Also, by telling her daughter to not eat fruit on the streets because flies will follow, it's reasonable to presume that she wants to let her daughter know that trailing flies will make her seem like she is dirty and not bathing properly. The mother warns the daughter to, "be sure to wash everyday, even if it with your own spit." If she looks as if she's dirty from flies following her or not bathing everyday, the public will shame her for not taking care of herself.
Although it may seem like a separate subject, domestic duties like modestly hemming dresses, maintaining a household, and having proper social skills is all done in the name of keeping a young woman's sexuality at bay until marriage. Throughout the story, the tone of how the mother is speaking to her daughter on this subject seems to be harsh and accusatory, rather than nurturing and loving. As stated, the mother repeatedly uses the word "slut" to describe the behaviors that she wants her daughter to steer clear of. There are several different occasions in which the mother accuses her daughter of behaving in ways that will lead her down the path of becoming a slut. As the mother says, "on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming," she is demonstrating the fixation that her culture has on a woman's sexuality being the defining line between being a respectable woman, or an unworthy woman. It suggests that she is insisting that her daughter is already acting in dishonorable ways, which fuels the mother's accusatory nature of speaking. Another occasion in which the mother is seemingly accusing her daughter is when she says, "this is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming." The mother's statements show that in their culture, the ideal woman should not only act proper, but dress in a modest fashion that covers up areas that shouldn't be revealed.
