Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid - Book Report/Review Example

 Annie John Annie John is a challenging story of a girl growing in an English ruled provincial area, with her parents. Jamaica Kincaid draws her picture as a sensitive young girl growing to maturity. The moral, psychological and intellectual development of the protagonist is carefully depicted in the novel. Critics analyze the novel as the perfect picture of transition from childhood to adolescence which is strictly assisted by her parents, especially mother. Thus it can be considered as the revelation of the complex relation between a mother and a girl child. But the author discloses the complex process of individualization, through the story of Annie John. The smooth transition from childhood to puberty is essential to attain successful personality. It is possible only through parents, teachers and peers who surround the period. Jamaica Kincaid succeeded in creating the main characters in that way in which Annie grows with their actions and emotion. Jamaica’s delineation of the character of Annie is impressive. Annie’s evolution to a young lady is mediated through different characters and multiple relations. The spirits of the island who taught the concept of death to Annie, the young child, her schoolmate Gwen Joseph, the red girl, her teachers, especially miss Edward, her beautiful mother who is able to teach her several things, her loving father, typical Caribbean grandmother Ma Chess, all of them contribute to Annie’s development and to a sense of alienation. Most of them are Antiguans. Mrs. John and the grandmother are from Dominica, and the headmistress and Ruth are from England. As a young girl of ten, she is smart and inquisitive and loves to be loved by everyone. She lives in the powerful confinement of her beautiful mother and she enjoys it. In her words,” It was in such a paradise that I lived”. It is evident from the descriptions that Mrs. John is a successful mother during her early child hood. The bath scene of the mother and the child together reveals their intense relation. Annie‘s desire to live permanently with her mother is exposed here. But she grows and grows out to the society as a young lady. Annie says “I was on the verge of becoming a young lady, so there were quite a few things I would have to do differently”. She begins to experience lack of kisses and hugs The process towards maturity is assisted knowingly or unknowingly by her near and dear. What she wants is love and consideration. She gets this from her parents at the early stages. But why there a conflict slowly arises between the mother and the girl child. The author spreads the different characters around her so as to pave a way to maturity. Only through these characters that Annie the child develops to Annie the young lady. The insecurity which begins to grow in Annie reaches its peak when she sees her mother in the hands of her father. She is unwilling to be touched by her mother’s hand after that event. In her words “I was sure I could never let those hands touch me again; I was sure I could never let her kiss me again. All that was finished”. This is along with her growing to puberty. The conflicts are due to inconsistency in the parental attitude and parental norms. Her mother forces her to study music and manners. Her father Mr. John is an ordinary father who engages in building houses. He represents the masculinity towards which Annie needs more preparations. Yet she recognizes her father’s love when she was ill. Annie’s first friendship with Gwen can only be viewed as resulted from the intense desire of replacing her love towards her mother with other girls. This does not last for a long time. Later she develops a close relation with the “red girl” who behaves quite contrast to what is taught to Annie. She even plays marble with her against the wishes of her mother. Annie says “I had to do exactly the opposite of what she [Annie’s mother] desired of me; I now played and played at marbles. She tries to grab her mother’s attention at the same time wants to be independent. Sometimes the readers may think that the red girl is the ideal one who Annie wishes to become like. Her face was big and round and red. In her words “What a beautiful thing I saw standing before me. Her face was big and round and red, like a moon- a red moon. She had big, broad ,flat feet, and they were naked to the bare ground; her dress was dirty the skirt and blouse tearing away from each other at one side; the red hair that I had first seen standing up on her head was matted and tangled; her hands were big and fat...”. From her she learns that the world outside her mother can offer more to her. She learns many things which she could not learn from the school. Jamaica consciously narrates the red girl and brings her close to Annie. What the author wants is to describe the thirst for escaping into a new world out of Antigua i.e. away from colonial rules. Her power was so strong that she begins to dream a life with the red girl in the isolated island. Unlike Annie, her mother considers this red girl, a rural, dirty, wonderful smelling creature who fails to adapt to the typical colonial life of Antigua. Though an Antiguan Mrs. Annie succeeds in being part of dominant order. The red girl brings unacceptable changes in Annie. These are against the expectations of her teachers and mother. She is growing outside the confinements. It is not identified properly that she is on the way to maturity. Annie’s mother does not do any harm to her but the rebellion between them grows with maturity. But the heightened emotional instability which is characteristic of the age causes frequent quarrel with her mother. She has now practiced to harden herself against the restrictions. Her new friendship with the red girl reveals this fact. Yet she grows out as a brilliant student in the class. But being an adolescent she develops a sense of loyalty to her friends. Towards the end of the story these girls are shown as powerful human beings with their own impressions and decisions. The teacher’s role in determining the present Annie should be considered.. During the history class she expresses her dislike towards Columbus and colonial rule. In her words “What just deserts, I thought, for I did not like Columbus. How I loved this picture- to see the usually triumphant Columbus brought so low, seated by the bottom of the boat watching things go by”. She is on the way to self identity. The road towards individualization clears when Annie begins to feel self respect and revelations. This comes more obvious in the history class. Her history teacher Miss. Edward, who has a colonial social order, resists her views saying it ‘Blasphemy’. This is not an appropriate term to describe her action. It is obvious that Columbus is so important for the colonizer. Her interaction with the teacher is another example of rebellion. Jamaica introduces the English girl Ruth only to say about Annie’s disrespect towards the colonial attitudes. Finally the author prepares her to get out of her childhood through an illness described in the chapter ‘The long rain’. There we meet another character who helps Annie to recover soon. Ma Chess, a typical Caribbean woman who is her grandmother. Such an emotional and physical breakdown is necessary to Annie for a rebirth which leads to an independent and separate being. Her grandmother treats her as an infant, but what is happening in Annie is a growth of change in her attitude and manners. Thus she succeeds in achieving her own space as a young adult and attains stability. This is evident from her later behaviors at the school. Annie is now out of the caves, the cave of childhood, her home, her relationships and all that surrounds her. At the end of the novel we see Annie starts her real life journey quite alone. She is seventeen now. She now wishes to be known in her own identity. For that she accepts the separateness’ which is essential for redefining her person. Annie’s mother also admits her decision to leave Antigua, and her family, unwillingly. In her words “For I could not be sure, whether for the rest of my life I would be able to tell when it was really my mother and when it was really her shadow standing between me and the rest of the world.” Annie longs for a”place where nobody knows a thing about me” and says the whole world into which I was born had become an unbearable burden for me”. Though she waves bye to her parental home and Antigua forever, she feels an inexpressible joy which arises out of the pain of a rebirth. She says “I could hear the small waves lap lapping around the ship. They made an unexpected sound as if a vessel filled with liquid had been placed on its side and was now emptying out”. Jamaica Kincaid portrays the picture of a girl who emerges from her later childhood and merges into adulthood. The emotional fluctuations are carefully drawn with the help of various characters. Whether all of them assisted the transition process effectively to make her a perfect personality, is a matter of dispute. Annie’s physical developments are parallel to her opposition to the colonial rule in Antigua. When she becomes a perfect adolescent her mindset also grows so up to leave the place. When we go through the novel we can see ourselves here and there. We may be her mother Annie John, or she herself. Some of us may be her father and some her friends. Her quest for identity as well quest for and self knowledge is matter of criticism. The series of conflicts the author creates in the life of the young protagonist are suitable to prepare her for the complex life. Thus Annie represents the typical Antiguans who longed for self autonomy and ideal independence. Work cited, Kincaid Jamaica, Annie John, Hill and Wang Publishers, USA, 1985 Read More