Throughout history and in all cultures the roles of males and females vary. Relating to the piece of literature "Girl" written by Jamaica Kincaid for the time, women's roles were to work in the home. At the time that this work was written, women mainly stayed at home and did housework while few of the very poorest households required the woman to work in an industrial job. Kincaid wrote of the specific roles and responsibilities that a mother would tell her daughter. By what she wrote, one can fully understand what was expected of a woman at that time and in that particular culture. By understanding the culture in which this piece of literature is written, the gender roles, the rules of behavior for a woman and the relationships between genders can be realized. The general myth about women and their gender role in the American society is that the mother works in the home and supports her man in every way. In the literary work "Girl", Kincaid shows clearly that the woman's role in this work was to serve the family and to work mainly in the house. The m
In this piece of literature, the mother speaks directly to her daughter telling her what she is to do in order to become a lady. There are many suggestions in the literary work citing how the daughter should act in society. Examples are "this is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming;" and "this is how you sweep a yard" (Kincaid 412). Each culture has specific ways in which people of a specific gender should act. This culture teaches women to make themselves pure and to work diligently for the family. Particularly in the American society, women are taught to make themselves look feminine and to act in a way that keeps them from appearing as a whore or slut. This is why teaching a child is very essential for a child to fully grow and become an as effective person as their parents or even better. After all, for a mother and father their most important value to teach their children is to become a better person. In becoming a better person, children should grow up to better understand the opposite sex and work to have better working rel
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