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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Motifs
Explanation and Analysis—Singing Benna on Sundays:
Benna is a style of calypso music unique to Antigua and Barbuda. Throughout the story, "singing benna in Sunday school" appears as a motif emphasizing the influences of British colonialism in the Caribbean. Mother initially asks her daughter:
Is it true that you sing benna in Sunday school?
She then returns to the idea not long after, saying:
Don’t sing benna in Sunday school.
Finally, the daughter tries to defend herself, insisting:
But I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school.
The first quote is a rare instance of Mother speaking to the girl to ask her a question rather than to instruct; in the second, she returns to the topic again to strictly prohibit it. That she circles back after briefly changing topics emphasizes that she considers the behavior particularly bad.
When the girl is finally able to interject a few lines later, it is with a belated denial. This is one of only two times the girl speaks, which suggests that she, too, feels the gravity of the accusation—she doesn't feel the need to deny squatting down to play marbles when Mother tells her not to do that, for example.
Like other aspects of Caribbean culture, benna synthesizes different cultural influences brought into contact by the transatlantic slave trade, but it draws most heavily on West African music traditions. Sunday school, in contrast, is modeled after Sunday school in England. Benna is sung in Creole, while Sunday school is taught in English. Benna, which transmits gossip and is often sexually suggestive, is potentially at odds with the buttoned-up, modest nature of Sunday school, where the girl is expected to be on her best behavior.
Even as Mother instructs the girl in the practice of specific cultural traditions (like when it comes to cooking and gardening), church is a major arena in which the girl is supposed to learn what's considered to be appropriate behavior—and this arena is ultimately a British colonial institution. Singing benna in Sunday school, then, would be an illustration of the ways in which colonial influence has mingled with but not completely overtaken Carribean culture. At the same time, though, Mother specifically tells her daughter not to sing benna in Sunday school, implying that this would be improper. By calling attention to this idea, the story effectively alludes to how ideals of proper cultural etiquette (and specifically femininity) interact with and are influenced by colonialism.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Domesticity:
Domesticity appears as a motif throughout the story. The story's interest in domesticity appears in references to clothing and food, especially because both these things become vehicles through which proper womanhood is enacted (according to Mother, at least). “Girl” begins with instructions on how to do laundry, then goes into soaking underwear, purchasing cotton for a blouse, and sewing on buttons. When Mother tells the girl how to hem a dress, it comes with her rationale tacked on:
This is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming
Neat and orderly clothing represents a neat and orderly life; a hem carelessly left to unravel signifies a corresponding moral “looseness.” Mother also instructs the girl on how to iron her father’s shirt and pants, suggesting that women are responsible not just for their own image but for the entire family’s. A husband in a wrinkled shirt reflects poorly on the wife most of all, she implies.
Feeding the family is another responsibility—hence the litany of recipes—but eating, too, is regimented and performative. The girl must learn how to eat “in such a way that it won’t turn someone else’s stomach.” Eating fruit in public on the street is forbidden because it attracts bugs and also, presumably, because it comes off as lower class. Instead, eating is done at mealtimes—tea, dinner, breakfast, lunch—off of properly set tables and with special care when visited by “an important guest.” Eminently practical concerns—warmth and shelter, sustenance—are also crucial sites where women are observed and judged.
This culminates in the final lines of the story:
Always squeeze bread to make sure it’s fresh; but what if the baker won’t let me feel the bread?; you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread?
The effectiveness of Mother’s lessons can be gauged by this simple metric: if you dress properly and eat properly, the baker will judge you worthy of going near the bread. Adequate performance of womanhood is required to obtain the food necessary to feed a family. And coming full circle, the quality of the bread at your table reflects your success as a woman.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Gender:
One motif that appears throughout the story is gender roles. Far more complex than just “man” and “woman,” Mother references different categories created not just by gender but also by class and age. The girl, as an adolescent, is on the precipice of becoming something else. Mother sees it as her job to determine what exactly the girl becomes. She describes both what the girl ought to aspire to and what she ought to avoid:
Try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming.
“Lady” and “slut” are opposites, as far as Mother is concerned. She expects the girl will become a "slut" but hopes she will end up a lady. She also tells the girl:
Don’t squat down to play marbles—you are not a boy, you know.
“Slut” is a role the girl risks falling into, but “boy” is socially impossible, although unladylike behavior could suggest both. Reminding the girl that she is not a boy curtails how she should behave. Mother also wants the girl to avoid “wharf rat boys,” presumably on the basis of a difference in class and gender. Class is fluid while gender is rigid; Mother’s rules for womanhood navigate both.
“Girl” is the one role never named by Mother. It comes up only in the story’s title. Thus, the entirety of the story can be understood as a picture of what it is to be a girl, an almost-but-not-yet woman—and the outlook is unfavorable. The girl is easily dismissed and nearly voiceless; it is her transitory, malleable stage of life that prompts the occasion of the story. She is defined by Mother’s series of restrictions. At the same time, the story freezes the girl before she can become either the kind of woman the baker lets near the bread or the kind the baker doesn’t let near the bread—a snapshot of unruly possibility.
Related Themes:
