Alice Walker and Jamaica Kincaid

The short story “The Flower” by Alice Walker I found to be very interesting and detailed. Although the writing techniques and literary elements remained the same throughout the whole poem, the vibe and mood changed half way through. At first, it vividly described a day in the shoes of a ten year old girl, through bright details of the girl, her actions, and the surrounding scenery. For instance, the scenery was noted as having “silver ferns and wildflowers”. The second half of the poem became bizarre, however, as she came across a corpse without panicking or showing any signs of fright. I feel this story may be a representation of the narrator’s life. For instance, in my opinion, I feel that the narrator’s life was good and happy, similar to the girls, until something tragic came along or occurred. Instead of becoming upset or trying to deal with the situation, the narrator acted as if nothing happened. This “tragedy” may be something like an addiction that he or she has accepted or a divorce that hasn’t been coped with.

The second story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid was full of directions and advice from what I thought to be a mother to her daughter. I discovered that it was a girl from the quote “prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming”. Also from this quote I inferred that the narrator had very strict parents that may have been mean and possibly verbally abusive at sometimes. This short story also shows that the narrator may have not learned life lessons on her own, as her parents obviously told her what they thought to be right and wrong rather than letting her form her own opinions. From my interpretation I also feel that the mom may be trying to live through her daughter, especially because of an unsuccessful marriage. By attempting to teach her daughter how to find “love” and how to go about keeping it and not keeping it, it shows that the mother may not have been successful in one of her marriages. Overall, the story represents the life of both the narrator and her parents.