Characters are they protagonistic or antagonistic

Daughter is the story's protagonist, as she grows up and is exposed the lessons her mothers wants to teach her about being a woman.

The mother may be seen as the daughter's antagonist, as the daughter objects to and isn't appreciative of the things her mother feels she ought to know.... like most mothers.

Although there are no descriptive passages in "Girl," there are several clues to the story's Caribbean setting in the mother's instructions. In the first lines, for example, the mother mentions putting laundry "on the stone heap" and "on the clothesline to dry," indicating a way of life without electrical appliances. Later, she tells "how you make ends meet," again indicating relative poverty. The foods she mentions help place the story in the Caribbean: pumpkin fritters, salt fish, okra, dasheen (also called taro, a tropical starchy root), bread pudding, and pepper pot. Kincaid grew up on the island of Antigua, in a home without electricity or running water, and although she does not name the place, in her mind it is set there.