Girl vs Mean Girls

Modern day rules dictated by society based on the movie Mean Girls

Girl by Jamaica Kincaid

A mother is telling her daughter how to behave in front of society so that she becomes a real woman and not a slut.

These rules are based on tradition and culture, such as her references to

Sunday church, the types of plants she should be growing, the activities such as playing marbles, throwing stones at

blackbirds, spitting, etc. Also, the references made of food: salt fish,

pumpkin fritters, tea.

These rules come with consequences if they aren’t followed: her becoming a

slut, which is something a woman shouldn’t be in that society.

Mean Girls

A group of girls in an American High School are seen as the

queens of that society because they make and follow their rules about how to behave. When a new innocent girl arrives from Africa they teach her to live by their rules and turn her into a “mean girl”, because being a

mean girl means having power over everyone else at school;

dictating new trends and being respected. The consequences of

not following those rules are becoming a loser and being

rejected by society.

Although the movie exagerates a lot, that is the way girls act in school, following some rules dictated by their own friends, not only their family. And if you don’t

follow them it could lead to social rejection. In Mean Girls a relationship with Girl can be seen, even though the cultures and periods of time are different, the

concept is the same.

• “On Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming”

• “Be sure to wash every day, even if it is with your own spit”

• “this is how you set a table for lunch; this is how you set a table for breakfast”

• “…this is how to behave in front of men who don’t know you very well, and this way they won’t recognize immediatly the slut I have warned you against becoming.”

• “…You musn’t speak to wharf-rat boys, not even to give directions.”

“…this is how you smile to someone you dont like too much; this is how you smile to someone you don’t like at all.”

“…this is how to bully a man; this is how a man bullies you.”

Final thoughtsCaught in between all the rules of society, which vary according to the kind of people you hang out with, the family that raised you

and the culture or social economical class you grow in,

you don’t have the opportunity to grow as an individual. If you

always follow someone else’s rules in order to “fit” into that society, you won’t be able to

explore your own unique way to handle life.