Girl and Great Falls
All cultures, seemingly without exception, foster gender role differentiation. Codes of male vs. female behavior guide the way parents raise their children, the ways children relate to each other, and the way individuals view themselves. In many cases, sex-differentiated adult gender roles, social norms, and expectations are constructed painfully. The painful, chaotic, and even violent process by which gender role differentiation occurs is captured by both Jamaica Kincaid and Richard Ford in their respective short stories, "Girl," and "Great Falls." These short stories show how gender as a sociological phenomenon can disrupt inner peace and fracture the soul. In her terse tale "Girl," Jamaica Kincaid recounts her internalized authoritarian voices: a list of "thou shalts" and "thou shalt nots" that have, for better or worse, constructed the narrator's sense of identity. In addition to the poignant impact of the narrator's internal dialogue, "Girl" shows how one woman was taught the behavioral norms of females. The short story starts with the telling phrase, "Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap," (Kincaid 476). Girls' chores consist mainly of laundering and kitchen duties. Moreover, the narrator describes the proper demeanor for a young woman: behaviors that prevent her from being perceived as a "slut." The tyrannical voice, which could easily be her mother's, grandmother's, aunt's, or mentor's, directly and unavoidably shapes the narrator's self-image. Similarly, in Ford's "Great Falls," Jackie's self-image is shaped by his same-sex role model, his father. Jackie's reticence and his inability to fathom his mother's behavior illustrate the great divide that separates male from female in any and all societies. Ford's "Great Falls" and Kincaid's "Girl" both represent the painful acquisition of sex-differentiated adult gender roles in three main ways: through parent-child interaction; through gender-based social rituals; and through sexuality.
Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl" is more than a short story; it is a recollection of an authoritarian voice that has become internalized in the...
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