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Coming of Age

As a bildungsroman the central theme in Annie John is the titular character's coming of age. Over the course of the novel Annie matures emotionally from child to woman, and physically, as she undergoes puberty. When the novel opens, Annie believes her life to be a perfect, idyllic paradise. At age 10 she has few responsibilities. Her parents devote their entire attention to her: Mother chews up food too difficult for Annie to manage herself and bathes and massages her. Annie and Mother wear matching dresses to show off how adorable they are together. Living this way, Annie cannot fathom how a person survives without a mother; when she meets a girl whose mother has died, Annie considers the girl's loss deeply shameful.

When Annie turns 12, however, her mother insists they can no longer wear matching dresses because Annie "cannot go around the rest of [her] life looking like a little me." This moment causes a seismic shift in Annie's relationship with her mother. Annie wants things to remain exactly as they've always been, but Mother knows Annie cannot spend her life acting like a child-she must learn to be a "young lady."

As Annie grows away from her mother, she grows closer to her friends, first Gwen and then the Red Girl. While both girls are merely stand-ins for the affection Annie would have shared with her mother, each relationship teaches Annie more about her newfound identity. Whereas Gwen is a picture-perfect schoolgirl who follows rules and longs to become a wife and homemaker one day, Annie wants nothing to do with boys. She wants to read books, travel, and make a difference in the world. Her relationship with the Red Girl gives Annie opportunity to widen the gap she feels between herself and her mother by deliberately disobeying her mother's requests and stealing and lying. When Annie's friendships fizzle, she learns she must transition into womanhood alone, without relying on friends or family to guide her. She falls ill, the illness itself a sort of rebirth, and rises from her sickbed with the strength to announce, "My name is Annie John," before boarding a steamer to England in search of a new life.

Motherhood

The main event that guides Annie's coming of age is the loss of her relationship with her mother. Annie John and her mother share everything, even their name, so it comes as a huge shock to Annie when her mother insists she take on her own identity now that she's a "young lady." When Annie was a child, Mother represented her entire world: Mother cooked, cleaned, sewed Annie's clothes, bathed her, entertained her, taught her life lessons, and stored all her memories. She was Annie's champion, and Annie could do no wrong in her eyes. As soon as Annie starts puberty, that relationship changes, and Annie feels completely abandoned. The loss leads Annie to question whether her mother loved her at all, or whether she had been fooling her. She calls her mother a "serpent," like the serpent that once hid in Mother's fig basket, as she questions which aspects of their relationship were truthful and which were deceptive. The final break happens when Mother misunderstands Annie's behaviors on the street and calls her once-beloved daughter a "slut." Their relationship dissolves so much so that Annie exclaims, "I would kill my mother if I had the courage."

When Annie starts a new school at the age of 12, she writes an essay about how her mother used to bring her to Rat Island for therapeutic swims in the cold seawater. In the essay, which describes a dream Annie had about the incident, Annie and her mother are inadvertently separated and come to rest on different banks of the shores. Annie is terrified, but Mother doesn't seem to notice. In the essay Annie claims her mother comforted her upon learning of her distress, but in reality, her mother flippantly commented that Annie shouldn't eat unripe fruit before bed. This story becomes a metaphor for Annie's loss. As she matures, she and her mother experience a gulf in their relationship that pushes them onto opposite emotional shores. Annie's terror that "my mother was no longer with me" becomes a reality. At the end of the novel the divide becomes literal as Annie moves away from Antigua to England. Now, the ocean between them is real, a manifestation of the emotional separation Annie experienced during her maturation.

Colonialism

At the time the novel takes place Antigua was under British control; this meant England controlled Antigua's government and trade. Colonization had two effects: local Antiguans were pushed into poverty, and England embraced the financial benefit of Antigua's natural resources. Despite this, Antiguan children, like Annie John, pledge allegiance to the British flag and are taught to view Christopher Columbus, the man who "discovered" Antigua, as a god. The novel presents a tension between traditional and colonial life, seen most clearly in arguments about traditional versus western medicine. Annie's parents try both methods to treat Annie's illness in Chapter 7, yet Annie's grandmother-who stopped speaking to her husband when their son died after receiving Western treatment-heals Annie using traditional methods. At the same time, colonial expectations for womanhood require chastity and monogamy. These social pressures cause Mother to call Annie a "slut." Nonetheless, Annie's village continues to embrace polygamy for men. The local fishermen share the same wife, for example, and Annie's own father has multiple illegitimate children. When forced to choose between two friends-Gwen, who represents British culture, and the Red Girl, who represents native culture-Annie passionately chooses the Red Girl. This appears to be making the argument that Annie prefers native over British culture, yet Annie loves British novels, prefers Western medicine, imagines herself to be Jane Eyre in Belgium, and eventually moves to England.

