Over the years, men and women have developed different roles in society. These developments can be shown or acted out through literature. Girl, by Jamaica Kincaid is a short story based on telling a girl how to act appropriately in public among the eyes of society. The narrator lists numerous things this girl can and cannot do. This is how to behave in the presence of men who dont know you very well, and this way they wont recognize immediately the slut I warned you against becoming. (J.K.) Basically, the narrator is telling the girl that you have to be prim and proper in society or youll be looked upon as a slut or uneducated.
There is another story that almost has a similar theme called Daisy Miller, by Henry James. Daisy Miller is based during a society where women catered to their men, or that men were the ones wearing the pants in the relationships. The similarities in these stories are involving young impressionable ladies at an age where their not quite adult women, so they see no upper class or lower class, or behaving a certain way will label you.
James made a character, Ms. Walker to symbolize the older woman or the more sophisticated woman. Ms. Walker always watched Daisy and her actions. She was very judgmental of young Daisy and always told Winterbourne to stay away from her because it will make him look bad. Ms. Walker never quite called Daisy a slut, but damn near close! Like I quoted in my earlier paragraph about how young girls are suppose to act in those days, apparently teenage girls arent suppose to act their age and thats a role
society bestowed on young ladies. That is really interesting, because it almost seems like the men flock to the outgoing, rebellious females. There is something forbidden about these ladies and I guess that attractions them.
Kincaid mentions, this is how to bully a man; this is how a man bullies you; this is how to love a man. I never noticed this small similarity until now. Daisy seemed to bully Winterbourne at times. In the first chapter Daisy called Winterbourne a stiff, and so serious. In some ways Winterbourne tried to bully Daisy with telling her she shouldnt act a certain way, which is saying dont act yourself.
Today there are societies that still honor this system where women have no rights and they do what their told by their elders and men in general. In America, women have come along way and it wasnt until I believe the 1950s where women really revolted and stood for equality. A lot of book in the past are sort of based on this theme because thats all they knew back then. Men really didnt have restrictions or boundaries.
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