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...
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