar assumptions. Clothing in Kincaid’s text can both fit into the domestic sphere or break it.

Food

Similar to the motif of clothes, Kincaid also uses the motif of food to represent domestic work as well as sensuality and sexuality. In addition, the integration of regional foods defines the women’s culture and gender roles. Food or culinary tact is a component of the many chores the mother instructs the daughter to complete. She teaches her daughter how to “cook pumpkin fritters” (Lines 6-7) as well as how to “soak salt fish overnight before you cook it” (Line 12). The mother educates the daughter on how to cultivate various plants such as “okra” (Line 25), as well as how to set a table for a variety of occasions involving tea or dinner. Beyond representing the domestic, food in “Girl” also symbolizes Caribbean culture. By referencing “dasheen” (Line 26), “doukana” (Line 41), and “pepper pot” (Line 42), Kincaid adds an additional dimension of context to her story. Doukana is pudding made from starches like plantains, pepper pot is a spiced meat stew, and dasheen, known as “the staff of life,” is taro, a highly revered medicinal root vegetable.

Food can possess sensual connotations. As will be described further in the next section on metaphors, the references to “bread” with its yeasty rising can be interpreted as a metaphor for sexual maturity. The references to food in the text shift from purely utilitarian to representative of a loss of innocence.

Singing Benna

Benna is a symbol of risky sexual behavior, and singing benna is a motif that develops the coming-of-age theme. Benna is a type of Antiguan calypso folk music, calypso meaning a subversive genre of Afro-Caribbean music with an upbeat tempo. Unlike doukana, pepper pot, and dasheen, which were brought to the Caribbean from West Africa on Trans-Atlantic slave ships, benna emerged in the Caribbean after the prohibition of slavery. Benna, originally a form of folk communication, evolved into subversive and often suggestive song.

The mother expresses repeated concern regarding whether or not her daughter is singing benna, particularly in Sunday school. She rhetorically questions her daughter, “is it true that you sing benna in Sunday school?” (Lines 12-13) before commanding “don’t sing benna in Sunday school” (Line 16). The benna style of music represents liberal behaviors and contains provocative, sensual, and sensationalist messages. This style of singing represents everything that the mother wants to keep her daughter away from. By keeping her daughter from singing this music, she could protect her from the corrupting influences of the world, at least for a little while. Singing benna is a threat to the domestic sphere and works against the discipline the mother tries to endow in her child. While the mother wants her daughter to act “like a lady” (Line 15), negative influences threaten to transform her into “the slut” (Line 15) her mother fears she will become. However, the daughter’s subordinate retort—“but I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school” (Lines 19-20)—suggests that the daughter has sung benna, an indication of her maturation and budding sexuality.