Annie John

Annie John is a story about a young woman's life in Antigua. Overall, she is a very bright child and excells in her school work. On the surface, Annie seems like a normal child, but inside she lives the life of a frustrated teenager. I feel that this story chronicles a classic mother/daughter relationship. As a young child, Annie John loves her mother more than anything, but as she enters puberty she begins to distance herself in order to gain her own identity.

When Annie was a child, all that mattered to her was her mother's acceptance and love. This is typical of many children, in that it is all that they know and care about. To show the reader her affection for her mother she would go into great detail in describing her physically. For example, she had "a beautiful mouth I could have looked at forever if I had to and not mind (19)" or Annie would talk about her mother's "powerful legs (25)." All of Annie's descriptions of her mother while she was a child showed the reader how absorbed she was in her.

Upon beginning puberty, however, Annie began to distance herself from her mother. Her peers began to have more of an influence in her life. This can be seen in Annie's undying friendship with Gwen and the Red Girl. The reader can tell that Annie's love has been directed towards her peers and away from her mother by paying attention to the descriptions of her friends. She uses the same physical adoration as was used on her mother. In referring to Gwen, Annie says, "Sometimes when she spoke to me, so overcome with feeling would I be that I was no longer able to hear what she said, I could only make out her mouth as it moved up and down (51)." The transition from idolizing adults to idolizing peers is common among many teenagers.

Over time, however, Annie begins to distance herself from her peers as well. I believe that this is due to a personal discovery. After the "Colombus in Chains" event, I think that Annie decided that her upbringing in a colonized nation meant that she had no way of identifying with Antigua. She was not raised in England, but she recieved the education of a British child. This includes the British version of history. Therefore, Annie knows nothing about the island she grew up on other than her own observations, and she does not like those. Ultimately, Annie settles for moving to England to pursue a career in nursing. Not that she wants to be a nurse, but perhaps she is forced to because that is all she knows.