During 19th century women were described as homemakers. There were not able to engage in their societies. In addition, they could not work hand by hand next to men in many activities in their community such as writing and anything related to working outside their homes. Women were strictly treated because of cultural perspectives. They were expected to act in certain ways such as taking care of children, working in home, and wearing certain clothes. Hence, many women were suffering because of strict cultural rules in their societies. They tried to complain about their condition by changing their life style and rebel against cultural expectation. However, those women, who tried to do that, faced many obstacles while they were working to achieve that goal such as men. Men had much power in 19th century and they would not let women to compete them. By looking at how women were supposed to act in19th century in a text "Girl", we can see that it is focusing on three main things including women's duties, appearance, and marriage.

 First of all, women in the 19th century were expected to have certain duties. They had to work accordingly to such a catalog which seems to show woman just as a home wife. In addition, she had to care about her home and clean it as well as taking care of children. We can notice in the text "Girl" written by Jamaica Kincaid that woman had a bunch of duties she has to do such as cleaning, washing and sweeping. In other words, women had heavy burdens upon their shoulders. Moreover, woman in this story instructs her little daughter to do her chore home jobs by repeating "this is how to sweep a whole house, this is how to iron your father's shirt" (Kincaid 197). By looking at these instructions such as "this is how to iron your father's shirt", we can understand how gender works in the 19th century. The girl in this story is supposed to iron her father's shirt, and boys don not have to. It is not only about ironing the father's shirt but also away of organizing jobs between men and women in the 19th century. It was difficult for many women live as a homemaker because of hard burdens they have to do. So, as we can see all these instructions which were more likely to form women's ideas about themselves. They looked at themselves as homemakers when we see the mother is giving the commands and the girl should obey. Hence, this kind of ideologies grew and some people stick with it, so they would not change it. The girl in this story is trying to show her detest to these rules because she could not work where she likes to work or even to choose what she likes to do. For instance, she said "but I do not sing benna on Sunday at all and never in Sunday school", when her mother started shooting at her by the instructions (Kincaid 197).  She is just receiving many instructions from her mother about her home jobs. The idea about being house wife was common among people, and they did not feel bad about it because it has good views such as caring about children. However, Jamaica in "Girl" is illustrating women's complains which are preventing women from society's activities. The mother is still giving her more commands about her job in the house such as "this is how to set a table for tea; this is how to set a table for a dinner..." and much are in the same manner (Kincaid 197). Though there are a lot of instructions, by looking at semicolons which are predisposed to show that those commands will never end. The mother is as a coach and the girl obeys what she says which makes this girl feel annoyed and try to complain.

Another issue that Jamaica discusses in "Girl" is women's appearance in the 19th century. The society in "Girl" is describing how women should look among people. Additionally, mother's demands such as "this is how to dress when you see a hem coming down" are illustrating the expectation of the society in women appearance (Kincaid 197). As we can see women were supposed to wear certain clothes in certain occasions. Hence, we can notice that women appearance was very important because if they do not dress in a certain way they will be probably called slut. Moreover, the mother is warning her daughter from looking as a slut. For instance, "walk like a leady not like the slut you are so bent on becoming" is a good example to see how cultural expectations affect women's behaviors (Kincaid). In the article "Performance and the Gendered Body" Carol Bailey shows how cultural expectations form ideas about women's lives in the 19th century such as being a slut. He explains that when the mother  warns her daughter about being a slut, she "is perhaps more concerned with the appearance of a (proper) woman than she is about whether or not the girl is, in actuality, a "slut"(Bailey Carol). In other words, the mother wants her daughter to appear in a way that she avoid be called a slut rather than being really a slut. So, it is how women appear not about their reality. Because the mother is worried about her daughter, she is still giving more and more instructions about not being a slut. So we can relate women's appearance to marriage issue. Women in 19th century women were supposed to speak and even smile in certain ways. For instance, when the mother says "this is how you smile to someone you do not like too much; this is how you smile to someone you don't like at all..." this phrases showing how women were instructed how to smile before even talk (Kincaid 197). We can notice that in order for woman to marry a good man, she should appear in a certain way. By looking back to women clothes in 19th century and comparing them to new ones, we can see big difference because old cultural expectations are no longer existed. Women were forced to marry because they could not do much by themselves as we discussed earlier. So being a homemaker was not their favorite choice but they do not have any alternatives. Because women could not afford her family as men in the 19th century, they needed men to provide them with the money in order in live a good life. For example, children need health care and clothes as well as food. So, the father will work and get enough money to provide those needs without help from the mother.

Finally, the author is illustrating a major issue in the19th century, which is marriage and how does it affect women's behaviors. Comparing marriage in the 19th century to now we can say that marriage now have much freedom and more likely to be love relationship rather than a strict thing women have to do. In addition, we can see how the mother in the story instructs her daughter how to love someone when she says "this is how to love a man" (Kincaid 197). However, it is natural thing to love some because of a favor or something else associated between partners. The story is describing how the mother, cultural expectations, affected how women think about marriage. Women in 19th century did not have the choice to say "yes" or "no" if someone asks her hand. Many women now have the choice to choose their future because they can be productive in their societies by involving in many activities as much as they can. 

Deeply in marriage, there is another issue that Jamaica is mentioning to, which is abortion. For instance, in Girl the mother says "this how to make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child" Kincaid). By looking at this instruction we can observe that abortion in 19th was not popular because women make such a medicine to do that, and it can distort women's reputation if they do abortion. Additionally, in the article "Performance and the Gendered Body..." Carol discusses how "Girl" as text illustrates women issues such as marriage in 19th century. He is showing how women avoided unplanned pregnancy instructed by the mother in the story (Carol). He added that the mother suggests abortion because her daughter can get married even if it can ruin her reputation (Carol). So, we can see how society's expectations influence women's ideas about marriage and pregnancy.  

In conclusion, there were many cultural expectations in 19th century when women treated strictly. Additionally, by looking at the "Girl" text we could see how societies had done much effort to squelch women down and never give them chance to do whatever they want. This story is focusing on three main thins including women's duties and appearance as well as marriage. In other words cultural expectations were not helpful for women and they lost many chances to involve in their societies.  

Bailey, Carol. "Performance and the Gendered Body in Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl" and Oonya Kempadoo's Buxton Spice." Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism 10.2 (2010): 106-123. Project MUSE. Web. 6 Nov. 2014. <http://muse.jhu.edu/>.

Opper, Frederick Burr. The new woman and her bicycle-there will be several varieties of her. 1895. Illus. from Puck, v. 37, no. 954. The Carolina Reader. Fall 2014, Plymouth, MI:48170: Hayden Mcnedil.167. Print.
