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

(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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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