THE CIRCLING HAND

CHAPTER TWO

JAMAICA KINCAID BY GROUP 3

Renn 404110299

Melody 404110249

Sandy 404110861

Eunice 404110017

Anita 404110512

Ivy 404110653

Riley 404110196

Stanley 404110677

OUTLINE

• Introduction

• Intimacy

• Separation

• Rebellion

• Conclusion

INTRODUCTION

RENN LIN

WRITER

Jamaica Kincaid

• Elaine Potter Richardson

• Loved her mother before 9 (Annie John 12)

• 3 younger brothers

• Sent to New York

• Studied in New York School and Franconia College in New Hampshire

THE CIRCLING HAND

Annie John

• Attach to her mother

• Absence of father

• Rejected by her mother

• Seeing her parents’ intercourse

• Collapse of the parents’ images

• Socialization

INTIMACY

RILEY

SANDY

ATTACHMENT TO MOTHER

• Childhood: live in a paradise

• Admiration, attachment, appreciation toward her mother

Annie found her mom very beautiful (face, mouth, hands, smell…)

• Take a bath together

Symbol: relationship and intimacy

• Go to market and cook together

• Raw liver (please her mother)

ANNIE’S MOTHER’S ROLE

• Role Model

Observe the way she did everything

In the market (admiration)

• Instructor

Teach her how to do the laundry (house chores)

• Foundation of Annie’s Self-identification

Trunk: things belonged to Annie

Stories: never be tired of them

→ Love towards each other, connection, and

value

Cook together (include Annie in everything)

Paradise: LOVE (being loved and love someone)

ANNIE’S MOTHER’S ROLE

INTIMACY BETWEEN

ANNIE AND HER MOTHER

•Mother is the queen in the markets

•Bathing together

•Trunk

•Her mother’s hand

•Wearing same clothes

FATHER’S ROLE

•Not at home very often

“Quickly bathe in the water that he had instructed my

mother to leave outside overnight in the dew. That way

the water would be very cold and he believed that cold

water strengthened his back”

He had many woman outside, and one of the woman

with children was trying to harm them.

SEPARATION

ANITA

STANLEY

Major Turning Points

Mental changes in Annie’s and her mom

Reasons for Separation

Major Turning Points

Annie turned 12 years old

Entering new school

Witness her parents are having sex

Lady’s Business

Learning manners /Piano class.

Annie’s mother’s idea separation

Her mom shows disapproval when Annie is learning

a time for Annie to know about herself

Rejections of Annie’s mother

Annie’s mother chose different clothes for them.

You are getting too old for that.

Her mother refuses to build her a set of clamps

You and I don’t have time for that anymore.

Her mother is angry about the bedspread.

My mother’s hand was on the small of my father’s back and that is was making a circular motion. White and bony. As if had long been dead. If I were to forget everything else in the world, I could not forget her hand as it looked then. (Annie John 30 31)

I found her beautiful. Her head looked as if it should be on a sixpence. What a beautiful long neck, and long plaited hair, which she pinned up around the crown of her head because her hair hung down it make her too hot. (Annie John 19).

Circling hands

Separation Sex

Intimacy

Not pure Control

Comparison

Before witnessing sex • On my holiday, I did this

for my mom. • How important I felt to

be with my mother. • As she held each thing in

her hand she would tell me a story about myself.

• When my eyes rested on my mother, I found her beautiful.

After witnessing sex

• “Are you going to just stand there doing nothing all day?”

• “And what if I do?”

• I was sure I could never let those hands touch me again.

• She looked small and funny.

REBELLION

IVY LIN RESPONSIBLE FOR PPT

EUNICE RESPONSIBLE FOR PRESENTATION

AFTER ANNIE SAW HER

MOTHER INTERCOURSE WITH

HER FATHER….

1. talk back to her mother

“ I had never talked back to her before.”

2. Fright turns into disgust

“ I was sure I could never let those hands touch me again;...never let her kiss again.”

“ I was amazed that I could eat my food, ……”

AFTER ANNIE SAW HER

MOTHER INTERCOURSE WITH

HER FATHER….

3. not so respect her father (respect pitiful not so respect)

“…his two rows of false teeth clop-clopping like a horse…”

“ …my father tried to hold my hand, but I pulled myself away from him...”

4. a little despise her mother

“ Gwen I were in love, and so we walked home arm in arm together.”

“…any mention at all of Gwen and my overpowering feelings for her.”

COMPARISON

THE CIRCLING HAND &

PIGS CAN’T FLY

MELODY

MOTHER’S BEAUTY

THE CIRCLING HAND

(P. C-26)

Obsession

Too dependence

Only her mother

PIGS CAN’T FLY (P.15)

Pursue the beautiful image

Not only his mother

MOTHER’S BEAUTY

THE CIRCLING

HAND (P. C-26)

“When my eyes rested on

my father, I didn’t think

very much of the way he

looked. But when my

eyes rested on my

mother, I found her

beautiful. Her head……”

PIGS CAN’T FLY

(P.15)

“When I knew Amma was

getting dressed for a special

occasion, I always positioned

myself outside her door…….

Entering that room was, for

me, a greater boon than that

granted by any god to a

mortal……”

SEPARATION

THE CIRCLING

HAND (P. C-33)

Actively

Reason

Leave

PIGS CAN’T FLY (P. 39)

Be Forced

Reason

Stay

SEPARATION

THE CIRCLING

HAND (P. C-33)

“I was sure I could never let

those hands touch me

again…… All that was finished.”

“I told her about my day, ……

leaving out, of course, any

mention at all of Gwen and

my overpowering feelings for

her.”

PIGS CAN’T FLY (P. 39)

“I glanced at the sari lying on

the rock where I had thrown it,

and I knew that I would never

enter the girl’s world again.”

“…… I paused and looked back

at the sea one last time. Then I

turned, crossed the railway

lines, and began my walk up

Ramanaygam Road to the

future that awaited me.”

CONCLUSION

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING