Draft

This is only part of my essay, I had a lot of trouble posting this one, so please just bare with what I have, I couldn't post all of my essay.

Amber Mayle
English 250
Albert Rouzie
10 March 2009

“Girl” and “Boys”


The story "Girl" relates to a mother telling her daughter how to act a certain way in public, while the story "Boys" is about two twin boys raising havoc in their home. Boys and girls are separated by some physical traits and some physiological traits as well, but society puts stereotypical strain on boys and girls. Although the short stories evolved from two different authors, they are both products of stereotypes past down from generation to generation.

Growing up, hearing "Boys will be boys," and "You should act like a young lady," were always familiar to hear. In the short story "Girl," we see a mother, or some form of influence telling a young girl how to act in public, so she doesn’t look like a whore or slut. On the other hand, is the story "Boys" that get away with everything because they are boys.

Jamaica Kincaid is the author of "Girl," so she is going to write from a woman's perspective of what is expected from her. She writes on how to live like a woman, talk like a woman, and be a woman. She explains how to do the laundry, what to wear, what to ay, and how to act, so that people won't judge this girl as a slut. She even goes as far as to tell the girl how to get rid of an unwanted child.
I think that the mother or other influence is just another mimic of her generation. She is passing down, what was passed to her from other women. She gave the girl the recipe for abortion, because she didn't want her to have a child out of wedlock, making her the gossip of the town. She told her how to dress, so people wouldn't whisper about how she dressed.

I think that she states, “On Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming," for a reason. Slut in this story is not to be related to the 'slut' that we know today as being a tramp or promiscuous, but I think that it means a slovenly or dirty woman. I think deep down, every girl wants to be rebellious to the norm factor. The popular phrase, “Well- behaved women rarely make history," is how I see this young lady's view. She just wants to be her own person, without the weight of what other's think on her shoulders.