Annie John

Annie John

Annie John is an autobiography written by Jamaica Kincaid. In the Autobiography, Jamaica Kincaid plays Annie John, and her mother’s name is also Annie John. The Background of this novel is about the activity in the society of children on a small island named Antigua. Annie John is separated continuously from her mother throughout the story, due to her increasing rebellion, resulting in Annie moving to England to be free, just as the African Americans were emancipated from slavery. This story takes place starting with Annie John’s childhood and ending when she was a teenager. The story focuses on the relationship between mother and daughter. Annie John is very symbolic in comparing Annie’s freedom to the freedom of the slaves.

Throughout the story, Annie struggles with the difficult relationship she has with her mother. Although her parents discipline her, and give her the best education possible, a hatred toward her mother grows throughout the story. She begins to realize the differences between her and her mother, and does not see her as a perfect loving human being. In her early childhood, she saw her mother as her own personal savior when times were bad. She saw her mother as an angel. After Annie came home from school one day, and witnessed her mother engaging in sexual activity, she began to realize the differences between them. She began to see faults and impurities daily in her mother. Nothing Annie seemed to do pleased her mother. She made friends with people who were of lower social status, which also displeased her mother, and caused her to try to change Annie’s prospective of what a real friend is.

Annie was walking home from school one day, and she looked in the reflection of a store window, and realized how long it had been since she had seen herself. She began to realize she was growing and maturing, and began to believe she was “smarter and cleaner” than her mother. When she began to be ridiculed and was called names, she was hurt. When she told her mother, and her mother explained that she had seen the incident from inside the store, she called Annie a slut. After her mother’s remarks, Annie said, “like mother, like daughter.” This conversation took the anxiety between mother and daughter to a new level. Annie felt she could never feel kindly about her mother again, and little was said between them for years.

Annie made a new friend that she called “Red Girl.” Annie’s mother greatly disapproved the relationship between Annie and Red Girl, but this did not bother Annie. Annie and Red Girl had a special friendship in which they did many activities that her mother did not care for, because she thought Annie should be more feminine. Annie told Red Girl that she wanted to get away from her parents, and move somewhere in England where they would never find her.

A few years later, Annie became deathly ill. Doctors did not know what was wrong with her. She began to hallucinate and would not eat for days, but her mother cared for her during this time. After about two months, Annie became well, and went back to school. She began to see her mother as a person who served her until she was able to leave the house. Although their relationship was distant, Annie embraced their differences, and accepted her mother for who she was, and moved forward. Annie left