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Annie John
Context
Jamaica Kincaid was born was born on May 25, 1949 at Holberton
Hospital in St. John,Antigua. She was originally named Elaine
Potter Richardson. Richardson was her mother'ssurname. Her parents
were not married and her biological father never played a role in
her life.Her mother, Annie, married her stepfather, David Drew,
soon after Kincaid's birth. Kincaidconsiders Drew her father and he
serves as the model for the fathers in each of her novels.Annie and
David Drew had three subsequent children, all boys.
Jamaica Kincaid's mother taught her to read at the age of three.
Kincaid won a scholarship tothe Princess Margaret School and
excelled as a student, despite her occasionally
mischievousattitude. After her father fell ill, however, Kincaid,
as the girl in the family, dropped out at theage of thirteen. She
left Antigua at age seventeen and moved to Scarsdale, New York to
work asan au pair. She stayed in Scarsdale for a few months, before
moving to Manhattan to be an aupair for the family of Michael
Arlen, a New Yorker writer. She remained with the Arlen familyfor
four years. As she worked, Kincaid acquired her general equivalency
diploma and startedtaking photography classes at the New School for
Social Research. Eventually, she won ascholarship to Franconia
College in New Hampshire, but dropped out after two years.
Afterreturning to New York in 1973, she changed her named to
Jamaica Kincaid to be anonymous asshe tried her hand at writing.
Ingenue published her first article, "When I was Seventeen," inthe
same year. She soon became friends with Scott Trow, who wrote the
"Talk of the Town"column in the New Yorker. Trow eventually
introduced her to William Shawn, the magazine'seditor. In 1976,
Kincaid became a New Yorker staff writer herself. In 1979, she
marriedWilliam Shawn's son, the composer Allen Shawn. They had two
children, Annie and Harold, in1985 and 1988. They currently live in
Bennington, Vermont where Shawn is a professor atBennington
College.
Kincaid's first book, At the Bottom of the River, is a
collection of short stories that received theMorton Dauwen Zabel
Award soon after its publication in 1983. Annie John was published
twoyears later in 1985. The publication of Annie John was unique in
that the New Yorker publishedeach of the novel's chapters
separately before they were compiled and published as the novel.For
this reason, reviewers initially wondered if they should categorize
the book as a novel or acollection of short stories. The
independent nature of the chapters makes their compilationsomewhat
episodic, which is to say that each chapter involves a series of
episodes about acertain time in a young girl's life. The strong
voice of the narrator links the different segmentstogether, but the
book still differs from a tightly constructed novel in which every
episodeinterlaces to form a close knit whole.
Annie John represents a classic bildungsroman or growing up
novel, which chronicles themoral, psychological, and intellectual
development of a character. More specifically, AnnieJohn can also
be recognized as a Caribbean bildungsroman. Many Caribbean
bildungsromansnot only focus on the central character's growth, but
they also parallel their experiences withthose of the West Indian
colonies where they live. Other examples of similar
Caribbeanbildungsromans include Merle Hodge's Crick Crack, Monkey
(1970), Zee Edgell's Beka Lamb
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(1982), and Michelle Cliff's Abeng (1984). In these novels, as
in Annie John, the protagonist'sgrowth toward maturity parallels
her society's progress from colonialism to independence. InAnnie
John, the protagonist's conflict with the dominant mores of society
can best be seenthrough her problematic relationship with her
mother. The complexity of the narrator'semotions towards her mother
demonstrates the often-difficult relationship between Antigua
andits British protectorate.
Since the publication of Annie John, Kincaid has published six
books: a group of prosesketches, Annie, Gwen, Lilly, Pam, and
Tulip, in 1986; an essay on the politics of Antigua, ASmall Place,
in 1988; the novels, Lucy and The Autobiography of my Mother in
1990 and 1995;a memoir about her brother's death from AIDS, My
Brother, in 1997; and My Garden Book in1999. Major themes in
Kincaid's word include the relationship between mothers and
daughters,which is crucial in Annie John, the complexities of
colonization, and gardening. Critics longhave praised Kincaid's
lyrical, incantatory prose, which is characterized by rich colorful
detailsabout life in the Caribbean, including names or local plants
and foods. Her work has also beenexamined in light of post-colonial
and feminist theories.
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Plot Overview
Annie John chronicles the life of the main character, Annie
John, from the age of ten until theage of seventeen. Annie John
lives with her mother and father in a city on the island of
Antigua.During her tenth year, Annie becomes obsessed with the idea
of death after spending thesummer outside the city near a cemetery
and learning that children die. When she returns to thecity, Annie
starts stopping by funeral parlors just to watch mourners. One day,
a younghunchbacked girl her age dies. Annie rushes from school to
attend the girl's wake where shegets to view the dead girl's body.
Later, she realizes that in her excitement she forgot to bringthe
fish home for dinner. She makes up a small lie, but her mother
knows the truth. For herpunishment, Annie is forced to her eat her
dinner outside under the breadfruit tree.
Generally during summer vacation, Annie and her mother spend all
their time together. Hermother lets Annie sleep in and then adds
some hot water to the bath for her. Sometimes theyeven take a bath
together after her mother adds herbs and spices that the obeah
woman, a localhealer, recommends. After the bath, they usually go
to town where her mother teaches Anniehow to shop and get the best
products for the best prices. Annie thinks that her mother is
verybeautiful and very wise. Mrs. John grew up in Dominica but came
to Antigua when she wassixteen following a conflict with her
parents. Annie's father had children by other women too,and
sometimes these women curse Mrs. John on the street. One day, Annie
returns home andfinds her parents making love in bed. She feels
rejected when seeing them because she is notpart of their union. In
particular, she feels angry at her mother's neglect of their
specialrelationship and starts to view her coldly.
When Annie starts school, she becomes best friends with Gwen.
Annie is the brightest studentin the class whose essay on the first
day of school is praised. Although liked by the teachers,Annie also
is popular with the students since she stands up for everyone, is
good at sports, andmakes rambunctious jokes when in private. Annie
and Gwen walk to and from school togethereveryday. Annie tries to
use their relationship to assuage her grief at being neglected by
hermother, but it does not entirely work.
Annie eventually befriends the Red Girl, a tomboyish girl from a
lower class who runs arounddirty and disheveled. Annie admires her
unstructured, carefree life and Annie starts to mimicher by playing
marbles. Annie also begins a pattern of petty thievery to buy the
Red Girlpresents and lies daily so that she can meet up with the
Red Girl after school. One day Annie'smother catches her coming out
from under the house, where Annie hides her stolen loot. Hermother
sees her with a marble and searches everywhere to find Annie's
stash. Annie denies thatshe has any other marbles despite her
mother's entreaties and takes pleasure in her mother'sinability to
find them. Eventually, Annie starts to menstruate and the Red Girl
moves away, soAnnie stops playing marbles altogether.
Annie's good grades make her the prefect of her class, despite
her occasionally mischievousbehavior. One day during a history
lesson, Annie grows bored because she knows the materialand starts
reading ahead in her book. She finds out that Christopher Columbus
was imprisonedlater in his life for having offended the Queen.
Annie sees a picture of him in chains and writesunder it, "The
Great Man Can No Longer Move," a phrase that her father once used
to describe
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her grandfather. Her teacher, Miss Edward, sees her and upbraids
her for blasphemousbehavior. Annie is sent to the principal who
takes the prefect position away from her and ordersher to copy Book
I and Book II of Milton's Paradise Lost. After her scolding, Annie
returnshome hoping that her mother will cheer her up, but her
father and mother seem too absorbed ineach other to notice her
distress. Furthermore, her mother tricks her into eating
breadfruit,something Annie detests, by making it look like rice.
When faced with her mother's betrayal,Annie feels complete hatred
for her.
Annie's unhappiness comes to resemble a heavy black ball inside
her that is covered withcobwebs. Annie cannot easily say what
caused this ball but it makes her feel miserable all thetime. Her
success continues at school and she is promoted into a class with
much older girls.Annie feels socially isolated and even finds Gwen
to be a dull companion. Annie dreams ofmoving to Belgium, a place
that Jane Eyre visited, so that Annie's mother can no longer
findher. One day after school, Annie avoids Gwen and heads into
town instead. Annie stares at herreflection in a store window and
feel overcome by sadness at seeing herself look so ugly andragged.
A group of boys nearby starts teasing her and she speaks to one of
them since she knewhim as a child. When they keep laughing at her,
she goes home. Her mother confronts her in theyard and tells Annie
that she saw Annie's flirtatious behavior in town. After her mother
callsAnnie a slut, Annie loses her temper and says, "like mother,
like daughter." Her mother thensays that she always loved her best
until that moment. Annie senses that something dark hascome between
them. At dinner that night, Annie tells her father she wants her
own trunk likethe one that her mother has.
Annie suffers a mental breakdown that coincides with a
three-month rainstorm and becomesbedridden. In her sickness, her
behavior reverts to that of an infant. She cannot be left alone,she
wets her bed, and she needs help eating. Both the local doctor and
an obeah woman treather, but she remains ill. Eventually, her
grandmother, Ma Chess, comes. She heals Annie notwith her powerful
knowledge of obeah, but from holding her throughout the days. After
Annieis better, they notice that she has grown even taller than she
was. She has to get a new set ofclothing before returning to
school.
