Reflections on "Hair" by Marcia Aldrich and "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid

     After reading Marcia Aldrich's essay "Hair" I found myself disappointed as I remembered the poem"Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid. Both pieces run parallel in terms of theme; what it means to grow up and become a woman.The essay seemed generic in comparison to the poem by Jamaica Kincaid.

     The essay "Hair" is a reflection by the author of the importance that hair held to her mother and the subsequent differing reactions of her two sisters. The importance of hair to Aldrich's mother comes from a perception, real or imagined, that "the only change she could effect was a change in her hair." In the essay there seems to be an intrepidation about change especially major life events such as marriage or having a child.  The hairstylist Julie references these events as a "dangerous time" for women. To her mother, getting her hair done represented her status as a married woman, "After the wedding, women's hairstyles bore the stamp of property..." It is from her hairstyle that Aldrich's mother draws her self worth and sense of identity; "She believed that the damage done to her hair was tangible proof that she had been somewhere, like stickers on her suitcases."

     Aldrich's oldest sister decided not to change her hair much at all.  Being secure with her hair reveals that she is also secure with herself and her identity. While Aldrich's other sister is more like her mother, "She's forced to keep her hair short because chemicals do tend to destroy. My mother admires my sister's determination to transform herself, and never more than in my sister's latest assault upon middle age." Aldrich "survived hair bondage" as a child like her sisters did, but came into her own as an adult. She does this metaphorically at the end of the essay through Rhonda.  She comes to the realization that "hair is vital, sustains mistakes, can be born again." Throughout the essay, hair became a metaphor for identity which can similarly be reinvented and sustained.

     The poem "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid is written as if it were a lecture from mother to daughter.  It is a list of rules on how to become a good, respectable domestic woman. In my opinion, this poem is much more condensed and powerful than Aldrich's essay as they confront similar subjects about learning what it means to be a woman and how to handle changes and responsibilities in life.  In the poem, the mother instructs her daughter on everything from how to do laundry to home remedies for abortions.  By the end of the poem, at least in the subtext, the mother recognizes that her daughter will grow up to be a strong, respectable woman.