The strongest argument against colonialism appears in Chapter 5. In this chapter Annie defaces an image of Christopher Columbus with a statement she heard her mother say in reference to her own controlling father after he lost the use of his legs: "The Great Man Can No Longer Just Get Up and Go." Annie writes the sarcastic comment under a picture of Columbus being taken back to Spain as a prisoner, which Annie adores because she hates Columbus. Her teacher is completely baffled and punishes Annie by forcing her to copy Milton's Paradise Lost. The event shows the reader that Annie differs from her teachers, her schoolmates, and even her mother: she thinks for herself regardless of the consequences.

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As a bildungsroman the central theme in Annie John is the titular character's coming of age. Over the course of the novel Annie matures emotionally from child to woman, and physically, as she undergoes puberty. When the novel opens, Annie believes her life to be a perfect, idyllic paradise.

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Jamaica Kincaid's "Annie John" is a story of a young Antiguan girl growing up against the backdrop of British colonialism, and as some critics suggest "in terms of genre, Annie John must be classified as a Bildungsroman, or novel of coming of age, of discovery of self, which recounts the process of growing up and coming to terms with the world".[1] This "coming of age" literary convention differs significantly among national literary traditions and literary periods. However, the genre is predominantly associated with the European literary tradition. The critics also infer that the traditional interpretation of the Bildungsroman is that the main protagonist is male, white and European. In this sense, "Annie John" is a revision of the Bildungsroman, because it is still a story that closely follows protagonist's psychological and intellectual maturity and is anchored within European literary tradition, but Kincaid's novel differs in terms of adding a new dimension: the main protagonist is female, black and living in a colonial country.

In her article, Anniken Telnes Iversen lists necessary qualities of the "standard" Bildungsroman. The novel must have a main character who is an individual, not a type; there should be a retrospective narrative and a chronological plot that goes from childhood to adulthood; and there should be an ending in which a hero finds his place in society[3]. Furthermore, according to the author, a Bildungsroman traditionally describes two processes: "first, liberation, when the protagonist leaves home and has to get by completely on his or her own; second, there is an opposite process of reattachment as the hero discovers that there are other people who can fill the function of family and provide care, help, and mutual affection"[4]. Kincaid's novel generally meets such 'requirements'. The novel is narrated by Annie, a young Antiguan girl who seeks her identity as she grows up, the story is recounted in chronological way, and there is a moment of Annie's "liberation" when she embarks on a lonely journey to England. Nonetheless, Kincaid introduces certain significant alternations to the concept.

First of all, from the very beginning of the story, Annie has an ongoing support of a mother"[5]. She is not an independent heroine. According to Annis Prattthe, a protagonist of a Bildungsroman must undergo "a process of alienation in order to achieve self-consciousness."[6] However, Annie's quest for identity does not seem to be her conscious decision, quite the contrary, it is Annie's mother who separates her emotionally and who, as we may assume, wants Annie to grow up. Annie's "breaking into harsh outside reality"[7] appears only at the end of the novel after she undergoes mental and physical change during her illness. In this sense, Kincaid employs the traditional 'quest motif', but she changes it.

While examining Bildungsroman as a literary convention it is interesting to note that also in terms of structure "Annie John" revises the tradition. The novel opens with images of death instead of birth, and it finishes with an image of running away of the main protagonist. In the first chapter of the book, "Figures in the distance", Annie as a ten-years-old girl becomes obsessed with death. On the one hand, her obsession arises from the fear of death: "I was afraid of death, as was everyone I knew. We were afraid of the dead because we never could tell when they might show up again"[8]. On the other hands it is simple curiosity of a child. However, the motif of death will be present throughout the entire novel.

The factor adding to seeing "Annie John" as a revision of the Bildungsroman tradition is also the fact that Annie John does not end affirmatively. According to Louis F. Caton in a "privileged European male literary model"[9], there is always "male quest motif"[10], thus a "female" Bildungsroman does not end in female character's maturation "but in either her death or her marriage".[11] In the final chapter Annie John sets off for a journey, but the readers are left with an open ending: "at noon on that day, a ship which I was to be a passenger would sail to Barbados, and there I would board another ship, which would sail to England, where I would study to become a nurse. [12] The tradition of a Bildungsroman presumes that "women are destined to find in the end that "they must accept humility, suffering, and disappointment".[13] Annie, however, embarks on a journey, which, on one hand, opens new possibilities for her, but on the other hand, her life in England does not necessarily mean "absorption into a larger social body"[14] Taking into consideration Annie's negative attitude towards institution of marriage, we may suppose that she will not succumb to the patriarchal model of English society. However, her future after the escape from the island remains unknown.

