Bitterswee Jamaica Girl Analysis

When I read the poem “Girl,” I felt as if the mother was represented as an unpleasant figure. The fact that the poem was written all in one sentence and had many amounts of commas told me that the girl was constantly told what to do one command after the other. These commands were told in a way that wouldn’t let the girl think of anything otherwise, the voice of the mother has now replaced the voice in the girl’s head, which meant that when she would make a decision her mother 's voice is the one that she will be referred to. However, on the positive aspect, it seems as if the mother was trying to raise a well-rounded child to grow into a respected woman. I see what she’s doing as tough love, a mother who makes sure that she is strict with her child. ‘when buying cotton to make yourself a nice blouse, be sure that it doesn 't have gum on it, because that way it won 't hold up well after a wash;’ In this quote from “Girl” it seems as if the mother only has good intentions since in the 1950s these are the basic skills of daily life that women would need to know. Overall, this is a poem which I believe is

Jamaica Kincaid in the poem “Girl” portrays a familiar yet authentic situation to her audience. She wanted to emphasis what it felt like to grow up as a girl and what was expected of a girl as she grows older. Jamaica did what had to be done for her audience to experience life the way she did, she took her audience and made the walk in her shoes. Showing another person’s perspective is the most effective way to let others understand the way the experience was. Jamaica wrote, ‘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;’ she uses sensitive words as a wake up call to show that to the girl this wasn’t the way mothers love and care for their daughters. The author’s tactics and style of writing efficiently portrayed the message she wanted her audience to