Dianelis Almonte
Essay #2 Draft “Girl” By Jamaica Kincaid uses a unique narrative structure which conveys a long list of commands to show that the mother’s domestic actions to highlight her understanding and authority. The mother who is the main speaker worries that if her daughter continues with her current behavior, will turn out to become a “slut”. The mother wants the daughter to be able to run a household and live a respectably life. The way the structure of this poem is presented is like a short story form. The semicolons are used to separate the mother’s advice from the daughter’s feelings towards her mother. It gives a sense of power and separation between the conversation movements. The structure has no rhyme or lines, just long commands that have no ending. As a reader, my first impression of this poem is an adult giving orders to someone on what and how to do certain things. The narrator has an authoritarian control over this being who is the daughter. From the beginning, the literal content conveys authority by giving demands and a continuation of sentences that lead to non-stop breath taking commands. The mother sees herself of the only person who can save the girl from living a life in which she will be disrespected. Even though it seems as if the mother already knows for a fact that her daughter is beginning to live that life basing on how she sits, walks and sings benna during Sunday class. “On Sundays try to walk like a lady and not live like the slut you are so bent on becoming; don’t sing benna in Sunday school” Benna which is characterized by scandalous gossip and it first appeared after prohibition of slavery. Benna plays an important role as it is a symbol that her uses for sexuality. The mother is afraid of her daughter knowing what it means and prohibit her from singing such song, especially during Sunday school which is forbidden to do in public. Once her mother is done giving her one of many orders, the girl gives her first response as in self-defense. “But I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school. To me the girl reacted in such self-defense and it could be in a sense of guilt. How does her mother know she has sung benna during Sunday school? “Always squeeze bread to make sure it’s