The short stories “Girl” and “Everyday Use” are two well written stories that contain positive and negative mother-daughter relationships within the theme of the story. In Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl”, we see the mother being very hard on her daughter in fear that may lead to promiscuity. She scolds her continuously because she wants her daughter to be powerful and is very uptight about the way that she goes about doing things. Even though she is very disciplined, she behaves this way because she wants the best for her daughter. In Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”, we encounter both positive and negative interactions. The mother and Dee have different views on the family’s heritage which causes some protestation.
In “Everyday Use”, we see that Dee has come up of her own idea of what heritage means to her. The mother disagrees that her new conflicts with her real heritage. Dee views her real heritage as something of the past. These beliefs bring strain to their mother-daughter relationship. An example of some of the problems was when Mama, Dee, and Maggie were trying to sort out the quilts. Mama finally came to realization and “snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero’s hands and dumped them into Maggie’s lap” (334). Mama realized that Dee wouldn’t appreciate the quilts the same way that Maggie would. I take from the story that before Dee had gone off to school, her mother and she had a fairly decent relationship. While at school, Mama realized that she had changed and felt the disrespect coming from her daughter. Although there were many points of negative interaction, there were also sometimes that come across positive. I believe that Mama was happy to see Dee since she had been away for so long. Mama had struggled to send Dee off knowing that an education would be beneficial. She was not aware of the negative effects that would be put on their mother-daughter relationship.
In Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl”, we are introduced to the narrator’s constant worries about her daughter’s behavior. She worries about her promiscuity, “on Sunday’s try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming” (350). The narrator connects chores to the topic of sexuality. She does this to show her daughter that she is a woman and needs to act like one in order to gain respect from the community. The narrator believes if she keeps her daughter busy, it will distract her from temptation. Their mother-daughter relationship is very negative unlike the relationship we see in “Everyday Use.” In this style of writing, we never see and conversation between the narrator and her daughter. This could be a hint that they don’t have a strong relationship. The narrator acts more like a teacher rather than a mother. The way that the narrator gives her daughter instructions are very forceful and powerful. She is very specific on how to cook, clean, shop, and perform the tasks around the household. The narrator uses these tactics to save her daughter from disrespect, rather than focusing on a positive mother-daughter relationship.
Although both short stories have rocky relationships between the mother and their daughter’s, one can argue that this may be for good reason. Mothers are supposed to be role models and teachers in a daughter’s life. Even though it was more in a negative way, these stories portray both of these roles. In the end, it may end up making or breaking a strong relationship.
I think you're right that the relationship in "Girl" is very strained. I do wonder however, if her mother is actually that negative or if that is just her perception of the relationship. This is something that is very difficult to determine from the text as it only shows the negative. Perhaps the fact that the story is only one sentence comes into play here. I think it may indicate some sort of temporary thing, as one sentence is not a whole story. Or it could be that she writes it in this manner because she feels it is constant and the single sentence carries the feeling of "enough already!" by the time you get to the end. Not sure what to think here. Any input?
ReplyDeleteThat is a good point. I feel like her mother is very bitter towards her daughter and takes her frustrations out on her. In turn, this makes the daughter very silent. We never really hear much from her which confuses us on the tone of the story. I also think that maybe this is all just a memory of how her mother used to talk to her and all the accusations that were made against her.
ReplyDeleteShelby, I think you were right on in outlining the mother-daughter relationships in "Girl" and "Everyday Use." I would have to add, though, that the relationships differ slightly in that the negativity seems to come from opposite parties. In "Girl," it is the mother who orders around the daughter and tells her to keep busy so as to act like a woman and avoid being promiscuous. The daughter seems innocent in comparison to her mother and acts almost like a victim in the relationship. However, the opposite seems to be true in "Everyday Use." In this story, it is the daughter who rejects her mother in changing her name to "Wangero" and gets upset with the idea that Maggie would inherit the quilts. The mother is the victim until she snatches the quilts from Wangero's hands. I think both these stories portray strained mother-daughter relationships, but in different ways. David, I think you have a good point. Though it seems the mother in "Girl" is negative, we can only say this because the story is written from the daughter's point of view. We don't know exactly how the mother feels because she's not the narrator. The same is true with "Everyday Use," as the narrator is the mother and thus portrays the daughter in a negative light. Would you guys agree?
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, Shelby, I really did not get anything out of reading “Girl”. I just thought to myself, “Wow, that mother is so mean.” I could not reach any deeper into it. Your discussion really helped me see more to the short story. I love how put it when you said, “The narrator connects chores to the topic of sexuality. She does this to show her daughter that she is a woman and needs to act like one in order to gain respect from the community.” It really makes me wonder what kind of life the narrator grew up in. Maybe she was a poor girl, who grew up in the dump, and she had worked herself up in society; therefore, she wants her daughter to realize all that she has and to act like she’s worth something. On the other hand, maybe the narrator grew up as a rich snob and is ashamed of her daughter because she sees her as a slob (Haha, I didn’t intend to have that play of snob/slob but I like it).
ReplyDeleteSo what do you guys think? What other background could the narrator have come from that would show why she treats and talks to her daughter that way? Or, maybe it isn’t her daughter at all?
Brooke, I also did not get much out of reading "Girl" the first time, and now am able to really understand the underlying meanings. I was however, moved a little bit by "Everyday Use". I was frustrated mainly because of Dee's lack of being able to fully appreciate her heritage as a part of her. Suddenly, it became something of her previous life that she decided she wanted to hold onto as an artifact. I think the worst part about her attitude was that she didn't understand that her family may still need to actually use the quilts for everyday purposes. To Dee, the quilts meant a lot -- it was her history, and things that had been apart of her family -- but the meaning still did not compare to the need for the quilts by her family.
ReplyDeleteI think the relationship in "Everyday Use" is so strained because the mother has, in a way, lost her daughter. It seems to me that they had a good relationship prior to Wangero moving out and through some turn of events she changed while she was away. When she returns with different life goals than when she left, the mother seems crushed. I mean think about it: if your daughter left for a while and came back having abandoned her roots for some strange man, wouldn't you be upset?
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