Finally, Annie turns seventeen and decides to leave Antigua to
study nursing in England. Nowshe looks forward to living a separate
life and being away from her mother. As she walks to theboat with
them, she remembers her young life with its warmth, but
acknowledges that there isno space left for her at her parents'
house. Her parents wave goodbye as she disappears on theboat and
Annie lies in her cabin with expectations of the future.
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Character List
Annie John - The protagonist of the novel. Annie is bright,
spunky, and witty. She tells herown story in tones that vary from
serious to comic. Her struggle throughout the novel is tobecome a
separate self. For most of the book, she wants to remain united
with her mother andtherefore fights the separation in every way
possible. She finds substitutes with her friends andbecomes
disobedient. In her disobedience, she comes to define herself in a
unique way thatstands in contrast to the complacently demanded of
other young girls in the Antiguan socialorder.
Read an in-depth analysis of Annie John.
Annie's mother - Annie's mother is a strong, capable, beautiful
woman whom Annie admiresand deeply loves. We are generally only
able to see the mother as Annie sees her, which mayplace her in a
negative light. When Annie is young, her mother takes complete and
loving careof her. Annie's hatred of her mother grows as a result
of her mother saying that she is a separatebeing. Annie's mother is
marked by power in the realms of obeah, the powerful spiritual
beliefsnative to the Caribbean. She is brave enough to prepare a
dead girl for her final rest in a coffin,but also caring enough to
carefully bathe her daughter. Annie's mother's sexuality appears
tohave been the cause for her departure from her home island of
Dominica and also is one of thereasons that Annie grows to hate
her.
Read an in-depth analysis of Annie's mother.
Annie's father - Annie's father is a kindly, quiet man who is
always pleasant to Annie and inthe household sphere. While he is
kind, the household runs according to his presence. His wifewakes
up early to prepare food for him and she cooks for him throughout
the day. Beforemarrying Annie's mother, her father slept with other
women and even fathered their children.These women occasionally
harass Annie's mother on the street. This legacy of
philanderingsuggests his previous sexual freedom. He is
approximately thirty years older than Annie'smother and now has
conveniently retired to a life of quiet domesticity. Although he
appears tobe a kind man, his presence carries subtle undertones of
the unequal power relations betweengenders in the Antigua of
Annie's childhood.Gwen - Annie's best friend in school. Annie uses
her relationship with Gwen to fill the voidshe feels after her
mother appears to betray her. Gwen and Annie become inseparable and
sharetheir secrets and stories with one another. At the same time,
Annie senses that their friendshiplacks something since the two
girls cling to each other primary because of separation
anxiety.After Annie's illness, when she craves rather than fears
separation, Annie realizes that herconnection with Gwen is not very
meaningful. Gwen's docility and willingness to conform tothe social
order handed down by the colonial power makes her dull in Annie's
eyes.The Red Girl - A local lower class girl whom Annie befriends.
The Red Girl's life is asunstructured as Annie's is structured and
Annie wants to be like her. The Red Girl only has towash and comb
her hair once a week and is allowed to run wild without parental
control. Anniebecomes a bit of a hooligan herself after befriending
the Red Girl. They are frequently playingmarbles, lying constantly,
and being a petty thief. The Red Girl stands as a fully
defiantcharacter who refuses to live according to the norms that
the colonial society imposes on her.
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She has not been indoctrinated by the English social order
because she does not seem to attendschool. She refuses to wear the
clothes established as proper by the English system and sheeven
seems to lack a proper English name, being only referred to as the
"Red Girl." Annie'swillingness to interact with the Red Girl
demonstrates her own desire for defiance against thedominant social
order.
Read an in-depth analysis of The Red Girl.
Ma Chess - Annie's grandmother. Ma Chess lives on Dominica but
comes to Antigua to healAnnie. Ma Chess is a powerful female figure
who is deeply connected with the local healingreligion of the
island, obeah. She appears to have powers outside of her self that
she uses tomaintain her own health and to bring Annie's back to
her. Ma Chess is a deeply intuitive, strongwoman who represents the
strength of the local Antiguan culture and who stands apart from
aCaribbean world organized according to the British social order.Pa
Chess - Annie's mother's father. Annie's mother and he quarreled
when she was young,which led Annie's mother to leave home at the
age of sixteen. Later in life, he becomes decrepitand unable to
walk around freely. He represents oppressive male control over a
family. Whenhis son became sick, he refused to let an obeah woman
treat him and after he died Ma Chess,his wife, never spoke to him
again.Nalda - The girl who dies after having a disease where she
eats mud. Annie's mother preparesNalda's dead body for the
funeral.Sonia - The slowwitted girl whom Annie adores and pesters
at school, until she discovers thatSonia's mother died. Annie no
longer talks to her after that because she finds Sonia tooshameful
without a mother.Mineu - The boy that Annie played with when she
was a young girl. He tricked her into sittingnaked on a red
anthill, so that she was stung all over. When she meets him later
in life, sheremembers this incident as a time when her mother stood
up for her.Hilarene - The girl who is second in class behind Annie.
Annie finds Hilarene boring and dullbecause Hilarene has no spunk
and is very well behaved. Annie's disobedience relates to herdesire
to defy the dominant social order, the colonial ideal handed down
by the school. BecauseHilarene lacks a similar desire, Annie finds
her uninteresting.Miss Nelson - Annie's original homeroom teacher
at school who praised Annie's essay abouther mother. Her surname is
the same as one of the British Admirals who conquered theCaribbean,
thus suggesting her place as an instructor in the colonial social
order.Miss Edward - Annie's history teacher at school who grows
extremely upset with Annie'sdefacing of the history book. Her name
is the same as several of the British kings suggestingher place in
maintaining the British social order.Miss Charlotte - Annie's
neighbor who falls down dead on the street.Ma Jolie - The obeah
woman who moved to Antigua from Dominica and who comes to
treatAnnie during her illness.
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Analysis of Major Characters
Annie John
Annie John is the narrator and central character in the novel,
who therefore dominates the text.Because she is the narrator,
everything that the reader hears and sees is filtered through
hervoice. Likewise, the depiction of her self and of all the other
characters comes as she wills it.As it most evident through her
depiction of her mother, her description of what actuallyhappens
often takes place with a highly subjective perspective. Although
just a growing girl,Annie is a complex figure. In her early youth,
she struggles fiercely against the idea ofseparation from her
mother. Her fears about being left alone in the world dominate her
earlydays and when they are not entirely resolved transform into
bitterness and hatred. At the sametime, as she grows into her
adolescence, she learns to harden herself against efforts to
restricther personal freedom and articulation. Both Annie's mother
and her teachers have a firm idea ofwho Annie should become. Annie
manages to evade these definitions and develop a uniquelydual
consciousness by both her abilities and her insolence. On the one
hand, her ability toadhere to the colonial order allows her to
become the best student in the class who is made theclass prefect
and later promoted several grades above her level. On the other
hand, she keeps upher feisty spirit by being rambunctious outside
the classroom. She entertains the other girlswith dirty songs,
becomes a thief and a liar, and even an expert in marbles. While
some of theseactivities carry a dishonest taint, they all prove
crucial to Annie's personal development in acolonial atmosphere
that tries to define who it thinks that she is. Annie's attitude
often carries acertain arrogance, especially toward the end of the
book where she believes many of the othercharacters to lack the
necessary spirit, like Gwen, however even her defiance and
arroganceseem understandable, since they are the tools that allowed
her to thrive in a colonialenvironment that sought to define who
she is.
Annie's mother (Mrs. John)
The characterization of Mrs. John only comes from Annie because
Annie is the sole narrator ofthe novel. Because Annie hates her
mother for much of the book, Mrs. John's character oftencomes
across negatively. Given Annie's strong emotions toward her mother,
however, theseimpressions are not generally credible. Initially,
Mrs. John appears to be a wonderful mother.She is strong, capable,
and beautiful. When she walks through the markets in town, the
sellersall run to greet her. She contains powerful knowledge about
nature, the rituals of obeah, andeven about death. It is she who
first teaches Annie about death and she who later has thestrength
to prepare a dead child for the grave. Her ability to not be cowed
by the ugly naturalelements of the world show her to be a
courageous woman, especially in Annie's eyes. Thekindness of
Annie's mother can initially be seen from the lengthy baths that
she gives her, thefact that she kisses her before sleep even though
Annie is supposed to lose the kiss aspunishment, and the time that
she takes to retell Annie the family history as seen in her
trunk.When Annie starts to dislike her mother, the mother still
appears to be reasonable. Annie'sinitial anger at her mother starts
because her mother insists that they are separate people,
whichAnnie cannot accept. Because Annie's anger at her mother
appears to be an outgrowth ofAnnie's immaturity, it does not appear
initially that Annie's mother has done anything wrong in
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suggesting the true fact that she and her daughter are separate
people.
Annie's mother is also a sexual creature, which is one of the
reasons that Annie hates her. Mrs.John manages to captivate her
husband's attentions as they eat lunch together and later they
areactually shown having sex. The legacy of sexual promiscuity
seems to hang over Annie'smother early life. Her flight from
Dominica at age sixteen took place after a fight with herfather
that appears most likely linked with her being engaged in some
early sexual activity.Still, although Annie envies her parents'
sexual union, Mrs. John does not seem to neglect herdaughter by
having sexual relationships with her husband. Because Annie's
description of hermother is not believable, there is no way to
determine if Mrs. John actually neglected herdaughter in her
attentions to her husband or not.
