"Girl" by:Jamaica Kincaid

"Girl"
This story is about somebody laying out a list of how to do everything in life that the girl will come across. I picture the person who is writing the list to be the girl. It could be that the mother has passed away or has left and the girl is writing down a list of things that she thought her mother was supposed to teach her. When she is referred to as the slut her mom always told her not to be, the girl could be saying this because she feels she might have let her mother down. She may not think she turned out how her mother imagined her to. If it is her mother writing the list, the sentences in smaller italic font could be the daughter briefly responding to a few of the items on the list. Another reason I believe it is the girl writing the poem is the fact that some of the items on the list are things that a mother wouldn't typically teach her child. For example, the story says, " This is how you spit up in the air if you feel like...". That sentence makes me think that the girl doesn't know if spitting up in the air is something her mother would have taught her. Maybe the mother hasn't gone anywhere and the list is just a reference for the girl for whenever she comes across anything on the list.