I thought it was really funny that in Girl, the narrator was telling the young girl the proper ways to act and perform her duties as a woman in society but also how to get around certain doing certain things or get out of trouble if she did do certain unacceptable things. The narrator constantly warns the girl not to become a slut or do things that might make her look like a slut, but then continues to tell her how to make a medicine that will abort an unborn baby. And I thought the last statement was the most amusing, when the narrator tells the girl to always squeeze the bread to make sure its fresh and she replies what if the baker wont let me? And the narrator says, "You mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman the who the baker wont let near the bread?" This could imply several things, first it could be that she is going to become a woman of questionable virtue or it could be that she should learn how to make a man do what she wants him to do, in this case to let her feel the bread.

I agree that these two are very similar. The message in Girl show the guidelines of what it takes to be a woman. It has all of the rules and restrictions that a girl must learn during the time period to become a woman. In Sweat, Delia is experiencing the pressures of society to fit into this mold. She tries so hard to become a woman according to society but must also work hard to pay the bills. She can't fit into this mold and it eventually shows since she was once beautiful and is not anymore similar to the sugarcane.

I believe the obvious connection between the two stories is the role of women. Specifically, I think it's meant to be about the way women & femininity are perceived. This is evident in "Girl." Every direction is about how to act accordingly, perform domestic duties, and most importantly, not act like a slut.

In "Sweat," I think the most poingant example is when the local men are on the porch talking about Delia. They mention how beautiful she used to be and continue on about how her husband has beat so much out of that her. Also, she has worked so hard now that she's calloused and has lost her softness. This part of the story showed how they used to view Delia as the epitome of femininity and beauty, and now they pity the hard working woman she's become.

Both views of women & femininity show the architypal ideal. Essentially, women should be dainty and domestic.

I am unsure as to whether or not I agree with the idea that the story could have been written about the same woman. It seems to me that the female being instructed in Kincaid's work is being taught how to be a good wife and woman. Delia, on the other hand, seems to completely reject the idea of being a wife to her husband anymore. It is her final, ironic action that cements this idea - rather than giving a few moments of comfort to a dying man, Delia simply watches him suffer. This is surely the total opposite of what Kincaid instructed her narrate to do; Delia totally rejects the thought of compassion and love. The “Girl” would never have done that, having come from a family with such a strong and compassionate maternal figure. No mother would teach her daughter to hate or to abandon someone they love - or once loved, as the case may be. Delia has much more depth than the Girl - a depth that is both more self-assertive and more sinister than Kincaid's creation could ever be. There is no doubt that the two females have some similarities between them, but it is also improbable to presume that they could be the same female.

Both of these stories deal directly with the role of women in society. While the two stories are written very differently, it is almost as though the authors could have both been writing about the same woman in different stages of her life.

In Girl, some faceless speaker is instructing a young female on how to perform household tasks, act around men, behave in general, and appear "proper".

In Sweat, the reader sees a woman who has lived in subservience with her husband for fifteen years. She performs household duties and acts in much the same way as the recipient of the instructions in Girl was being told to act. One quote of particular relevance from Girl was the following passage regarding love and a relationship with a man.

"this is how to bully a man; this is how a man bullies you; this is how to love a man, and if that doesn't work there are other ways, and if they don't work don't feel too bad about giving up"

This seems to be exactly what happened in Sweat.

One similarity I saw between the two stories was the household role taken by both of the women. Delia is constantly working around the house by cleaning, washing clothes, and cooking, and the daughter in "Girl" is being lectured on how to do these exact same things. Both women don't have any opportunites to do anything else in society other than marry a man and be prepared to do these household roles. They are subservient to men and have a very limited role in the world. Something else I noticed was the difference between women and girls. Delia used to just be a young girl in love, but now she is a hard-working, worn down, but strong minded woman having to get by completely on her own. In "Girl" the timidness is obvious is the daughter who is being lectured by who I'm guessing is her mother. The mother on the other hand is a knowledgable and commanding woman who almost resembles a drill sergeant in the way she is addressing her daughter.