Girl

I read Kincaid’s “Girl” before reading the chapter on Marxism so I was able to relate the short story to many of the themes of Marxism as I read Tyson. The one that seemed to scream at me from the pages was the idea of commidification. I feel that whoever was speaking to the “girl” believes whole-heartedly in the ideology that women can only make it in the world through an advantageous marriage, which supports the socioeconomic status that women are below men. Their place is in the home. The “girl” is taught how to wash and iron clothes, sew a button and hem a dress, cook meals, sweep a house, and set a table. She isn’t taught anything that will allow her to further herself as an individual because she isn’t an individual. She is property to be bought and sold to a wealthy, powerful husband someday. Kincaid doesn’t even give the “girl” a name, something that would give her individuality. By keeping it impersonal, she becomes an object just like ‘the car’, ‘the house’ or ‘the property’.

Her purpose in life is to catch a husband: “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”. She’s told to stay away from the low-life “wharf-rat boys” because there is no sign-exchange value in giving yourself to them. This will only bring the “girl” closer to “looking like the slut [she is] so bent on becoming.” She is also told to not “sing benna in Sunday school”, benna being a form of folk communication and therefore an association with the lower class or proletariat. These things will lower her exchange value as a future wife and homemaker. Whoever is speaking to the “girl” wants her to become “the kind of woman” that will be valued by society, a woman with high exchange value and sign-exchange value. The “girl” should benefit both the buyer and the seller.