Jamaica's Kincaid's "Girl" first appeared in The New Yorker in 1978. The setting could perhaps be the 1970s, but could also easily be earlier, perhaps the 1950s or the early 1960s, when Kincaid herself was a girl. Local references such as "benna" make it clear that the setting is a Caribbean island, and Kincaid herself has mentioned that the location for the piece is her home country of Antigua.

The story is in the voice of an older woman, perhaps the girl's mother or aunt or another close relative. She speaks in a scolding tone and with great familiarity, suggesting that she is close to the girl, probably family, and has some form of authority over her. The speaker is socially conservative and is greatly concerned with the appearance of virtue. She is a traditional housewife and is instructing the girl in how to follow her along this path, hence the preoccupation throughout the monologue with buying food, cooking, and doing domestic chores.

The speaker is clearly from a humble background, but a highly respectable one with an established position in the community. She talks about the girl attending Sunday school and walking like a lady on Sundays, suggesting a strongly religious background. However, like her social advice, the speaker's comments on religion are confined to the way in which it confers respectability.