Symbols in the Article Girl

According to different aspects mentioned in the article Girl, this article has many symbolic meanings, but not just one allegory that represents the culture. After considering the authors background, many people may say that this article is all about the cultural differences of the historical colonial relationship between British and Antigua. Personally, this is also the first impression on me at the first time. The relationship of dominant and submissive between the mother and daughter seem like that between colonizers and their colony. However, the article is a daily conversation between a mother and a daughter. The story is just a mother taught her daughter to act appropriately in a family. There are two primary symbols that Jamaica Kincaid wanted to tell us through the conversation between the mother and her daughter; the family relationship and the cultural conflict.

The first thing I want to talk about this dialogue is the food. The mom gave her daughter many tips on cooking foods. The food itself is the symbol of their country and their culture. The mother taught those because the food helps remind the girl her origin and their traditional habits. But the most important thing is that the food is the representation of the status of woman in a family. If the girl wants to adapt well in this society and be a good wife or a mother, she should know how to cook delicious food. In the article, we can see that the mom was good at household and very careful on each detail. In our life, this usually happened. Instead of social concern, it is just the maternal advice pass to the daughter. My mother often told me to clean my bedroom. Even though it seems annoying sometimes and we usually argue with each other, those pieces of advice are useful to my life. They help me form good habits. Subtle detail may influence many aspects of our career. From this point, the mother in the article is a responsible and talented mother. She just wanted her daughter can learn some survival skills from her.

The second command of the mom in the dialogue is that she did not allow the girl sing Benna on Sunday school. The Benna is the symbol of the Antigua traditional song. Sunday school is the symbol of Christianity in Europe. The meaning of the prohibition of singing benna in Sunday school is that the ban of bringing tradition Antigua element into European culture; this represents the cultural conflict in the colonization. After colonized by British, the Antigua women also want to behave like the elegant British women even though they are not rich as the palm face ladies. The content of the Benna is cliche and has some sexual double meaning. Knowing this, it is not hard to understand why the mother does not allow the daughter to sing Benna. Besides, the mother not encouraging the daughter to sing Benna in Sunday school, which means she can sing at home. As the result of this, we can see that her mother did not hate Antigua tradition, but wanted her daughter to act like a lady, not a naughty boy outside.

From this two detail mentioned in the article, this article has two symbols. The environment of this story taken place makes this story has the first symbol: the cultural conflict shown in the colonization. Also, in the mother demands, we can see a woman status in a family.