The Red Girl
The Red Girl is a character that is about Annie's age who
represents the defiant person thatAnnie wishes to become. The Red
Girl exists in a world that is very different from
Annie'sstructured one. The Red Girl does not need to bathe, dress,
and attend school everyday.Whereas Annie's life is defined by her
attention to expected social behavior, the Red Girl's lifelies
outside of those expectations. The Red Girl represents the world
outside of the Britishcolonial order. The Red Girl does not adhere
to the British form of dress or schooling. Withouta name, she even
seems to exist outside of the British language and code of legal
documents.The Red Girl offers Annie a sense of self and of Antigua
that Annie is not able to learn about inschool. By spending time
with her, Annie learns the possibilities that lie apart from
hermother's dominion. When the Red Girl leaves Antigua, Annie
dreams that the Red Girl's boatwill capsize and Annie will save
her. The two girls will then live together on an isolated
island.Each time colonial ships pass, Annie and the Red Girl will
send them confusing symbols so thatthe ships crash upon the shore.
In this dream, Annie demonstrates her desire to become aperson who
will subvert the colonial system as she imagines that the Red Girl
does. The shipsthat they will destroy represent the British Empire
and by sending them to their destruction,Annie will defy the
colonial system. The presence of the Red Girl plays a crucial role
inAnnie's development to become an independent person in a colonial
country.
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Themes, Motifs, and Symbols
Themes
Mother-Daughter Relationships
The mother-daughter relationship drives the plot in Annie John
and is its primary theme. Thedifficulties and tensions in this
relationship stem from Annie's inability to accept the fact thatshe
is a separate self. Kincaid paints Annie's desire to remain united
with her mother as anemotion shared by most girls of her age.
Annie's classmates all commiserate with her essayabout her fear of
separation. Furthermore, the girls befriend one another in an
effort to findsubstitutes for the maternal love that appears to be
dissipating. As Annie ages, she finds herselfcaught between love
and hatred for her mother, which drives her to be both a good
student anda disobedient child. Again, the rationale behind her
adolescent rebellion seems to be profferedas an explanation for a
general psychological trend rather than merely a specific
fictionalphenomenon. The dynamics of mother-daughter relationships
take up a prominent place inJamaica Kincaid's work and have
frequently appeared in her other novels such as Lucy and
TheAutobiography of My Mother.
Colonizers and Colonial Education
Antigua was colonized by the British until 1967 and remained a
commonwealth in 1981. AsAnnie John takes place in the 1950s, it
remains in the colonial period. Kincaid explores thecolonial
relationship particularly through her discussion of the school that
Annie attends. It isrun as a British institution and all the
materials taught in the school deal with Englishliterature,
history, and culture. The girls dress in a formal British style and
they are discouragedfrom engaging in local activities, such as
calypso dancing in the playground. Annie's musing onthe failure of
the school to discuss the negative history of slavery and her
delight in theimprisonment of Columbus highlight the ways in which
the school teaches the students not toquestion the history and
social order that is being handed down to them. Annie excels in
herschool, which shows that she has learned all of the skills
necessary to prove her intellectual andsocial worth in the colonial
world. However, her spunky behavior behind the teachers' backsshows
that her feisty Antiguan spirit still thrives within.
Gender Relations
Although Annie's father appears a gentle and reticent man, he
serves as a testament to theunequal gender relations in Antigua.
Annie's father is about thirty years older than his wife. Hehad
numerous sexual affairs before marrying Annie's mother and the
women with whom heslept frequently harass Annie's mother on the
street. Now that he has his married life secured,he provides for
the family while his wife takes care of his domestic and sexual
needs. While asa man Annie's father could philander, Annie's mother
interprets Annie's mere discussion with agroup of boys as
inappropriate sexual misconduct and calls her a "slut." With these
twostandards, it becomes clear that the behavior expected of men
and women in Antigua are quitedifferent. Although the women who
curse at Annie's mother appear unfriendly, even Kincaid'sdepiction
of them is sympathetic. They, after all, committed the same sexual
act as Annie'sfather, but have been left in the difficult economic
position of raising their children without a
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husband.
Motifs
Obeah
Obeah is the local spiritual system that relies upon the use of
herbs as well as sorcery andspells. Obeah reappears many times in
the novel from the way that Mrs. John takes a bath, tothe healing
of Annie, to the Obeah blessed clothing that Annie wears on her way
to England.Obeah is a powerful part of the native culture that
remains, despite the cultural dominion of theBritish Empire. In
particular, Obeah links the Caribbean culture its pre-colonization
people,while simultaneously suggesting the blend of Amerindian,
African, and European cultures thatmake up the islands. Obeah
particularly is intimately connected with strong female
characters.The male figures in the novel, Annie's father and
grandfather, both shun it. Annie'sgrandmother particularly seems to
dwell in a mystical world of obeah that fully defies thelogical
world of the colonial culture. She arrives and leaves Antigua on
days that the ferry doesnot run, for example. She is the only one
to be able to heal Annie, despite the efforts of theobeah woman and
the local Doctor. The existence of obeah in Annie's world
demonstrates thepower of the local spiritual beliefs to survive,
despite the colonial conditions.
Water
Water reappears through the novel as a powerful natural force
that helps to both heal andtransform. Its ability to heal can be
seen in the baths that Annie and her mother take at thebeginning of
the novel. The salt water of the ocean likewise strengthens Annie's
kidneys. Therainstorm that persists during Annie's illness cleanses
and transforms the island whileproviding a nourishing environment
for her to recover. Finally, the ocean allows for Annie'sultimate
rebirth by pushing her on her way toward a new life in England.
Kincaid's use of apowerful natural element as a fictional tool
carries an edge of magical realism that is consistentwith a
Caribbean setting in which magical practices such as obeah play
such an important role.
Death
Annie obsesses over death in her opening chapter and initially,
the idea of death portends thepossibility of separation that Annie
fears. As the novel continues, the idea of death reappearsamongst
the tombstones upon which Annie and her classmates usually sit
during recess. Thesetombstones belong to old white people, meaning
former colonial slave owners, who oncegoverned Antigua. The young
Antiguan girls now sit on the tombstones and sing dirty songs
orshow each other their body parts while making inappropriate
comments. Here the image ofdeath is placed next to the idea of life
and seriousness of these old men's death seems jokedupon by the
fact that barely teenage girls are primping on their graves. The
constant return ofthe girls and the narrative to the tombstone area
testifies to Kincaid's ironic commentary uponthe history that these
colonial masters represent.
Symbols
Annie's mother's trunk
Annie's mother trunk and the other trunks in the story symbolize
the self. When Annie is a
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young girl, her favorite pastime involves looking through her
mother's trunk. Annie uses thestories about the objects in the
trunk to define who she is. At that young age, Annie shares
hermother's trunk because she has no separate self of her own.
Annie's mother trunk came all theway with her from Dominica and
therefore seems to be the object that contains all the
familyhistory. Eventually when Annie decides that she has a
separate self, she wants her own trunk. It,in turn, will become her
history and a representation of her self, as her mother's was for
her.When Annie leaves Antigua for England, she brings her trunk
with her. Her trunk bears a labelthat reads, "My name is Annie
John," a strong affirmation of Annie's new sense of self.
Marbles
The first two marbles that Annie receives are given to her by
her mother after they arrived freein a package of oats. One is
white with blue and the other is white with yellowish brown.
Anniethinks that the one with blue represents the oceans, while the
one with brown represents thelandmasses of the world. In fact,
these marbles and the ones that Annie subsequently gathersrepresent
the new world that she is creating for herself. After receiving her
first marbles, Anniegoes on to become a marble devotee. She wins
marbles from everyone and gathers a smallstash. Just as her marble
career is getting underway, so too is Annie's world changing as
Anniespends hours with the Red Girl, a representative of the
non-socialized order. The time playingmarbles will help Annie to
see beyond the world that her mother and teachers outline.
WhenAnnie's mother furiously searches for Annie's marbles, what she
really wants to find is not somuch the little balls, but rather the
new world that these marbles have opened up for herdaughter. This
world is one that defies the common social program and her mother
does notwant her to have it.
Milton's Paradise Lost
Annie's principal makes Annie copy Paradise Lost as punishment
for having blasphemedChristopher Columbus in her history book. The
specific use of Paradise Lost for thispunishment is apt. The book
describes how the angel Lucifer challenged God and wassubsequently
tossed out of the paradise of heaven into darkness and exile.
Annie's currentpredicament is similar to that of Lucifer's. Annie
wants to challenge the dominant power ofboth her mother, and by
association the colonial order, but fears the fate of exile.
Theprincipal's choice of the book also carries an implicit threat,
indicating how Annie will bepunished if she continues to question
the colonial authority that establishes Columbus as ahero. On the
other hand, the idea of exile simply compounds Annie's already
existent fearsabout being left all alone. The concept of a "lost
paradise" also seems appropriate in Antigua,an island that may look
like paradise but became a virtual hell when the British arrived
and setup the institution of slavery.
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Chapter One: Figures in the DistanceSummary
The narrator, Annie John, is currently ten years old. She is
spending her summer holidayoutside of town since her father, who is
a carpenter, is putting a new roof on their house in thecity. In
the country, the narrator has little to do except play with their
pig and watch theirducks, since she likes to eat their eggs. She
can also see a nearby cemetery, but at first does notknow what it
is. One day her mother explains that the bunch of people are there
becausesomeone died and based upon their behavior, it may have been
a child. Annie is surprised. Shehas never known that children died.
