GIRL by Jamaica Kincaid

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Girl

Jamaica Kincaid
June 19, 1978

Presented by:
Dennis A. De Jesus
English Instructor
Wash the white clothes on Monday and
put them on the stone heap; wash the
color clothes on Tuesday and put them
on the clothesline to dry; don’t walk
bare-head in the hot sun; cook
pumpkin fritters in very hot sweet oil;
soak your little cloths right after you
take them off;
when buying cotton to make yourself a nice
blouse, be sure that it doesn’t have gum in
it, because that way it won’t hold up well
after a wash; soak salt fish overnight before
you cook it; is it true that you sing benna in
Sunday school?; always eat your food in
such a way that it won’t turn someone
else’s stomach;
on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not
like the slut you are so bent on becoming;
don’t sing benna in Sunday school; you
mustn’t speak to wharf-rat boys, not even
to give directions; don’t eat fruits on the
street—flies will follow you; but I don’t
sing benna on Sundays at all and never in
Sunday school;
this is how to sew on a button; this is
how to make a buttonhole for the
button you have just sewed on; this is
how to hem a dress when you see the
hem coming down and so to prevent
yourself from looking like the slut I
know you are so bent on becoming;
this is how you iron your father’s khaki
shirt so that it doesn’t have a crease; this is
how you iron your father’s khaki pants so
that they don’t have a crease; this is how
you grow okra—far from the house,
because okra tree harbors red ants; when
you are growing dasheen, make sure it gets
plenty of water or else it makes your throat
itch when you are eating it;
this is how you sweep a corner; this is how
you sweep a whole house; this is how you
sweep a yard; this is how you smile to
someone you don’t like too much; this is
how you smile to someone you don’t like at
all; this is how you smile to someone you
like completely;
this is how you set a table for tea; this is
how you set a table for dinner; this is how
you set a table for dinner with an important
guest; this is how you set a table for lunch;
this is how you set a table for breakfast; this
is how to behave in the presence of men who
don’t know you very well, and this way they
won’t recognize immediately the slut
I have warned you against becoming; be
sure to wash every day, even if it is with
your own spit; don’t squat down to play
marbles—you are not a boy, you know;
don’t pick people’s flowers—you might
catch something; don’t throw stones at
blackbirds, because it might not be a
blackbird at all; this is how to make a bread
pudding;
this is how to make doukona; this is how to
make pepper pot; this is how to make a
good medicine for a cold; this is how to
make a good medicine to throw away a
child before it even becomes a child; this is
how to catch a fish; this is how to throw
back a fish you don’t like, and that way
something bad won’t fall on you;
this is how to bully a man; this is how a
man bullies you; this is how to love a man,
and if this doesn’t work there are other
ways, and if they don’t work don’t feel too
bad about giving up; this is how to spit up
in the air if you feel like it, and this is how
to move quick so that it doesn’t fall on
you;
this is how to make ends meet; always
squeeze bread to make sure it’s
fresh; but what if the baker won’t let
me feel the bread?; you mean to say
that after all you are really going to be
the kind of woman who the baker
won’t let near the bread?
Published in the print edition of the
June 26, 1978, issue.
Jamaica Kincaid has written numerous
books, including “A Small Place,” and
“My Brother.” She is a professor in the
Department of African and African
American Studies at Harvard
University.

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