Girl Journal

Eduardo Sanchez


In this reading Kincaid writes about basically what her mother expected her to do and not to do, mainly in order for her not to become a "slut". I think that this reading mainly speaks to young adults like us growing up and becoming a reflection of what our parents taught us. I think that everyone remembers a time when our parents would nag and tell us what to do, this was mainly their way of telling us how to be good people and do what is expected of us. I remember when I was growing up as a kid, my parents would always tell me how to dress and how to behave around people, and what was right and wrong. I usually got annoyed with this, and I even stopped caring around my teen years. I didn't care what people thought of me and I would tell myself "they don't know me, so its none of their business what I do or how I act". Then when I matured more I realized that despite the fact that part of that was true, how you act always leaves an impression of you on people, and even though judging people you don't know is wrong, it happens. People can also judge my parents as well and think that they did a horrible job raising me, so its important to maintain a good impression of yourself when around people that you don't know, even if they aren't such good people themselves. Despite everything acting appropriately doesn't mean that you have to change who you are and what you believe in, it just means you want to be a good person and let people believe that you are. And Being a good person is one of the most important lessons your parents can teach you, because it is something that you remember for the rest of your life.