The Signifinace of "this Is How" in Girl by Jamaica Kincaid

In our society there are rules to follow, expectations to reach and things to live by. But specifically in this Antiguan community there are certain things one has to do to be able to be accepted by the community. For instance, singing benna in Sunday School represents disobedience but also sinful, forbidden knowledge that cannot be discussed in public. Based on that the most important phrase in the short story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid is “this is how”. It addresses women's roles in the Antiguan community, the repetition of the phrase lets readers know that the mother is teaching the daughter how to be accepted as a woman in the Antiguan community and from that phrase one can know how it is to be pressured to conform to the expectations of one’s parents and their community.

The role of a woman in this small rural community was to be expected to do things the mother listed to her daughter. The mother distributes a lot of actual and helpful advice that will one day help her daughter be accepted in their community. In the text Kincaid says, “ this is how to behave in the presence of men…”. This quote conveys that the mother is telling the daughter “how” to act in front of a man because women need men based on the expectations in our society and this community. After that phrase the mother explains herself by saying, “ they won’t recognize immediately the slut I have warned you against becoming...”. From this quote readers will know that “they” is referring to men and “against” shows the mother’s anger in herb trying to teach her daughter not to be independent. One can know that the mother does not want the daughter because then “they” would “recognize” meaning she would not have a man and that is going against the norm and expectations of the community. The mother also tells the girl how to do other things she’ll need to know about, including how to make “good medicines” and “catch a fish”. These words of wisdom suggest that the women in this community all talk to their children so that they can bring them up with the traditions of the community, where passing on such advice is essential for daily living.

Based on the repetition of the “this is how” throughout the short story women