The Distorted Image of the Mother-Daughter Relationship in Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls” and Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl”

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article answers questions about how patriarchy resists all the social and cultural changes during postmodernism and how it reinforces the distorted image of the mother in her relationship with her daughter. The questions’ answers will be critically investigated in relation to two postmodernist stories, Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls” ([1964] 1968) and Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” ([1978] 2003). According to the findings, patriarchal hegemony over the relationship between mother and daughter is not limited to traditional societies; it is universal and can even be traced in postmodernist Western literature. The patriarchal motherhood that puts daughters in a frame to meet society’s expectations, that raises daughters as copies of their mothers, that prepares daughters to marry and be good housewives, and that neglects daughters’ needs and deprives them of a model to identify with are all explored in this article. The role of women, among many others, is to lead, to create changes, to educate, and to prepare generations for a better future. Women should reject considering housekeeping as an area of competition and should pass this on to their daughters. They must realize their own individual identity and evaluate themselves away from their forced traditional role.