The Issue of Sexual Exploitation Depicted in the Girl by Kincaid - Essay Example

Girl The “Girl” written by Kincaid explains the conversation of a woman with her female child who is on the verge of womanhood. She explains to her child about the duties of a woman in the way she cleans her home, cooking and sexuality. She gives her advice to her daughter in a spitfire speed which could not be absorbed by the child in such a short time. The mother tells the daughter about keeping up her reputation as a woman as she grows up and the rhythm of her words denotes that this event happens in West Indies. The story has a theme of sexuality and society and class in relevance with woman. The complexities and turbulence looming around a young woman is the main subject in this story. A young girl in every society is moulded along with the culture and customs of the society. In every part o f the world a growing female child is nurtured by her mother with anxiety and curiosity. A mother is concerned about her girl and her upbringing as she a woman who is supposed to raise a family in future. Here the, mother is warning her child not get a name tag of “slut” in future with her behaviour and attitude. The mother wants the child to have a proper relationship with men and should keep her chastity and purity as a woman. This story has relevance to many happening in today’s world where woman is a subject. The story has a relevance with an event happened recently where a mother killed the rapist of her young daughter. A Spanish woman in the fist of anger murdered the rapist to quench her revenge for spoiling her child’s future. We can see that a mother has a lot of expectation of a growing young girl and the woman in the story is warning her child about etiquettes and manners expected from a woman in society. The girl need to know that world outside is filled with men with lust and violent mentality. She has to know that she needs to keep her sexuality in limits to avoid problems in future. A girl who had to undergo rape is a sign that a young woman leads a risky life in a society where there are people who view her sexual object. The woman who killed the rapist had been showing her contempt for torturing her child. We can understand that young girl is different from young woman due to the sexual temptation she can arouse among men. She intentionally or unintentionally can spread a message of being “slutty” with her behaviour and attitude. So we can understand why the mother in the story “girl” is so cautious about education her young daughter. In a community a young girl need to know how she is expected to behave in a society. The mother say “ Try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming , don’t sing Bena in Sunday school, you mustn’t speak wharf- rat to boys, not even to give directions” (Kincaid 307). A girl can always be exploited by men in the society and this can happen at any place across the world .Sexual exploitation is not exclusive to any community or race but had been a matter of universal concern. So that is the reason why a girl is advised and not young men. Because, girls has to safeguard her chastity and it is in her hands rather than in hands of the society. In Asian community, a girl or a woman is blamed than men for sexual assaults or rapes. However, the women in Western countries are not so keen on advising girls on sexuality. This Spanish lady killed her daughter’s rapist because she had been exploited on the basis of lust. It is said that she lost her mental stability after the rape event. As per (Hariding ) “She had argued for a stay in the sentence because of the "serious mental illness" she had suffered after her daughter was raped”. Sexual relationships are not tabooed in Western society but rape is a social evil is something which goes against human values. However, if the girl is young, then the mother has concern and rape is not acceptable for anyone and her revengeful feeling can be justified. A mother understands the tender body of young girls is too delicate to handle any harsh feelings both on mental and physical level. When a teenager is rape, the pain is more when she is young as she is too tender to handle such brutal attempts. In such a case, a concerned mother will definitely warn her daughter about rape, sexual assaults and other harassment she may have to face due to her inappropriate dressing or attitude. The mother in the story “girl” illustrated how a girl should act in a society and how she is supposed to stay away from boys. The girl is disciplined in life even before she attains womanhood and it is a norm in every culture. A girl is thought to be like a flower which is so delicate that can get hurt in any phase of life as the behaviour of a man is unpredictable. A girl needs to change her attitude towards life in the tender age so that situations like rape can be avoided. The mother had to murder a person in vengeance and the culture can be partly blamed for it. If the girl knew that she had to keep herself protected from men then she would have escaped from the ill-fated event. Many girls in Western cultures are not ready to accept advice and guidance from their mother. It can be that parents are more pre – occupied with social life and career that they give less time to lead them children. A woman from Europe would not be as specific as a woman from Asia or Africa to guide her young daughter at such an early age. The girls are instructed in West but not so elaborate as to what to cook, how to wash clothiers or maintain her in public. In general, every mother is concerned about their female child especially when she is young. The mother in the book “girl” and the mother who killed the rapist of her daughter have some differentiations. The woman in the book had a preventive attitude and starts guiding and instructing her child well ahead of time. She warns her beforehand that she should keep a distance from men and boys. However, the mother who killed the rapist would not have warned her so much in young age. Being a Spanish woman, she would not have been highly cautious on educating her child about exploitative nature of men. Rapes happen at every minute around the world and woman are not the one who really provocate such behaviours. A country were woman are freely moving has lesser sexual assault rather than in Asia or Africa where there is more modesty and restrictions. So it is not a woman who provoke men but girls are supposed to maintain a standard of discipline, morals and modesty as a part of her feminine nature. A girl needs to understand that she has to be a wife, mother and home maker in later life. Girls need to understand the value of discipline as she has to raise a family and becoming a mother needs a lot of guidance and molding as the mother in story “Girl “ have done. Reference Harding, David. "Controversial case: Mom who torches rapist of her daughter, 13, starts prison sentence for murder ." http://www.nydailynews.com. Daily News, 2014. Web. 31 May 2014. . Kincaid, Jamaica. "Girl." An Introduction to Fiction. Comp. X. J. Kennedy & Dana Gioia. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. Print. Read More