A Caribbean mother rants to her daughter about the ways of that she should be respectable, subservient, and domestic. The mother instructs the daughter on chores, such as how to wash certain colored clothes on different days and how to buy specific cotton. She teaches the daughter about proper manners for girls, such as how to eat, walk, and behave correctly in various settings. The mother also warns the girl against becoming a "slut," and tells her not to sing benna in church and not to speak to "wharf-rat boys."  The girl responds once, and says that she never sings benna on Sundays, but is silenced by the mother's rant. The mother instructs the girl on how to sew, iron, grow plants, clean, set a dinner table, and act reserved in the presence of men. In the exhausting rant, the mother explains other tasks such as how to make medicine, catch a fish, and feel for fresh bread at the baker's shop. When the girl asks what to do if the baker doesn’t let her feel the bread, the mother mockingly questions if the girl will become the type of woman that bakers won’t let near their bread.