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Poem Analysis: The Girl By Jamaica Kincaid

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The “Girl” is a poem that was written by Jamaica Kincaid. The poem depicts a mother instructing her daughter of what to do, and how to do it. As stated in the poem the child was being instructed on how to buy cotton which shows that the person receiving the instruction is a girl, “buying cotton to make a nice blouse,” shows females attributes and qualities. As quoted, “iron your father’s khaki shirt so that it doesn’t have a crease,” shows that it is a mother speaking. The tone of the poem is one of denial, because of the instruction in which the mother was giving to the daughter. As stated, “always eat your food… turn someone else’s stomach;” and tone is throughout the poem.
The instructive lessons that are outlined in the text for example, “how to wash the clothes, how to smile at someone you like, and how to set the table.” Shows that the girl does not know how to do things in the right way or what is pleasing to the mother’s approval. In Girl the mother is trying to teach the daughter manners including how to smile to people even if you do not like that person and how to set the table.
The mother in the poem seems like a perfectionist who wants things done in a specify way to meet not only the persons who is doing the specific duty but it should also meet the approval of others, for example, “how to cook food for others and how to make and give medicine to people that are in need.”
The mother calls the daughter a slut, “this is how to behave in the presence of men who

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