Girl Essay

Everyday you wake at the crack of dawn to go to work. Throughout the day you are told what to do, and if you disobeyed, there would be consequences. The life of a girl was difficult, you had high expectations that always needed to be met. In the short story “Girl,” Jamaica Kincaid uses everday life to show inequalities in society.

First, genders are a huge part of this story. Throughout time, people have become less and less sexist, but there are still rules that must be followed. The main girl in this story, talks about all of her responsibilities throughout one day. She must clean, cook, be polite, act like a lady and nothing else, and always keep her dress clean. Boys are able to have more freedom, although they might have to work, they really don’t have to pay attention to how they act, or what their clothing looks like. If people back in time didn’t worry so much about your gender, the word might have been a more equal place, and it might have even brought down sexism along with it.

Although people were sexist, many didn’t even have the right of freedom. Freedom is what many American’s fought for the right of. Even if you were free, you still might’ve been treated as if you were invisible. Many thought that the world would never change, that they would never get treated as an equal rather than a laborer. To many, freedom was only what the rich had; you had to have power to be able to get treated equal. If people were to look into the future back then, there might actually be hope in the hearts of many.


While freedom is truly one of the most important things in life, so is family. Throughout this story, family isn’t really the main priority. She worries more about getting her responsibilities done, than helping her loved ones. America has definitly changed for this matter, and more than likely for the worse. Kids now a day’s take their families for granted. Their only good enough if their friend isn’t able to hang out. Maybe if teens started to care more, there would be less crimes happening or kids on the street doing things they shouldn’t be. With this small improvement America could be a cleaner, healthier, living environment.

Overall, small steps are what helped America. If we cared a little more about our society, and less about what new car is out, we might actually have a nice place to live. The short story “Girl” really gives that message, and if you look, symbolism truly is the normality’s of everyday life.