She is afraid of the dead because they come back and hauntyou. But
after her discussion with her mother, she is also fascinated and
often stands on theroad each day waiting for a funeral procession
to pass.
When she moves back to town, Annie remains obsessed with death.
A girl that she knows,Nalda, gets a fever and dies suddenly in the
car on the way to the doctor. Nalda's mother is toodistressed to
deal with the body, so Annie's mother cleans up the child and
dresses her for thecoffin. Annie views her mother's hands
suspiciously for a while after the Nalda incident,because she knows
that her mother's hands touched a dead person. Annie brags about
Nalda'sdeath to the other kids at school and they all start telling
stories about people they heard of whohad died
One girl at school, Sonia, is slowwitted but Annie likes her,
therefore pesters her daily. One dayAnnie learns, however, that
Sonia's mother, who was with child, died. Because Annie viewsSonia
as too shameful, being now without a mother, she stops talking to
her. Their neighborfrom across the street, Miss Charlotte, just up
and died one day as well. She collapsed suddenlyin the street and
then was dead. Annie tries to picture Miss Charlotte dead, but
cannot. She isfascinated with death and spirits as are the other
kids at school. The mother of one girl stoppedsucking her thumb
after her mother told her she washed the girl's thumb in water that
hadtouched a dead person. Annie thought that the mother had lied,
but it worked anyhow becausethe dead were scary.
Annie's obsession with death drives her to swing by funerals
even though she does not knowwho has died. Usually, she just stands
outside the church and watch the grieving familymembers. One day a
hunchbacked girl, who was Annie's age, dies and Annie decides to
attendthe wake. As soon as school is over, she bolts to the funeral
home. Once inside, Annie walksover to the hunchbacked girl in the
open coffin and stares at her for a long time-so long that aline
forms behind her. The adults are nice to Annie however since they
assume that she knewthe girl from school. When Annie gets home,
Annie realizes that in her excitement, she forgotto pick up the
fish as her mother instructed her to. She lies and says that the
fisherman did notgo out on the sea that day. Her mother knows she
is lying. The fisherman got so tired of waitingfor Annie that he
dropped off the fish himself. As her punishment, her mother makes
her eather dinner outside. Her mother kisses her goodnight before
sleep anyhow.
Analysis
The opening chapter of the novel introduces its protagonist,
Annie John, as well as the novel's
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narrative style. The chapter is told through Annie's voice,
which although it will mature as sheages, remains consistent for
the next seven chapters. Here the narrator is only ten and
herimagery is colorful and descriptive. Kincaid's prose style
reveals her heavy use of specificdetails that conjure colors and
textures of her native island. For example, it is not just three
fishthat Annie forgot to bring home, but three specific fish: an
angelfish,; a kanya fish, and a ladydoctorfish. Names of foods and
flowers are also mentioned in detail, a specificity that
willcontinue throughout the novel and contribute to its visual
richness.
The episodic nature of the novel becomes apparent in this
opening chapter. The chapter opensthe novel, but could stand on its
own as well with no further conclusion. Each of the chaptersfrom
Annie John were originally published as separate stories in the New
Yorker, although in aslightly different form. Their placement
together makes sense because the powerful narrativevoice of Annie
John connects them. They also proceed roughly in chronological
order as shedescribes her early life. The specific plot of this
chapter is not deeply connected with theoverall plot of the book.
However, the chapter does serve to develop the main characters
thatwill be further explored in the pages to come and for that
reason provides an importantintroductory role.
Specifically in this episode, the ten-year-old Annie becomes
obsessed with death. On the onehand, her obsession arises from the
fear of death, on the other hands it is simple curiosity. Inthe
first section of the chapter, Annie learns that children can die.
In the second section, shedescribes in detail the death of Nalda,
whom Annie knew. Annie's description of her fear ofdeath suggests
the powerful spiritual beliefs of people on her island, thinking
that death ordeath people could hurt you- as seen with the girl who
stops sucking her thumb because it mayhave touched water that
touched a dead person. While Annie may be afraid of death,
hercuriosity about it leads her to describe morbid details in a
humorous tone. Upon learning thatthe hunchback died, for example,
Annie laments the fact that she never touched the hunch onthe
girl's back to see it if was hollow. Likewise, when Annie sees the
dead hunchback girl at thefuneral parlor, she compares looking at
her to looking through a View Master. Annie's notentirely gentle
thoughts about a dead person are typical of the voice of a ten year
old, whichsimultaneously adds a comic touch.
The relationship between Annie and her mother starts to be
developed in this chapter. Annie'smother is a powerful woman who
teaches Annie about death and who even has the powersnecessary to
prepare a dead girl for the grave. Annie's fear of her mother's
hands touching herafter that preparation foreshadows Annie's later
dread of her mother's touch as theirrelationship falls apart.
Similarly, Annie's failure to bring home the fish as she was
supposed toforeshadows her future disobedience and conflict with
her mother. At the end of this chapter,Annie and her mother still
feel tightly connected, however, and despite her promises to
dootherwise her mother sends Annie to bed with a kiss.
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Chapter Two: The Circling HandSummary
When Annie is on holiday from school, she is allowed to sleep in
until long after her fathergoes to work. Her father always wakes at
seven with the church bell, eats the breakfast, jumpsin a cold
bath, and shaves. Because Annie John is a girl, her mother adds hot
water to the bathwhen it is Annie's turn. Sometimes Annie and her
mother take a bath together. Mrs. John oftenputs special herbs and
flowers in the bath for healing purposes, and fully washes Annie.
Aftertheir baths, Annie and her mother eat and then head to town.
Annie feels proud and important togo shopping with her mother. Mrs.
John uses good shopping sense and always instructs Annieon how to
buy the best products and clothes. On their way home from town, an
angry womanoccasionally approaches them and curses. Annie's mother
always hides her in her skirt at thesemoments, but despite her
efforts, Annie knows that this woman is one of several who hate
hermother because they had children with her father but are not
married to him.
Mrs. John usually cooks a sumptuous lunch after they get home
and Annie's father returns toeat. As they eat, Annie admires her
mother's beauty and notices that her father finds hermother's
commentary incredibly funny and always laughs when she talks. Annie
loves hermother very much and believes their life together to be a
virtual paradise.
Mrs. John grew up on the island of Dominica but fled home at the
age of sixteen for Antigua.She came to Antigua with only a trunk
painted yellow and green. Sometimes Annie and hermother look
through this trunk and her mother tells stories of the objects
within it. Annieknows all these stories, but finds no greater joy
than to sit on her mother's lap hearing them allagain. Sometimes
Annie starts to worry about people who have no one to love them.
Her father,for example, lost both of his parents at a young age
because they simply moved away to SouthAmerica. After they left, he
lived with his grandmother until one morning he woke up andfound
her dead. Upon her death, he left home. When Annie's father tells
her this story, theyboth cry. Annie feels bad that her father was
left all alone and she fears that her own parentswill go away like
her father's did. She is afraid to be left alone because she loves
everything asit is.
When she gets to be around twelve, Annie's body starts to mature
physically and her motherstarts suggesting that Annie might not
always live with them. One day, her mother shows herhow to fold
sheets, but mentions that Annie may want to fold them in a
different way when shegets her own home. Another time while
shopping, Annie wants to get fabric with men playingpianos on it,
but her mother tells Annie that she is too old to go around looking
a youngerversion of her. Eventually Annie gets the fabric, but
whenever she wears the dress she feelsresentful. Her mother also
starts stressing that Annie needs to grow into a lady. She
sendsAnnie to a woman who will teach her manners and to a piano
teacher, but Annie gets kicked outof both classes for misbehaving.
Annie lies about getting kicked out of the manners class, buther
mother hears about Annie eating a plum from the piano and turns her
back angrily on herdaughter. Annie feels distressed at her mother's
anger, but even more at their growingseparation.
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Despite her growing distress at her mother's behavior, Annie
remembers that she soon will beattending a new school. She spends
considerable time in town getting her books and newuniforms. One
day she returns from Sunday school to find her parents making love
in bed, withher mother's hand circling on her father's back She
feels angry that her parents are not payingattention to her. When
she sees her mother at dinner, she sees her in a totally new way.
Theyhave changed. Annie John feels disgusted when she looks at her
mother's hands. She makes acruel insolent remark to her mother
because she is angry. Her mother looks sad and turns away.Annie
decides that her relationship with her mother has totally changed,
but consoles herselfwith the knowledge that she will attend school
the following Monday and meet Gwen, so allshall be fine.
Analysis
This chapter cuts to the heart of the relationship between Annie
and her mother. In its openingsegments, Annie's depicts her early
life as a small paradise in which she and her mother sharemost
moments of her summer vacation. As they bathe together, Annie's
body almost becomesthat of her mother. The water plays an important
symbolic role of purification andrevitalization that will continue
throughout the novel. They eat breakfast together and shoptogether
in town. Annie believes that her mother is the smartest and best
mother, who also isextraordinarily beautiful. Annie's mother always
knows where to buy the best bread, crabs, andfish. She knows how to
wash the laundry and dry it on the large rocks in the yard. She
cooksdelicious meals at lunch for all three of them. Annie finds
her mother to be without fault andassumes that they will always
live in total peace with one another.
