Blog #4: Pg. 341

The speaker of “Girl” is a mother who certainly cares deeply about her daughter. While the advice the mother is throwing out occurs in a list-format, it is obvious her primary goal is to give her daughter the important life-lessons that will help her grow up as a young lady. The mother is very straightforward, loving, and well educated. The prescriptions for being a girl entail being clean, polite, eating like a lady, walking like a lady, knowing how to wash, iron and sew, how to sweep and keep a household clean, how to set a table correctly, being familiar with how to talk to boys appropriately and being an overall educated woman.

The story depicts a portrait of a teenager who is on the road to becoming a “slut”, as the mother states. The image of a perfect, well-mannered mother is what stands beside her. While the mother may very well represent the “perfect” mother and prime example, she ultimately pushes too far and expects more of what is truly reasonable. The detailed descriptions of what a girl should be doing day-in and day-out are entirely proven to fall apart sooner or later. Just as she does everything perfect, someone realizes her actions are absurd and puts an end to the behavior expected of her.

Through the many characteristics and descriptive wording, it is appropriate to conclude the mother and daughter live in a neighborhood that plays out gender roles above what most would consider normal. Most likely, the family lives on a small acre of land, perhaps in the country. These inferences are based on various instructions addressed to the daughter, such as, “Put them on the clothesline to dry” and “when buying cotton to make yourself a nice blouse…” The story is incredibly descriptive, therefore making inferences come to mind rather quickly. The message I find most prevalent is to take advice from those who care, but ultimately make adjustments as to what feels right for you yourself along the road of life.

The link attached thoroughly describes the importance of parental influence on children regarding gender roles. Too often parents do not think about the influence they lay on their kids, therefore making them raise questions that most generally do not get answered in the school environment.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2248/is_n126_v32/ai_19619406/