Comparing Female Characters of Kincaid's Girl and Joyce's Eveline

Introduction

The short story “Girl” is written by Jamaica Kincaid, and focused on the unusual relationship between mother and daughter. The mother was highly dominating while her daughter was really well behaved. In comparison, the character of story Eveline by James Joyce believed that there are many pitfalls of keep holding the past while facing the future.

“Girl”

The story is set in the period of 1980, in which a mother provides her daughter with the instructions on how to live her life. The writer herself seemed to be the girl whom instructions were given for living in her social conditions. Social manners and domesticity were the two main areas in which the mother gave instructions; the topics of instructions include household chores, social conduct, cooking, relationships and manners (Keandka, 2005). The story focuses on the intense relationship between mother and daughter.

The character of mother in this short story is rather harsh, as she kept on repeatedly accusing her daughter that she was highly likely to become a slut (Wright, 2010). The character of the mother in this story seemed to be dominating over her daughter. The mother wanted her daughter to learn all the skills, she knew. She kept challenging the moral and skills of her daughter. However, she failed to realize that the way she was instructing and dominating her daughter, she would not be able to add her own word in any of the decisions; the girl should have been allowed to develop her strengths based on her experience as well, instead of solely on the instructions. The mother understood the requirements of her African culture; the women were considered as subservience to men in that period and the mother wanted her daughter to be a perfect woman.

On the other hand, the girl was very well behaved as exhibited by various scenes in the story. For example, the girl was told ever to sing benna in school, and she always obeyed against her wish. In the entire story, the girl is shown to raise her voice only twice, when the objections and warnings from her mother became intolerable for her. The female protagonists of the story exhibit the themes of conflicts between a mother and daughter, as well the issues of generation gap.

The characters of the story portray some important characteristics which have been changed over time. For example, the parenting techniques; no parents issue orders today, as the mother did in story. Secondly, the story revealed the oppression of women by men, during 1980's (Moore, 2008). The tone of repressiveness and obedience is used throughout the story. Clearly, the mother thought that it was mandatory for her daughter to obey her instructions, as she believed that the daughter might become a slut otherwise.

The aim of the mother's character is very simple to highlight. She wanted to rule her daughter's life without ever trying to know what the feelings of daughter were. She always ordered and talked at her ...