Annie starts to develop fears of separation in the beginning of
this chapter. These fearsforeshadow the chapter's later events as
well as the subsequent plot of the novel. The story ofAnnie's
father is a story of separation from all loving family members and
Annie cries whenshe hears it because she imagines living alone to
be the worst thing in the world. Annie's fatheris a kind figure,
but it is his absence during the day that makes her special
relationship with hermother possible. Annie does not feel a
similarly unique unity with her father, although sheloves him. Her
mother's trunk, like the baths, serves as a symbolic unification of
mother anddaughter. Annie loves to hear the stories from the trunk
again and again because these storiesserve as the foundation of her
personal sense of self. Just as she feels at one with her
mother'sbody as the bathe together, so does she feel one with her
mother's stories, because at thisjuncture she lacks a separate self
with its own tales so she simply assumes those of her mother.
By the end of the novel, Annie will be forced to see her
mother's separateness, as a result ofseeing her mother's sexuality.
This sexuality first is apparent when her mother and father
seementranced by each other as they eat lunch. When Annie sees her
parents making love, however,she realizes the seriousness of the
situation. She has run home to show her mother an awardthat she won
at Sunday school, but no one pays attention to her. The special
unit between hermother and her self has been broken. Her mother is
paying more attention to her father than toher, and Annie is
jealous. The title of the chapter, "The Circling Hand," references
the motionof Mrs. John's hand during this sex scene. For the second
time in the novel, Annie decides thather mother's hands can never
touch her again, since they have been so polluted by sex.
Annie'sanger at being left out of the parental unit leads her to be
insolent later that evening in a waythat she has never been before.
Her mother looks hurt, but Annie decides that war lines have
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been drawn. Annie soon will attend school and befriend Gwen and
keep their friendship a secretas to get back at her mother.
While the sex scene brings final clarity to why Annie resents
her mother, Annie's distress atbeing a separate person has grown
throughout the chapter. First Annie's mother has wantedAnnie to
dress in a way different from her and next she sends her to special
courses that willhelp her develop as her own person. Annie rebels
in these classes because she wants to stop theprocess of
separation, but her rebellion has little effect except taking her
mother further awayfrom her by making her angry. The opening
sections of the chapter use simple, clear, andchildish language
that show how much the narrator adores her mother. It is this
adoration andher belief in the paradise of her early childhood that
will lead to Annie's inability to accept theneed to separate from
her mother as she grows. This inability in turn will lead to the
risingaction in the novel and its ultimate conflict.
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Chapter Three: GwenSummary
Annie is on her way to attend a new school and feels both
excited and nervous at the transition.She visited the school the
week before, so she knows her way around when she gets there.
Oncein homeroom, one of the other girls asks if she is Annie John
and comments that they heard sheis very smart, which Annie agrees
with. The teacher, Miss Nelson, enters and takes the roll. Shetells
the girls that they will all be writing an original
autobiographical essay that morning thatthey will read to each
other in the afternoon. Annie works all morning until lunch and, in
herexcitement, dashes back to school right after eating with her
parents.
The class sits outside under a tree while everyone reads their
essays. Many of the essays dealwith dreams of emigration, family
members living abroad, or times when friends met membersof the
British aristocracy. Annie's story describes when she and her
mother uses to swim at RatIsland when Annie was young to strengthen
Annie's kidneys. Because Annie could not swim,her mother held her
as they moved through the water. One day, Annie started watching
someships passing in the distance and when she turned back around
she could not find her mother.Finally, Annie saw that her mother
was lying on a rock not too far away. Annie started jumpingand
waving, but her mother did not see her and Annie could not swim to
reach her. Hermother's separation made Annie weep because she
feared that they might never be reunited.When Annie's mother
finally reached the shore, she felt surprised at Annie's tears.
When Annieexplained her fear, her mother said that she would never
leave Annie. After the episode, Annieoccasionally dreamt of it and
sometimes visualized the ocean separating both her mother andfather
from her. One morning after the dream, Annie told her mother of it
and her motherexplained again that she would never leave Annie.
Upon finishing the essay, Annie thinks that her classmates were
almost touched to tears andthat they loved it. Miss Nelson
compliments Annie and asks her for a copy of the paper so itcan be
posted where everyone can read it. Annie reflects that part of the
essay contained aslight lie, because when she told her mother about
the dream her mother had simply told hernot to eat fruit before bed
because it was giving her bad dreams. As they walked back to
theclassroom, Annie feels proud. A girl named Gwen pinches her arm
and gives Annie a blackrock that came from the base of a volcano.
This moment starts their deep friendship to come.Later the two
girls walk home together.
Gwen and Annie soon become fully in love with one another and
are inseparable. They share alltheir stories and secrets together.
They walk to and from school together everyday. Theybecome a tight
pair, just as some of the other girls have become in their
school.
Because Annie is the brightest student in the class, the teacher
often leaves her in charge if shehas to leave the room. Annie
always stands up for everyone, though, and this tendency makesher
popular. She also is gifted at sports and is slightly mischievous.
The girls frequently sitbehind the school in a cluster of
tombstones during recess. They sing dirty songs and discusstheir
soon-to-be growing breasts. One day, Annie starts to menstruate,
and is the first girl to doso. Her mother teaches her how to wrap
cloth between her legs. As Annie walks to school, she
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thinks that everyone who looks at her knows that she is
bleeding. During recess, she feelsbound by decorum to show off to
the other girls as they sit in the tombstone area, but Anniewishes
that she were not the first girl to have started. Later in class,
Annie starts visualizing herown blood and faints. The nurse lets
Annie rest, but then decides to send her home to hermother. When
Annie reaches home, her mother comes forward with concern, but
Annie feelsonly bitterness and anger.
Analysis
Annie's struggles with her self and her mother continue in this
chapter, although anotherimportant factor appears: Annie's
attendance in school. School represents the social order thathas
been constructed by the British colonial power that still governs
Antigua. The teachers inAnnie's school are named after English
kings (Miss Edward and Miss George) an English fleetAdmiral (Miss
Nelson) and the famous London Prison (Miss Newgate). Annie subtly
criticizesthe English order by commenting on the personal body
issues of British people. First sheobserves that that the
headmistress of the school, Miss Moore, who moved to Antigua
fromEngland always looks like a dried prune who had been left out
in the sun. Second, she notes thatEnglish people often smell like
fish because they do not wash enough. Annie will excel inadhering
to the standards required by her teachers, the representatives of
the British educationalorder, but her rebelliousness, which is just
barely visible in this chapter but will grow, showsthe feisty
Antiguan spirit that remains underneath.
Annie's essay for school articulates her fear of separation from
her mother, which surfaced inthe previous chapter. The general
admiration of Annie's theme indicates that the other girls ofher
age group share her emotion. In Annie's story, water again plays an
important symbolicrole, as both a transformer and purifier. First,
Annie and her mother swim at the beach in orderto strength Annie's
internal organs. Initially, they swim together with Annie's mother
holdingher. This joint movement through recalls the tendency for
Annie to bathe with her mother.More importantly, the salty water of
the ocean recalls the amniotic fluid of the womb andAnnie's bobbing
up and down in the water while clinging to her mother suggests a
pre-birthstate. After Annie's mother separates onto a rock, a
stream of this same salty water will nowdivide them, just as the
passing of the amniotic fluid that brought Annie to life rendered
themasunder. In this way, Annie's story carries metaphoric
undertones about Annie's pain at beingseparated from her mother
with the act of birth. At the same time, the imagery
alsoforeshadows Annie's future life movement. As a young girl,
Annie feels pained when she seeswater dividing her from her mother.
As she grows however, Annie will purposely separateherself from her
mother with similar water, by moving to England and placing the
AtlanticOcean between them. Annie will later come to embrace and
even desire this separation that shenow so bitterly fears. Thus her
essay serves as both a commentary upon the inherent
separationbetween mother and daughter, while simultaneously
foreshadowing the future.
The title of this chapter, "Gwen," comes from Annie's new
friendship with Gwen. But like thechapter before "the Circling
Hand," the name does not so much invoke the importance of theobject
mentioned but rather what that object represents. Annie does
profess to love Gwen, butthere is little doubt that Annie uses her
friendship with Gwen primarily to compensate for theneglect that
she feels from her mother. Since it is becoming clear to Annie that
she and hermother may not spend the rest of their lives together,
Annie uses Gwen as a substitute. The two
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share their stories and secrets and plan a life together, but to
a large extent the depth of theirrelationship comes from their
psychological need to replace a distancing maternal
relationship.Nor are Gwen and Annie the only ones to create such
mollifying bonds. Kincaid points out thatmost of the other girls
find a similar mate to cling to and in doing so, she suggests that
Annie'stroubles with her mother are not necessarily individual, but
rather a natural development of agrowing adolescent psyche. Annie's
desire to be popular at school also helps her to satisfy thelack of
love that she feels from her mother.
Annie's final dismay over her menstruation again highlights her
desire not to separate from hermother. With menstruation, Annie has
undeniably become a separate self. Her body has nowreached female
maturity and she is no longer a child. Annie feels almost morose at
thedevelopment. Normally, the chance to show other girls something
that they have not yetexperienced would make her exuberant, but,
although she does show them due to decorum, shewishes that she
could be a spectator rather than being center stage. Annie is
dragging her heelsin every way possible as to not be pushed into
adulthood, but, as her menstruation indicates, itis a process that
she cannot stop. Perhaps in reaction to her internal stress about
theunpreventable arrival of womanhood, she faints in her class.