Some critics also suggest that Annie's individual identity is somehow blurred and that "the demarcations of individual personality and personhood are unrecognizable."[15] At one point Annie refers to her mother as a „shadow that may never leave her"[16], and she states later that "I could not be sure when it was really my mother, and when it was really her shadow standing between me and the rest of the world".[17] It is also true that Annie grows emotionally tied to her mother, for instance, the girl seems not to know where her body begins and her mother's body ends. It is symbolized by Annie and her mother wearing dresses made from the same cloth. Initially, Annie's identity is also intertwined with her mother's re-telling of her own life story. Annie mentions that "From time to time, my mother would fix on a certain place in our house and give it a good cleaning. (...) When she did this with the trunk, it was a tremendous pleasure (...) as she held each thing in her hand she would tell me a story about myself. (...) I knew exactly what she would say, for I had heard it many times before, but I never got tired of it"[20] It is not until the end of the novel when Annie seems to accept the idea that she is a separate person able to create her own identity. First of all, Annie decides to have her own trunk, which can be seen as a way of declaring her independence from her mother; secondly, she decides to leave home and set off to England. However, her decision to embark on a journey does not seem to be carefully-thought-of and Annie is not very confident about it, since it seems to be greatly motivated by her need to become independent from parents and "much talked about future". Annie says that "The road for me now went in one direction: away from my home[21], but until her depart she was not sure about decision and she was "on the verge of feeling that it had been a mistake, but I remembered that I wasn't a child anymore, and that now when I made up my mind about something I had to see it through."[22] That the fact that Annie "defers the psychological splitting off from family"[23] also adds to the claim that Annie is not a typical hero of a Bildungsroman, because instead of venturing out into the future, Kincaid stresses Annie's emotional indecisiveness.

There is also an interesting and provocative issue concerning Annie's ultimate self-discovery: her "fresh start" is to be in England, the base of colonial power, where Annie would pursue a profession connected with the traditional gender roles which she wanted to escape. By going there, Annie submits to British influence even further, and by "crossing over", she is, in a sense, retracing steps of her slave ancestors and returning to roots of colonial power in order to re-define herself. Some critics suggest that Annie John is "ultimately unable to channel her power as a mature, female West Indian woman living in colonial Antigua in a productive or positive manner".[24] Instead, it seems that Annie is escaping (rather than facing) problems arising with her self-definition; she is 'going back' to the source of colonialism, still looking for her identity.

According to A. T. Iversen "particular novels can be seen as bildungsroman to a greater or lesser extent, not only as definitely in or out. (...) This means that the genre is not seen as discrete."[25] Nonetheless, the genre of Bildungsroman is a European, specifically German tradition, strongly tied to the period of late eighteenth or early nineteenth-century notions of humanism and personality formation. Colonial discourse undertaken in Kincaid's novel constitutes a new approach to the genre, since it changes the ideological foundations of the novel. The main theme is no longer assimilation to social structures, but the quest for identity in a troubled colonial society. Kincaid constructs the revisions of the traditional structure in several ways, and the female protagonist is not a typical independent hero, but rather "the hero of her own life".[26]

Weronika Rusinowska
Coco Caribe ©

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Jamaica Kincaid's "Annie John" and the Tradition of Bildungsroman | Coco Caribe

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Jamaica Kincaid's "Annie John" is a story of a young Antiguan girl growing up against the backdrop of British colonialism, and as some critics suggest "in terms of genre, Annie John must be classified as a Bildungsroman, or novel of coming of age, of discovery of self, which recounts the process of growing up and coming to terms with the world".[1] This "coming of age" literary convention differs significantly among national literary traditions and literary periods.

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I have been wanting to read Jamaica Kincaid - the Antiguan-American writer - for quite a while. She is the author of the books , , A Small Place, At the Bottom of the River, See Now Then...that deal with issues of colonialism, adolescence, race and class, gender and sexuality. She is also a keen gardener.

Born to a poor family in St. John's, Antigua in 1949, Kincaid moved to a suburb of New York City in 1966 to work as an au pair. After three years, she attended Franconia College in New Hampshire on a full scholarship. Around 1976, impressed with her writing, The New Yorker's legendary editor, William Shawn hired Kincaid as a staff writer. In 1979, Kincaid married Shawn's son, the composer and Bennington College professor, Allen Shawn. They divorced in 2002. Kincaid now lives in North Bennington, Vermont and teaches at Harvard as the "Professor of African and African American studies in Residence".

