Girl, by Jamaica Kincaid

Context of the text: Recently, I had been watching on YouTube the narration of
contemporary literature short story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, which you can find in the
following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHr1HYW0mKE, when I noticed that
the audience started to laugh after hearing some lines of the tale. Due to this, I decided to
ask myself: What are they laughing about? What do I think about it? Also, as at the
beginning it might not be explicit, I also proposed these questions: How many characters
appear in the story? Who are they? What’s their relationship? In the following lines I try to
answer all of those queries and to make clear my point of view in what has to do with a
topic of such importance these days: Chauvinism in society.

"Girl", written in 1978 by Antiguan Jamaica Kincaid, is such an interesting and related to
real life story which leaves, on the reader who is able to understand it, an important teach
germane to how women´s life has been being since civilizations are known. Although at
first it could appear as a group of meaningless sentences said by who, a priori, seems to be
the only character in the whole narration, after doing some interpretation reader is able not
only to get the disturbing message author is trying to point out, but also to notice that there
is a second character in the story who took the floor just a couple of times in the entire
narration, but that has a pretty close relationship with the character who speaks the most.
Having analyzed this, and taking into account each topic mentioned along the text, among
which we find, for example, housework or behavior in public, reader is able to infer that the
conversation is taking place in the presence of a highly worried mother and her about to
become a woman daughter. Along the text, which rather than a dialogue is sort of a speech,
reader examines each one of mother´s warnings to his daughter related to what is just to
come in the new stage of her life, and how to succeed in the above.

It is hard to believe that in such a modern and innovating world, society still works exactly
the way is explained in a forty years old literary production. It was mentioned in previous
lines that "Girl" was written in the decade of seventies, time in which the concept of
chauvinism was strongly ingrained, not only in the local Caribbean context author is trying
to portray in the text, but in the whole occidental world. Forty years later, although it is
undeniable that panorama is slightly different, girls in some specific contexts still are forced
to live understanding that their only purpose in life must be to become good women,
excellent housewives and outstanding helpmates. 

There are some people, however, for who, for an unclear reason, this topic is something
laughable. It is true that "Gringos" tend to laugh at matters which are not funny at all,
nevertheless is incredibly big the percentage of world population who do not consider
chauvinism a serious topic. It is mandatory for everybody to change their minds. That way
it is possible that in a few decades society will be able to say proudly that they are, at last,
living in an absolutely egalitarian context.

Rodrigo Lorduy Calume