This faint manages to send herback to the comfort of her mother,
but although her mother greets her with concern, Annie feelsonly
bitterness. Annie longs for unification with her mother but seems
to realize that it is nowimpossible, so she continues to view her
only with anger.
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Chapter Four: The Red GirlSummary
Annie always leaves her house and returns to it by slamming the
gate so that her mother canhear when she has come and gone. Before
or after she slams the gate, however, she secretlysneaks under the
house where she hides stolen and precious objects. Primarily, these
objects arebooks because Annie cannot bear to part with books she
has read, so she steals them and stowsthem under the house.
One day, Annie is throwing a stone at the guava tree trying to
knock a fruit down, when the RedGirl comes along. The Red Girl
promptly climbs up the tree, something that only boys do,
andcollects the guava for Annie. Annie is stunned. Annie has known
the Red Girl for many yearsbecause Annie's mother long has
criticized the way that the Red Girl's mother cares for her. TheRed
Girl only has to take a bath and comb her hair once a week and she
always wears rippedand stained clothing. Annie, who has to take a
bath everyday, with her hair combed, shoesshined, and uniform
clean, feels somewhat envious of the Red Girl's freedom. The two
girls goto a nearby lighthouse where they are strictly not allowed
to play. From the top, they watch thesea and Annie feels ecstatic.
Before leaving, the Red Girl gives Annie three marbles, whichAnnie
decides to hide from her mother.
After meeting up with the Red Girl, Annie sees Gwen after school
but finds Gwen dull. Anniedoes not tell her about the Red Girl.
Annie then starts playing marbles and finds out that she isgood at
it. She starts winning other girls' marbles and acquires so many
that she hides themunder the house. Soon, Annie maintains a
deceptive secret life. After getting home to school,she lies to her
mother about having to do some schoolwork outside so that she can
play with theRed Girl. Annie even starts stealing small objects
from her parents so that she can give the RedGirl presents. Annie
hides all of her marbles and other stolen goods under the house.
One day,she spends hours winning a beautiful marble to give it to
the Red Girl. As she is climbing outfrom under the house with it,
however, her mother sees her. The mother seizes the marble
anddemands to know where the others are. She searches furiously
under and around the house. Shecannot find the marbles, a fact that
Annie finds wryly ironic. The mother's quest continues fordays.
Finally, her mother tells a story about how when she was a girl she
once carried a bunchof green figs home on her head for her father.
Annie's mother felt that the figs were very heavyand upon reaching
her house, she put them down and a large black snake crawled out of
themand into the woods. Annie feels overcome by love and emotion at
the end of the story as shepictures her beautiful mother with a
black snake on her head. She decides to tell her motherabout the
marbles, but when her mother asks in a deceptive tone, Annie
immediately deniesever having them.
Soon after her mother's quest, Annie stops playing marbles
because she starts to menstruate andthe Red Girl moved away to
Anguilla. When Annie hears of the Red Girl's departure, shedreams
that the Red Girl's ship capsizes, Annie saves her, and together
they live on a smallisland eating wild boars and grapes. When ships
pass, the two girls send confusing signals sothat the ships crash
into the rocks and all the people in them are lost.
Analysis
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This chapter represents the pinnacle of Annie's rebellion
against her mother. Annie meets theRed Girl and adores her because
the Red Girl seems to be everything that Annie is not. The
RedGirl's mother lets her run around filthy and ragged, while doing
whatever she likes. As Anniespends more time with the Red Girl, she
increasingly throws off the rules that she is supposedto follow.
She becomes a petty thief. She lies consistently to her mother. She
masters marbles,a game her mother deplores. These acts of
disobedience are an extension of Annie's anger at hermother. By
acting up against her, Annie is taking her revenge upon a mother
who insists thatthey are separate people. Through her disobedience
Annie also draws attention to herself, whichmight be a further
attempt to reclaim a connection with her mother that cannot be
captured.
Annie's behavior with the Red Girl also is a commentary upon the
dominant British colonialstructure at the time. The Red Girl
effectively stands outside that structure. She does notpartake in
the colonial education system, therefore does not follow its social
order as doesAnnie. The Red Girl does not wear clean European style
clothing, as Annie does. She lets herhair grow wild and she climbs
up trees. She does not behave in the civilized way that
Antiguanscome to learn from their British masters. Even the fact
that she lacks a proper name and issimply called "Red Girl," a
description that could indicate the color of her skin, shows that
shestands apart from the governmental system that imposes names and
laws upon its subjects.Annie's attempts to be like the Red Girl
demonstrates her own desire to throw off the dominantsocial order
imposed by the colonial class and their expectations. Annie's
mother, with herpropriety and sense of order, appears as this
representative of the dominant order, even thoughshe is Antiguan.
The relationship between controlling mother and disobedient
daughterparallels the relationship between controlling colonizer
and disobedient subjects. In this way,Annie's personal growth and
disobedience touch on larger themes of the Antiguan desire
forpersonal articulation within a dominant colonial culture. The
final image of the chapter showsAnnie and the Red Girl as powerful
figures who destroy colonial ships through theirmanipulation of
navigational symbols. With such a dream, Annie demonstrates her
desire tostand firmly beside the Red Girl as a figure who has the
ability to subvert the dominant colonialorder.
While Annie's mother represents the dominant social order, her
story of the fig and the snakeevokes the magical realm of Antiguan
folklore. The story almost gets Annie to confess, becauseAnnie
feels overcome with emotion when she envisions a black snake on her
mother's head.The story reminds Annie of her Antiguan connection to
her mother and of their need for jointunity to ward off such
powerful figures as threatening black snakes. Furthermore, the
story alsocontains a slight warning by Annie's mother, a woman who
is more able to manipulate obeah,the local witchcraft, than her
daughter. When Annie hears the treachery in her mother's
tone,however, she refuses to tell her anything. Annie remembers
that she and her mother are fightinga battle between the dominant
and the rebellious class and she refuses to yield.
The form of this chapter continues in the episodic style that
characterizes the others. The closeof the chapter however, suggests
that the sequences in it take place before many of the events inthe
previous chapter. At the very end, Annie mentions that she stops
playing marbles becausethe Red Girl moved away and because she
started to menstruate. Since the act of menstruationwas already
fully described in Chapter Three, it seems that the events of
Chapter Four musthave taken place before some of the events of
Chapter Three. This lack of continuity in time
-
highlights the fact that the novel has been constructed as a
series of connected episodes thatlink together with Annie's
powerful voice, but not necessarily as a tightly constructed
novelwould. As this discrepancy with times suggests, the sequences
does not necessarily proceed inchronological time.
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Chapter Five: Columbus in ChainsSummary
Annie is sitting in her history class when the church bell tolls
eleven am. She is the prefect ofher class because she always gets
the highest grades. Annie finds it slightly ironic that she isthe
prefect, because she often misbehaves. The girl who is just below
Annie in terms of grades,Hilarene, is very boring and dull and
never misbehaves. Their teacher, Miss Edward, is drillingstudents
on events in the history of the West Indies. Ruth, a white girl who
comes fromEngland and who is the minister's daughter, gets one of
the answers wrong. Ruth frequently isthe dunce of the class, which
means that each Monday she has to wear the dunce cap all daylong
because she did the worst on Friday's quiz. Annie feels bad for
Ruth and thinks that Ruthprobably does not know the West Indian
history because she just arrived from England. Anniethinks that
Ruth must feel constantly ashamed because her ancestors, white
people, had ownedslaves and every time she looked around Antigua,
she must see that. Annie feels glad that she isa descendant of a
slave, because she does not feel this guilt. Annie hypothesizes
that if Africansfound Europe instead of the other way around,
Africans would not have enslaved anyone, butjust would have
commented on how nice Europe was, before turning around and heading
home.
Annie is bored because she already knows the whole lesson, so
she is reading ahead in herhistory book. She comes to a page with a
picture of Columbus in chains on it. Annie discoversthat Columbus,
whom she always had learned was illustrious, had been arrested
after falling outof favor with the Queen. As a result, he was
placed in chains and shipped back to Spain in thebottom of a boat.
Annie likes the idea of Columbus being in chains. She thinks back
to a timewhen her father heard about her grandfather's growing
decrepitude and said, "So now the greatman can no longer just get
up and go." Annie starts to inscribe, "The great man can no
longerjust get up and go," underneath the picture of Columbus in
chains. All of a sudden, MissEdwards is bearing down upon her.
Annie reflects briefly that Miss Edwards has never liked her
very much. Annie believes thatMiss Edwards's dislike stemmed back
to a time when she saw Annie making bawdy jokesbefore the other
girls in the tombstone area after school. The girls had congregated
they hadspent their recess dancing around the schoolyard while
singing calypso songs. This dancing wasgreatly frowned upon, but
the girls loved it and felt so energized that they had later
gatheredamongst the tombstones. Miss Edward had found them there
and especially accused Annie,whose mother she spoke to
directly.
Miss Edward is outraged that Annie has defaced her history book,
and accuses her of beingblasphemous since she has slandered the
great man who discovered her island. Miss Edwardssends her to the
principal. The principal removes her prefect position and orders
her to copyBook I and II of Milton's Paradise Lost. Annie feels
irritated and looks forward to reaching herhouse where her mother
will cheer her. When she gets there, however, her parents barely
lookat her since they are deep in conversation. Annie's mother
hands her a plate, but Annie does notwant to eat the dinner because
it appears to be breadfruit, which she hates. Annie's motherinsists
that it is just rice, a new kind imported from Belgium. Annie eats
it, even though ittastes like breadfruit. After dinner, Annie gets
her mother to confess that it truly was breadfruit
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that she shaped to look like rice. Annie feels a surge of hatred
at yet another betrayal.
