Captive of a G-String Analysis of Literary Techniques free essay sample

Captive of a G-string: An Analysis of literary techniques in Nicola Barker’s short story â€Å"G-String† Nicola Barker’s short story â€Å"G-string† relates the troubles of a middle-aged woman with her self-confidence, how she fails to achieve the respect and admiration she seeks from her boyfriend Mr. Kip, as well as how she struggles to attain a certain idea of herself as a modern woman by wearing a G-string. With a humorous tone and use of the G-string as a symbol, Barker allows us to follow her protagonist, Gillian, in her dilemma between wearing fashionable undergarments to resemble the picture she has of a voguish woman, or rejecting the unpleasant G-string and accommodating who she is, with her flaws and imperfections. Barker lets us grasp that putting an end to our constant struggle to fit into society’s mould is the first step on the road to self-assurance. By letting us witness the amendment in the attitude of Gillian’s partner Mr. Kip, when our protagonist finally cracks and loses her meek facade, the author furthermore states that our self-perception, with approval or denigration, will dictate how others see us, and define our power of seduction. Barker uses the G-string as the symbol of society’s control over women. In her narrative, the frivolous panties become the standard in which every woman feels she should fit in order to be sexy, desirable to men, and most of all modern. The stereotypical character of Jeanie, whom we meet in the beginning of the story, introduces Gillian to the G-string. She is the archetype of the trendy, classy woman that society sees as sexy and up-to-date: â€Å"Jeanie twenty-one with doe eyes, sunbed-brown and weighing in at ninety pounds told Gillian that the dress made her look like an egg-box. All lumpy-humpy† (70). So when this fashionable, elegant individual declares to Gillian, speaking of the G-string: â€Å"These are truly modern knickers (†¦). These are what everyone wears now† (70), it is to be understood that the G-string is a necessary garment in the attire of today’s women. This convinces Gillian to make an attempt at wearing the (very small) piece of clothing that does not appeal to her. As an important image throughout the story, the G-string is the symbol Baker chose to represent society’s idea of a contemporary woman. It becomes a statement of modernism from the woman sporting it. Like any ideal, it neglects the true physique and distinctiveness of the wearer. Gillian, who is described as: â€Å"a nervous size sixteen† (69), does not have the required build to look good in the G-string. Gillian decides to follow Jeanie’s advice and wear it anyway, but to the sacrifice of her mental comfort: â€Å"Oh the G-string was a modern thing, but it looked so horrid! Gillian wanted to be a modern girl but (†¦) her heart sank down into her strappy sandals. It tormented her† (71). In this passage, the reader can appreciate how the G-string makes Gillian uneasy. She feels awkward, but continues to wear it because she desperately wants to be a modern-day woman. The author uses the symbol of the G-string to teach us how we cannot all fit into one profile, because we are all different and unique. If we persist in struggling to be someone we are not, disrespecting our true personality and figure, we are bound to be uncomfortable, to feel out of place. As the repressive garment awkwardly confined Gillian in a bogus persona, the removal of the despicable lingerie inevitably generates a magnificent relief. At the apogee of the story, Gillian ultimately takes off the G-string and feels liberated, more confident: â€Å"She was knickerless. She was victorious. She was truly a modern female† (72). Barker’s protagonist experiences an intense sentiment of emancipation as she is unshackled from the restraints of the oppressing knickers. She finally feels the self-assurance she was pursuing when she discards the G-string, and admits that it is not for her. It is not who she is. She feels better about herself for making the choice to end the self-contempt and the role playing. With Gillian’s experience, Barker demonstrates that impersonating a character that is not our own will bring its burden of distress and anguish, while choosing self-acceptance will convey a sense of deliverance and relief, and is essential to reach any degree of self-esteem. The reaction of the entourage to a recently acquired sense of worth is also evoked when Mr. Kip is seduced by Gillian’s new attitude: â€Å"Mr. Kip was very impressed. He couldn’t help himself† (72). Nicola Barker uses the symbol of the G-string throughout her narrative to express the fact that women’s empowerment will come from rejecting society’s hold on their appearance, and that being themselves will bring them the self-confidence they seek, not the blind following of fashion and trends. With the reaction of Mr. Kip, Barker additionally advocates that the newly acquired self-esteem will, at long last, bring woman the respect and admiration of men. Nicola Barker’s story G-string is a hilarious narrative presenting formulaic but lifelike characters trapped in the part society has ascribed them. It is written in an entertaining and amusing tone. Barker uses humour to highlight the ridiculousness of women’s attitude of trying to please at the cost of who they really are. These pitiful attempts are shown as ill-advised and unavailing. Barker uses colourful similes to illustrate how absurd Gillian feels when she persists in wearing the G-string even when it is clear she is ill at ease in the loathsome underwear: â€Å"It felt like her G-string was making headway from between her buttocks up into her throat. She felt like a leg of lamb, trussed up with cheese wire. Now she knew how a horse felt when offered a new bit and bridle for the first time† (70). The author uses comical comparisons to a leg of lamb and a horse to clearly let us sense how silly Gillian feels. It makes us question why we would want to go so far as to be so uncomfortable, feels so ridiculous, just to try to resemble an inaccessible ideal, and to gain the respect and love of others. When Gillian attends the Rotary party with Mr. Kip, the G-string ruins her already wobbly self-confidence: â€Å"(†¦) when she espied her rear-end engulfing the slither of string like a piece of dental floss entering the gap between two great white molars, her heart sank down into her strappy sandals. It tormented her. Like the pain of an old bunion, it quite took off her social edge† (71). In this amusing simile, we can perceive that Gillian’s task at seeking self-assurance and other’s approbation is rendered even harder by the G-string. The stringy panties she wears to try to feel sexy and desirable brings her further from that goal. By comparing Gillian’s substantial rear-end to two great white molars, Barker describes a physical blemish of her character in a hilarious fashion. With such an approach to a shortcoming, the author encourages us to laugh at flaws that we often perceive as enormous and that can sometimes become almost incapacitating to us. Those weaknesses are imperfections only because we see them that way, encouraged in this deduction by the standards created by society. Barker grants us another funny image with Gillian’s revolt at the end of the story. The middle-aged, frizzy, overweight character finds an original and entertaining answer to her boyfriend’s windshield wiper problem as well as her G-string trouble: From her bag Gillian drew out her Swiss Army Knife and applied it with gusto to the plentiful elastic on her G-string. Then she tied one end to the second wiper and pulled the rest around and through her window. â€Å"Right,† she said, â€Å"start up the engine. † Colin Kip did as he was told. Gillian manipulated the wipers manually; left, right, left, right. All superior and rhythmical and practical and dour-faced. 72) In this witty, singular solution to two difficulties at once, Gillian finds a new authority that she had previously lacked. She even gives orders to Mr. Kip, something she would never have dared before. Finally getting rid of the G-string has a therapeutic and liberating impact on her. Barker uses this facetious anecdote to assert the fact that Gillian did not need the G-string at all to become the ideal woman she craved so badly to be. Her cleverness and freshly developed decisiveness also provokes the long awaited admiration and desire of her companion: â€Å"After several minutes of driving in silence [Mr. Kip] took his hand off the gearstick and slid it on to Gillian’s lap. † Mr. Kip feels a new longing for the fresh, authoritative and assured Gillian who finally achieves the respect she was looking for, simply by being herself. In Nicola Barker’s story G-string, humour gives a light tone to the otherwise gloomy subject of women’s desperate attempts at fitting into an archetypal idea of a modern woman, and trying to please others at the cost of their personality and self-respect.