Marbles-“Girl”
The speaker states: “don't squat down to play marbles—you are not a boy.” The marbles are figurative of riveting masculinity. Therefore, “Girl” implies that a girl should abstain from from playing marbles as it is incongruous with feminine peculiarities.
Mr. Gishard-“In the Night”
Kincaid observes, “There is Mr. Gishard, standing under a cedar tree which is in full moon, wearing that nice white suit, which is as fresh as the day he was buried in it.”Mr. Gishard resurfaces near his old house “in the night.” If Mr. Gishard is already dead, then his sighting “in the night” suggests that he is a ghost. The night is the propitious time for the resurgence of the ghosts.
Pink ( “In the Night”)
Pink is a motif for conspicuous femaleness. The speaker give details on how her father “would like to wear pink shirts and pink pants but knows that this color isn’t very becoming to a man.” The father give ups pink outfits because they would render him a female, yet the society anticipates him to don manly colors.