Analysis
This chapter directly deals with issues of colonialism and
postcolonial culture that have so farbeen subtly hinted at in the
text. Annie launches into a discussion of the history of slavery
inAntigua by discussing Ruth, a blonde haired English girl who
recently moved there. Anniesenses that Ruth must feel guilty
because white people once enslaved black people andeveryone knows
it. Annie briefly comments upon the irony of colonization when she
considersthat all the Antiguan school children celebrate England
and Queen Victoria's birthday, butreally they all know that the
British once enslaved them. Annie finds it ironic, but assumes
thatthe past is the past. She feels bad for Ruth because Ruth, of
course, knows less about the WestIndies than them. Through the
interaction of these two girls, Kincaid provides an
individualizedperspective upon the dynamics of life in a colonial
state.
Annie's discussion of colonization goes on as she contemplates
Columbus who returned toSpain imprisoned. Annie feels happy that
Columbus was put into chains because he returned toSpain much in
the way that slaves were sent to the Americas. The phrase "the
great man can gono where" is stuck in her head and so she inscribes
it before she is discovered. Her crimealmost is beyond belief. Miss
Edwards is a representative of the English social order and as
ateacher has defined herself according to the rules of this order.
One of the primary rules, ofcourse, is that the discoverer of
Antigua, Christopher Columbus, should be honored. Annie'sslight of
Columbus stands outside of Miss Edwards's system of belief and it
is for this reasonthat she refers to Annie's action as
"blasphemous." "Blasphemy" is a particularly strong termthat
usually signifies the degradation of a major deity such as God or
Jesus. That Miss Edwardswould use it for someone who criticized
Columbus shows that she holds Columbus in almostGod-like state
reverence. Because Columbus's importance is essential to the
colonial system,Annie's act not only criticizes him, but also
subverts the whole dominant colonial order. Forthis reason, it is a
dangerous one for which she must be punished.
The principal chooses to punish Annie by trying to reinforce the
rules of English culturaldominion over her. The school has long
tried to control the culture of the students, for example,by not
allowing them to dance calypso at lunchtime, preferring that they
read poems or holdpolite discussions. In order to strongly
re-inscribe English values upon Annie, the principalorders her to
copy Milton's Paradise Lost. Kincaid's choice of Paradise Lost
carries anappropriate subtext that relates both to the colonization
of Antigua and to Annie's personal life.On the level of
colonization, Antigua was a paradise before the British arrived and
made it alost paradise by transforming it into a slave colony. The
title of the book that the principal usesfor punishment, then,
carries a certain irony that even she does not likely understand.
In termsof Annie's personal life, the plot of Paradise Lost mirrors
the plot of her own. Paradise Losttells the story of Lucifer who
challenged the dominant authority (God) and who, for his crimes,was
cast out of the paradise of heaven into darkness and eternal exile.
Annie herself is currentlyin a state of challenging the dominant
authority (her mother) and fears being cast out into exile.The use
of Milton's book thus provides a subtle commentary on several
levels.
The close of the chapter reinforces Annie's sadness and sense of
exile from paradise. Althoughshe longs for comforting from her
parents, they are too involved with each other to pay her any
-
mind. Aside from just simply excluding her, Annie feels fully
betrayed when she observes thather mother plotted a sneaky scheme
to get her to eat breadfruit. Now her mother is not justfailing to
nourish their relationship but she is actively plotting against
Annie. Annie feelsdepressed and in exile as the chapter comes to an
end.
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Chapter Six: Somewhere, BelgiumSummary
Annie is now fifteen and she imagines that she is unhappier than
anyone else could possible be.Her unhappiness cannot be traced to a
simple factor, but thrives inside like a heavy black ballthat is
covered with cobwebs. Annie believes that this blackness inside
makes everything thatshe once enjoyed appear sour. She and her
mother now go through the world with two faces. Toher father and to
their friends, they act pleasant and friendly. Toward each other,
though, thetruth is apparent. Annie acts hidden and secretive
toward her mother. Her mother pays her backby constantly
complementing Annie in a way that annoys her. Annie is completely
obsessed byher love and revulsion for her mother. She both wishes
her dead and doubts that she will be ableto survive without her.
Annie starts to have a recurring dream in which she is walking down
aroad and with each footstep hears her voice saying, "I would kill
my mother if I got the chance.My mother would kill me if she got
the chance." This dream makes Annie feel afraid of hermother, but
at the same time makes her feel empowered.
In school, Annie has been raised out of her grade because of her
abilities. She is now in a classwith girls two or three years older
than her and she feels out of place. These girls have fullymature
bodies and appear very vain. Annie devotes her time to her studies
and once againemerges as either the top or second to the top
student. Gwen and Annie still walk hometogether, but Annie knows
that something has changed between them. One day, Gwen suggeststhat
Annie marry Gwen's brother, so that Gwen and Annie will always be
together. This ideastartles Annie and Gwen's suggestion of it
reminds her of how far apart the two girls are. AsGwen keeps
talking, Annie starts to daydream. She decides that she wants to
move to Belgium,where Jane Eyre, her favorite character, once
traveled. In Belgium, Annie's mother couldaddress letters to her as
"Annie John, Somewhere Belgium," because Annie would not say inwhat
city she was. Gwen assumes that Annie's silence means that she
agrees with the marriageidea.
Annie stops spending so much time with Gwen after the marriage
discussion, and even liesabout having extra work in order to avoid
her. One day, evading Gwen, Annie walks into townafter school. She
finds herself in front of a clothing store and sees her reflection
in the window.Annie sadly observes that she looks awkward and ugly,
and she compares herself to a picture ofyoung Lucifer. Some boys
standing nearby start teasing her gently. Annie knows one of
them,Mineu, because they used to play as children. One day when
they were children, they acted outthe hanging of a legendary
murderer and Mineu got stuck in the noose and almost choked.
Hismother's arrival saved him, but everyone wondered why Annie had
not run for help. Anothertime, Mineu tricked her by getting her to
sit naked on a red anthill, where she promptly wasstung all over.
Annie's mother stood up for Annie then and she and Mineu stopped
being friendswhen Mineu's mother refused to accept Mineu's fault.
As the boys keep laughing at her on thestreet, Annie walks
away.
When Annie gets home, her mother appears angry that Annie is
late from school. Her motherexplains that she was in the clothing
store and saw Annie looking in. She also saw Annieflirting and
conducting herself improperly with those boys. After Annie's mother
uses the slang
-
word for "slut" numerous times, Annie says "like mother like
daughter." Silence grows betweenthe two and the mother tells Annie
that she always loved her best until that moment, and thenwalks
away. As Annie watches her mother walk away, Annie feels that her
mother is young andvigorous, while Annie is old and broken. Annie
returns to her room depressed and contemplatesher mother's old
trunk sits under her bed. Later at dinner, Annie's father asks her
what type offurniture he should make her next and Annie asks him to
make her a trunk of her own. Heagrees to do so.
Analysis
Annie's relationship with her mother has completely
disintegrated and Annie starts to feel theeffects physically. Annie
envisions a heavy black ball inside of her body that lends a sour
edgeto the world around. The ball comes everywhere with Annie and
makes her miserable. Herrelationship with her mother has
disintegrated such that the two now stand completely opposedto one
another. The world may think that everything is normal between
them, but they knowbetter. At the same time, Annie's relationships
at school have also diminished. Due to herabilities, Annie is
played in a class where she is no longer fits in socially with the
otherstudents. Even Annie's relationship with Gwen seems outdated
and uninteresting. Annie'srelationship with her mother stands as
poorly as ever, while at the same time those things thatpreviously
supported her in her time of woe have disappeared.
Annie's misery sends her into the world of fiction. Annie's
favorite book is Jane Eyre and she,as did Jane, wants to go to
Belgium. Although Annie once wanted to never be separate from
hermother, her anger and dismay at their differences now makes
Annie want to hide completely insome unknown Belgian town. It is
worth noting that the character of Jane Eyre, herself, is anorphan
who always felt cast out and separated from the world. Annie's
tendency to identify withJane, despite the fact that she has a
family, demonstrates how alienated and isolated she feelsfrom her
mother.
Annie's visit to town and her musing upon her reflection shows
the extent to which she isfalling apart. When Annie sees her face,
she thinks that she is ugly and ragged. Annie comparesherself to a
painting of Young Lucifer. The comparison to Lucifer is consistent
with the lastchapter's reference to Paradise Lost in that it again
marks her as a person, like Lucifer, who hasbeen kicked out of
paradise by a dominant figure and who is now bound to eternal
lonelinessand isolation. Annie's feeling of dismay at her physical
body and appearance prefigures herphysical illness that follows in
the next chapter. Already by obsessing over the black ball
ofsadness in her and by seeing her face with distortion, Annie
appears to be on the cusp of amental breakdown.
