Godbey 1

Macie Godbey

Dr. Kellner

ENGL 0099 001

22 October 2018

In “Girl” Jane Maher felt so annoyed her whole life with her dad, but when he was gone

she truly knew he loved her. All her life she hated the word girl, and her dad always called her

that. Maher’s dad looked at women less than men and when he called her girl she felt less than

what she was. When Maher moved away she saw less of her dad and started another life. Then

one day she got the call that her dad was ill, she went to Florida right then. It was too late, she

did not get to say goodbye. When she found out that her dad used ‘girl’ in his last words with the

nurse, she suddenly felt comforted.

This article was so upsetting to read. All Maher wanted her whole life was for her dad to

just stop calling her girl. Though he never did, and she really grew so far from her dad because

of that. I couldn’t imagine feeling the way her dad made her feel. Just because I’m so close with

my dad if he ever looked at me as less of something it would make me feel so heartbroken. Jane

Maher knew deep down that he loved her and always did. When she found out that he had passed

I would have reacted the same way. Nervous he was by himself all morning dead or alive. I’m

sorry that someone had to go through so much.

 Godbey 2

Work Cited

Maher, Jane. "Girl." Women and Language, vol. 14, no. 2, 1991, pp. 1.