Challenging Gender Norms: Performativity and Identity in Girl by Jamaica Kincaid and Recitatif by Toni Morrison

Abstract

In the close relationship between a mother's words and her daughter's listening, and from the purity of early authentic friendships to their unavoidable dissolution, gender manifests as both a constraint and an opportunity. This thesis examines the intricate construction of identity in Toni Morrison’s Recitatif, which uses racial ambiguity to reveal identity development, and Jamaica Kincaid’s Girl, where a mother’s exhaustive list of directives delineates the boundaries of acceptable femininity. The analysis highlights how literary texts become a platform for challenging social norms, especially gender roles and identity. Drawing on Judith Butler's concept of performativity, this study identifies widespread and intricate patterns of gender formation, from the drama of Caribbean womanhood in the household to the intersection of class, gender, and race in America's evolving culture. Morrison's unorthodox story highlights the fluidity of identities across various cultural contexts, whereas Kincaid's story reveals how gender roles are passed down from mother to daughter like an inherited cultural tradition. The study's comparative analysis demonstrates that both narratives illustrate the manufactured nature of gender identity by using creative language and ambiguity in storytelling to highlight the repetitive practices that either support or challenge fixed and conventional identities.