The interaction between Annie and the boys of the street
provides a further hostile world inwhich even young boys, including
one who was her friend, torment her. Annie remembers atime when her
mother staunchly defended her against this boy, but such a defense
is no longerto be. The attack of Annie's mother calling her a
"slut" injures Annie to the core. Of course, hermother has
misunderstood, but Annie recoils to the defensive says simply "like
mother, likedaughter." The effectiveness of Annie's response
suggests that it carries some truth, and thather mother was
involved in early sexual experimentation and perhaps this accounts
for why shefled from her family in Dominica. Annie feels sick after
the confrontation, but sees her mother
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as looking stronger and more vigorous than ever.
Annie's final consideration of the trunk suggests her full
rejection of her mother. Annie's desireto have a trunk of her own
heralds her desire to willfully separate from her mother. The
trunk,whose stories once defined her, now seems to oppress with its
presence. Annie thinks she isready to have her own trunk to put her
own objects and stories into. Annie's desire for a trunk ofher own
foreshadows her eventual desire to emerge as a separate person.
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Chapter Seven: The Long RainSummary
Annie John becomes ill being weak, falling asleep constantly,
and being scarcely able to walkto school. Her mother decides that
she must stay home in bed. The island has been sufferingfrom a
drought for over a year, but just as Annie's illness begins it
begins to rain. The rain willcontinue heavily for over three months
and will cover all the dry land. After the rains ends, theislanders
will feel that the sea has never gone back to the way that it had
once been.
From her sickbed, Annie listens to the rain on the metal roof.
She feels weak and delusional.She can only hear the sound of the
rain and not what her parents say. Eventually, they take herto the
doctor. The doctor finds nothing wrong with her, but recommends
increased protein. Hermother feeds her broth and egg cordial with
rum in it. Her mother also plans to have aDominican obeah woman who
lives in Antigua, Ma Jolie, treat Annie, although her father
doesnot like the idea. Annie continues to listen to the sound of
the rain. She falls asleep and dreamsthat she walks to the ocean
and drinks the sea, but that it starts leaking out of her every
cell.When she wakes up, she finds herself in her father's lap by
the fire because she has wet the bed.Her mother is changing the
sheets.
The next morning, Annie's mother feeds and bathes her. Her
mother gives Annie somechocolate milk, which makes Annie remember
how she was in the Brownies as a girl. Anniewon many award in the
Brownies and they held their meetings in the churchyard where
theysaid to the pledge of allegiance to the English flag. After
remembering the Brownies, Anniepictures herself as a small doll
size Brownie who walks around the streets of Antigua.Sometime
later, Ma Jolie, the obeah woman, treats Annie. She ties some
strange smellingsachets on her and gives her lots of different
medicine. The doctor visits Annie again, but getsupset to find that
Ma Jolie has been treating her. For the first two weeks of her
illness, Annie'smother and father never leave her alone, but
finally one day her mother goes to the fish market.After she
leaves, Annie, in her delirium, believes that the photographs on
the table across fromher are growing larger. The photographs start
gyrating in a sexual manner and Annie feelsovercome by their smell.
She decides to clean them. She dumps them in a bath and scrubs
eachone clean before dusting them with talcum powder. After this
bath, many significant portionsof the photographs have disappeared
such as the faces in a family wedding photo, the lowerhalves of her
parents' bodies, and everything but Annie's confirmation shoes.
Eventually, Annie's grandmother, Ma Chess, appears mysteriously
from Dominica on a daywhen the ferry was not even running. She
knows more about obeah than even Ma Jolie. Shesuffered a great loss
when her own son and Annie's uncle, Johnny, died from an obeah
curseyears ago. Ma Chess stays in Annie's room everyday. She does
not use medicine on her, butcrawls into bed with her and holds her
in a spoon position. Ma Chess sleeps at the foot ofAnnie's bed and
never leaves her alone. It is from Ma Chess's attentions that Annie
is healed.
The rain continues for three and a half months. As it stops,
Annie is healed. Ma Chess goeshome just as mysteriously as she had
come, also on a day when the ferry does not run. Annie'smother
fixes the garden that had been damaged by the rain. Finally,
Annie's mother takes her
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outside and they realize that Annie has grown several inches
during her illness. Annie now istaller than both parents. They have
to buy her new uniforms and shoes for school. As she heals,Annie no
longer feels angry at her mother's separateness, but actually comes
to embrace it. Shedecides that she will soon go far away from
Antigua to a place where no one will know her.Back at school, Annie
acts different as well. She becomes aloof and uninterested in
girlishgossip. Her speech becomes forceful and people listen to her
words. She never answersquestions about her illness, but
occasionally refers to it in such as way that the other girls
allwish that they had been sick too.
Analysis
This chapter details Annie's emotional and physical breakdown
that follows the fight with hermother in the last chapter. Annie's
breakdown is also a necessary consequence to her inabilityto accept
her need to grow into an independent and separate being. Because
she cannot do so,she retreats into a world of sickness where her
behaviors will imitate those of an infant. Annie,in her sickness,
acts just like a baby who cannot eat alone or bathe herself, and
she even wetsher bed. Annie's mother finds cures from both the
Western doctor and the local obeah woman,but neither of them work.
Annie's grandmother, Ma Chess, knows how to cure Annie. AlthoughMa
Chess apparently knows more obeah that the obeah woman, she uses a
more simpletechnique to cure her grandchild. Ma Chess gives Annie
all the attention that Annie feels hermother has denied her lately.
Ma Chess lies constantly in bed with Annie and holds her as if
shewere an infant. Ma Chess's cure relies upon her knowledge of
what Annie's psychology desiresand ultimately it works.
Water continues its symbolic role in this chapter. Kincaid
mirrors Annie's breakdown with theonset of a three-month deluge of
rain. Although the island has suffered from a drought for overa
year, this rain will be so forceful that after it ends, the
islanders will think that the sea haspermanently shifted. In the
same way, Annie will be completely different after the
disease,after the rain, than she was before. Physically, she will
have grown larger. Emotionally, shewill be more secure and now
prepared to accept her separation and independence from herparents,
especially from her mother. The water thus continues to serve a
purifying andtransforming role, as it has previously done such as
with the baths that Annie and her motherused to take. Initially,
the sound of the rain adds to her sense of disconnectedness. Yet,
by theend the sound of falling rain will have helped to purify and
change, and when it stops she willbe transformed.
Annie's destruction of her family photographs carries symbolic
meaning as well, in whichAnnie takes revenge against their images
for faults owed to her. In her parents' snapshot, forexample, the
lower half of their bodies disappear which metaphorically indicates
that they areno longer able to perform the sexual act that excludes
her. In a family wedding photo, onlyAnnie's face remains suggesting
the quality of her reality and life as compared to the
others.Finally, in her confirmation photo, only the shoes that she
forced her mother to buy her remain,which again serve as an act of
defiance toward her mother who tried to limit Annie's means
ofself-expression. Annie's parents see the destruction of the
photographs as an indication of herillness, but her destruction of
the images serve as a powerful expression of Annie'ssubconscious
angers and desires.
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By the end of the chapter, Annie's sense of self has emerged.
Annie is healed and changed afterher illness, after the storm. She
has grown several inches and now towers over everyone. Herattitude
has also changed. She begins to think of leaving her island and her
family for her ownspace. She finds the other girls in school inane
and uninteresting in their childish gossip. Thepain that has
subjugated Annie throughout the book has mostly disappeared as the
chaptercloses. Annie became ill, but by mothering her, Ma Chess
made her well again, and now Annieis ready to go on her way.
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Chapter Eight: A Walk to the JettySummary
Annie John is now seventeen and is going to head to England to
study nursing. She wakes onthe morning that she will leave knowing
that later in the day she shall take a boat to Barbadosand then to
England. Annie looks over everything in her house thinking about
her life and abouthow either her mother or father made everything
that is in it. In one way this familiarity makesAnnie feel
nostalgic, but in another way it makes her realize that she has to
go elsewhere todevelop her own self.
Annie hears the local church bell ring, which means that it is
seven in the morning, when herfather usually rises and goes to
work. Annie rises and dresses in clothes and jewelryspecifically
touched by the obeah woman. She then eats a larger Sunday style
breakfast withher parents. They act both cheery and sad and Annie
acts the same way, even though she feelsrelief that she is going.
Her mother suggests that Annie might get married after leaving
andAnnie bluntly dismisses the idea. After breakfast, Annie decides
that she should say good-byeto Gwen, even though she no longer
deeply cares for her. Gwen tells Annie that she is going tomarry a
local boy, Nevis, in the fall. Annie wishes her luck, but thinks in
her head that Gwenhas become absorbed by utter silliness.
Annie later walks through town with her parents as they make
their way to the ship that willtake her away. Her mind swirls with
memories as she passes the institutions of her youth: herschool,
her church, and the seamstress where she apprenticed. Annie
remembers the first timeher mother sent her on an errand, to get
dried herbs from the store, and how her mother weptwith pleasure
when Annie returned successfully. Annie's mind contains a slideshow
ofmemories from her island, but still she is planning to leave it
behind.
Finally, Annie and her parents reach the jetty that she will
depart from. Annie remembers howshe and her father used to walk
there for exercise, and her father would chat with one of
thewatchmen. As Annie stares down, she suddenly feels worried about
slipping through the jettyinto the blue green water. A moment of
panic hits her when she considers leaving her parentsand her life
behind. She wonders why she does not fall into a heap on the jetty
right then andthere. But she does not. She and her parents board
the launch that will take them out to theirboat. Once they get out
to the boat, her mother introduces Annie to the captain and
explains thatAnnie has never traveled alone. Annie will