Dani Rosenberger Professor Church World Literature 20101 30th April 2024 When thinking about a main character breaking a societal taboo, my first thought is the common sayings “She's asking for it dressed like that”, “Boys will be boys”, “Girls cook, clean, and take care of the house” and “Boys are rough and tough”. All of these sayings are controversial in the generation we are in now. Women trying to become more equal with men in the world, and then men speaking up about mental health, not just for women. There are many scenarios that people can think about that have happened in their lives, but one reading I felt I connected best with this prompt was Kincaid's poem, “Girl”. In the text "Girl" it is about a mother who gives her daughter advice,…show more content… When the daughter in the story talks back to her mom, saying, "but I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school," it feels like we're seeing a classic mom-daughter argument from back in the day. My thoughts on Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl" make me feel a lot of different. The mother's strong demand for acceptance and her harsh enforcement of traditional gender roles irritate me on the one hand. It's difficult to watch the girl being reminded to conform to social norms all the time. Her mother's commands about deviating from the norm feel oppressive, and I find it painful to see the daughter's independence and self-expression being restricted. However, I try to see myself in the mother's position. She may have been fierce because she was raised in a place where survival is a never-ending battle, and she genuinely wanted to keep her daughter
