Phase 1: The Mother-Daughter Relationship

The short stories “Girl”, by Jamaica Kincaid and “Everyday Use”, by Alice Walker are two very different stories, but share many similar themes. One such theme is the complex relationship between mother and daughter. The way the mother in “Girl” speaks to her daughter comes across as borderline demeaning, and the way in which Dee (Wangero) speaks and acts towards her mother in “Everyday Use” is also some what negative, but both stories still show traditional relationships between mother and daughter. The narrators’ voices and the interaction between the characters of each story provide a detailed look into the complex relationship between mother and daughter.

                The narrator in Kincaid’s “Girl” is providing her daughter with advice on being domestic and being a lady. One of the major roles in the relationship between mother and daughter is that of a teacher. The mother in Kincaid’s story is teaching her daughter the things that she will need to know as she grows into a woman, however, the ways in which the mother presents the lessons to her daughter are accusatory and show a general distrust. The mother asks her daughter if she sings benna in Sunday school, and one of the pieces of advice offered on being a lady is “don’t sing benna in Sunday school”, to which the daughter replies, “I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school”(350). The mother asks the question and corrects her daughter before her daughter answers, implying that the question was accusatory. Throughout the story the mother also accuses her daughter of becoming a slut later in life. She tells her daughter to “walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming,” “prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming,” and “behave yourself 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” (350). The mother’s role as a teacher becomes a critique of the daughter because of the distrust between the mother and daughter.

                It is every parent’s hope that her child will be better off than she was, and most parents would unselfishly offer anything they had to their children. In Walker’s “Everyday Use”, Dee is more intelligent and more attractive than her mother, giving her an attitude of superiority, and she tries to exploit her mother’s generosity. The best example of Dee’s sense of superiority comes from the narrator’s perception of Dee’s ideal mother; “I am the way my daughter would want me to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barley pancake. My hair glistens in the hot bright lights. Jonny Carson has much to do to keep up with my quick and witty tongue (328).” Dee’s dissatisfaction with her mother’s appearance is evident even to the mother, who is narrating the story. Not only does Dee feel superior to her mother in physical appearance, but in intelligence as well. Before she moved away, Dee often read to her uneducated mother and undereducated sister, only to “push [them] away at just the moment, like dimwits, [they] seemed about to understand” (328). Throughout the story Dee helps herself to her mother’s belongings, such as the churn top made by Uncle Buddy and the dasher made by Uncle Henry (332). Because of her mother’s generosity, Dee felt entitled to her things, as though “they already belonged to her” (333). It is not until Dee’s sense of entitlement encroaches on her sister’s inheritance that the mother draws the line. In “Everyday Use”, Dee negatively affects the traditional mother daughter relationship by acting superior and taking advantage of her mother’s generosity.

                In both Kincaid’s and Walker’s stories, the relationships between mother and daughter, such as teacher and care giver, are affected negatively by one involved party, the mother in “Girl” and the daughter in “Everyday Use”. Though these stories have negative aspects, they both show tradition roles played by mothers and daughters. The fact that they are negatively affected by actions of either mother or daughter show how fragile even the most intimate relationships can be.