Response to Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl"

Jamaica Kincaid

Re: Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl"

Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl" reads like a catalogue, a list of dos and don'ts for a proper and socially acceptable young woman. The familiarity of the warnings and underlying critiques lets me know that even though girlhood and prescribed womanhood vary by culture some of the coming-of-age experiences are similar. Most of us don't get to be women without being told what a good one or bad one constitutes...and just how important it is to decide early on which label you're going to wear.

Angel Dye

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Ms. Kincaid,

I am sorry your mother’s bitterness became your problem. And that your life was her blame.

Questions I thought about:
• If the title was called “Mother” would that change the voice of the poem?
• If the Mother was speaking to “Boy” how would this poem look?
• Were there any benefits to the lessons your mother taught you?

Miela Fetaw,
Milwaukee, WI
Friday, June 17, 2016

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If girls have to constantly hold their tongue, cover their bodies, silence their thoughts; imagine how many years they will have to expose when they finally open up and talk back.

Courtney Harris
San Antonio, TX 2016


Related:
• AALCI 2016