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.