Today I finished Jamaica Kincaid's first novel (1985) - an elegant little coming-of-age tale in the tradition of The Catcher in the Rye and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Through the narrative, Annie John goes from years 10 to 15. She is an only child, very attached to her mother, full of pity for her father (for he wasn't brought up by his own mother).

Annie lives an idyllic life on her lovely island. She is smart and notorious at school, with strong feelings of affection for some of her fellow female classmates. As she grows, things begin to turn sour mysteriously. Her mother turns from friend to foe. (At one point, Annie says-"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.") Sickness makes her weak. She is no longer at home on her territory. Finally, she must embark on a journey in the hope of a better life. Hardly enthusiastic, Annie remains torn between worlds.

I loved this story for its simple yet poetic portrayal of that inexplicable and incomprehensible pain that a girl transitioning from childhood to adulthood often feels. Memorable also were the bits on West Indian history, on slavery, and, despite that, assertions of fondness for and allegiance to the Queen of England. Best of all were the descriptions on the culture and beauty of the Caribbean - the church, the local superstitions, the fish, the fruits, the trees, the seas...

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Two excerpts -

From when Annie is ten - thoughts on the dead:

I was afraid of the dead, as was everyone I knew. We were afraid of the dead because we never could tell when they might show up again. Sometimes they showed up in a dream, but that wasn't so bad, because they usually only brought a warning, and in any case you wake up from a dream. But sometimes they would show up standing under a tree just as you were passing by. Then they might follow you home, and even though they might not be able to come into your house, they might wait for you and follow you wherever you went; in that case, they would never give up until you joined them. My mother knew of many people who had died in such a way. My mother knew of many people who had died, including her own brother.

From when Annie is fifteen - thoughts on unhappiness:

In the year I turned fifteen, I felt more unhappy than I had ever imagined anyone could be. It wasn't the unhappiness of wanting a new dress, or the unhappiness of wanting to go to cinema on a Sunday afternoon and not being allowed to do so, or the unhappiness of being unable to solve some mystery in geometry, or the unhappiness at causing my dearest friend, Gwen, some pain. My unhappiness was something deep inside me, and when I closed my eyes I could even see it. It sat somewhere-maybe in my belly, maybe in my heart; I could not exactly tell-and it took the shape of a small black ball, all wrapped up in cobwebs.

I would look at it and look at it until I had burned the cobwebs away, and then I would see that the ball was no bigger than a thimble, even though it weighed worlds. At that moment, just when I saw its size and felt its weight, I was beyond feeling sorry for myself, which is to say I was beyond tears. I could only just sit and look at myself, feeling like the oldest person who had ever lived and who had not learned a single thing. After I had sat in this way for a while, to distract myself I would count my toes; always it came out the same-I had ten of them.

Read interviews of Jamaica Kincaid on The American Reader and .

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Published by Tulika Bahadur

Cosmopolitan soul and King's College London + National Gallery alum - slowly working on a novel and a collection of short stories. Say hi at tulikabahadur@gmail.com, send all professional communication, including enquiries related to content creation and art buying, to tulika@elucidaction.com.au. View all posts by Tulika Bahadur

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Coming of Age in Antigua: Jamaica Kincaid's "Annie John"

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I have been wanting to read Jamaica Kincaid - the Antiguan-American writer - for quite a while. She is the author of the books Annie John, Lucy, A Small Place, At the Bottom of the River, See Now Then...that deal with issues of colonialism, adolescence, race and class, gender and sexuality.

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Use our free chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis of Annie John. It helps middle and high school students understand Jamaica Kincaid's literary masterpiece.

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Dive deep into Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John with extended analysis, commentary, and discussion

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Jane Smiley continues her series on the novel with Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John, the story of a girl growing up in the Caribbean, which hints at wider meanings beyond her childhood world.

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Annie John has 5,502 ratings and 422 reviews. Chrissie said: Jamaica Kincaid writes here a coming of age story about an Antiguan child. It is fiction wit...

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From a general summary to chapter summaries to explanations of famous quotes, the SparkNotes Annie John Study Guide has everything you need to ace quizzes, tests, and essays.

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This comprehensive lesson plan includes 30 daily lessons, 180 multiple choice questions, 20 essay questions, 20 fun activities, and more - everything you need to teach Annie John!