Annie John

"Annie John" is a story of reality and self-discovery of a young girl growing up on the island of Antigua. Growing up, Annie is a very smart young girl who is always great with her school work, but a little mischievious that drives her throughout the seven year live span the book covers. She is constantly changing through her relationships and with herself as she matures. The main relationship that is seen is the one with her mother. Following the relationship from the very beginning we see how close the two are, from the teaching of death at the beginning from her mother, to baths together, and shopping. At the beginning of Chapter 2, The Circling Hand we see two different sides of Annie and her mothers relationship. We start with the closeness, ""My mother and I often took a bath together. Sometimes it was just a plain bath, which did not take very long. Other times it was a special bath in which the barks and flowers of many different trees, together with all sorts of oils, were boiled in the same large cauldron" to Annie becoming very upset at her mother for making love with her husband and not feeling that same unity with her mother which makes her feel rejected, "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". The same hands that touch the dead, that was an early obsession for Annie, now were frowned upon as the circled her husbands back. The relationship with her mother is first tested when Annie lies to her mother about the fisherman not going out to see that day, which shows the fall of her mother's trust which is brought about throught the book.
Another relationship that is seen is the one with her friend Gwen. This relationship decreases as Annie matures and becomes too intelligent for Gwen's childish games. Another friendship that shaped who Annie was, was the Red Girl, who Annie was jealous of her for freedoms. At school she was the popular one, but discovers a new side of her after reading ahead in her book studying about Christopher Columbus. Getting into trouble for defacing the book as her teacher said, she is filled with grief but learns about the man who discovered her island as being chained up for disobeying the Queen. She finally realized that she is in a way chained to the life that she has and wants to get away, Belgium, and leave the life that she lives. After her breakdown with her mother by telling her "like mother, like daughter" after her mother calls her a slut, Annie goes into a mental break down. This break down brings Annie back into a child like state which in a way represents to me how Annie wishes life was, with her mother always by her side. But when her mother does leave her, she remains ill until her grandmother, Ma Chess comes and holds her until she is healed. After she recovers, Annie comes to a final realization that she needs to leave the home she has come to love. She decides to leave for England for nursing school. When leaving I feel that she has finally accepted the relationship she has with her parents and understand the seperation that they have come to experience. Although she does not want to leave for a while, she knows that she must in order to find her own identity and not be stuck in the life of Antigua.

The House on Mango Street

Esperanza, the main character of The House on Mango Street, explains her story of growing up and become more or a woman over the year span of the novel. She is made into who she is by her friends around her. She always seems to want more than what she is given. He longing though out the novel to move out of her home shows just how much she does not enjoy the life that she is living. She sees how others in her community are stuck in a society that they can never get out of. Her parents constantly say that they are going to move out of the home that they are in to a better one, Esperanza’s friend, Sally, even was married into a very unpleasant lifestyle. She knows she does not want to be sucked into the life that others of the community are a part of and that is why she is has such a strong urge to move away. She knows though after he incident with the boys raping her, she knows that she will always be connected to Mango Street no matter what. It will always be a part of her that she will never forget.
I did not feel that I really could relate to Esperanza’s experience but did enjoy hearing about her experience as a Mexican-American. Her culture is very important to her, like he name which means hope. It is a name that she shares with her grandmother which shows how important family is. Also, you see the side of how Esperanza is seen as a girl. She shows how different she is from her brother and how since he is a boy they do not know each other as well as she knows her sister. Esperanza does not want to be like the women though in her community who are very sexual and have a strong urge to have the attention of boys. She will not give into the lifestyle and that is why she wants to leave so badly.