Stories of Growth (4) : A Black Girl’s

Individuation through Separation from (M)Other: Annie John (1985)

by Jamaica Kincaid

Stories of Growth –w/ Support & Obstacles?

(1) Family– Lost Fathers/Parents

Colorism in the Caribbean Area -- Wide Sargasso Sea, “Bright Thursday,” Abeng

Grandmother aging -- Sugar Cane Alley Growth and Independence – Annie John & “Her

Mother”Survival of Refugees

– Kurdish kids in Turtle Can Fly -- Parents killed in Rebelle -- Celine, Madame Roger in “Children of the Sea”

Survival in a Slum -- street kids – Salaam Bombay Orphan – Ria in Monsoon Wedding

(2) Aspiring Child/Youth & Educational System

West Africa – Half of a Yellow SunSouth Africa -- “Music of the Violin” the Caribbean – Sugar Cane Alley; “Bright

Thursday”

Iran – PersepolisSouth Africa -- Yesterday

3) Who are Helpers? The Caribbean Area

No Help Helpers ObstaclesWide Sargasso Sea

AnnetteTia

Christophine (?)Convent nuns

1. Black laborersMulattoes

Abeng Ms. Mattie ZoeKitty (as model)?

2. Cane cutter?

Sugar Cane Alley

Carman grandmother, teachers

3. Mme. Leonce

Bright Thursday

Bertram? Ms. Christine Myrtle?

4. Bus broken?

1-2. gender-class system3. Child exploitation 4. Poor transportation on market day

3) Who are Helpers? West & South AfricaNo Help Helpers Obstacles

Sugar Beach[Helene]

MotherEunice

Congo vs. natives (rogues)

Yellow Sun[Ugwu]

Aunt, Odenigbo, Olana—not always

Biafra war

War Game GrandfatherCleaning ritual & Ogwugwu dance?

Bullies Biafra war? (e.g. pogrom)

Rebelle [Komono]

Pop cultures

Magician, witchcraft?Albino village, Taxi driver, Uncle

Civil war & army commanders

Music of the Violin

Guests Father

Teacher Maseko, Toboho, Doksi

mother vs. classmates

3) Who are Helpers? South Asia

No Help Helpers ObstaclesSalaam Bombay

Manju & the other kids

Sweet 16, Baba’s wife, Chilum?

Baba

“Gainda” Newa Gainda Brother (Bhaiya)

“Pigs Can’t Fly”

Father Dulhan, DulhanMother?

Her fatness & other cousins

Persepolis grandmother and mother

Turtle Can Fly [Satellite]

American army, village elders

Agrin, Hangov & Baby

Anti-Kurdish nations (Iraq, Turkey)

(4) Society –War, Racial Conflicts & Other Social Problems

In West and South Africa? Civil War [A Long Way Gone -child solder] War Games Yesterday – AIDS

India/Pakistan -- EarthKurds – Turtle Can FlyHaiti – “Children of the Sea”

3)

(4) Society –Local Cultures— obstacles or support

West Africa War Games, Half of a Yellow Sun – debia

South Africa – Yesterday, “Prophetess” --Sangoma

The Caribbean Area -- WSS & Sugar Cane Alley– obeah

Annie John as a Bildungsroman

Kincaid: “I was always being told I should be something, and then my whole upbringing was something I was not: it was English” (Cudjoe 219).

Major Question – [stories of forced separation in WSS, Abeng and “Bright Thursday”]

Why is Annie engaged in a voluntary and permanent separation from Antigua and from her mother in particular?

Outline

Ref. Kincaid About colonialism and Antigua And her mother

Annie John“Circling Hand”Ref. “A Walk to the Jetty”

Jamaica Kincaid: Bio (1) Born Elaine Potter Richardson in

St. Johns, Antigua in 1949; lived with her step-father, mother, and three brothers

father: a carpenter and cabinetmaker

mother: a homemaker and political activist.

Completed her secondary education under the British system• “Girl” Her reading • Jamaica Kincaid on writing, her life, and The New Yorker

• Antigua, in a family with many children, “English person” • 4:40 her mother 10: 45 Columbus; on her being Jane Eyre, etc.

Jamaica Kincaid: Bio (2)Left Antigua (before its Independence) when

she was 17.As the eldest of four, and the only girl, she was

apprenticed to a seamstress, then plucked from school, where she was excelling, and sent to the US as an au pair ("really a servant")

changed her name to Jamaica Kincaid because her family disapproved of her writing. (source)

Antigua A lot more blacks than

white people; No experience of

“freedom apprenticeship” (four-year waiting period) after Emancipation in 1834. “Freedom was immediate but total.” (Murdoch 99)

Economy suffers until tourism replaced sugar industry.

A British colony till 1967.http://www.geographia.com/antigua-barbuda/aghis01.htm

Kincaid on Colonialism & AntiguaWithin the structure of the British educational

system imposed upon Antiguans, Kincaid grew to "detest everything about England, except the literature" (Vorda 79).

A Small Place: rage at colonialism & the failure of Antigua independence

"But nothing can erase my rage . . . for this wrong can never be made right and only the impossible can make me still: can a way be found to make what happened not have happened?"

“You distorted or erased my history and glorified your own")

Kincaid & her mother

Kincaid the only child until age 9, after which her mother has 3 sons, whom she favors over Kincaid.

Kincaid: She "should never have had children." “She loves us when we‘re dying - not when we’re

thriving because then we don‘t need her.” (source)

About her childhood [reference]

Annie John central question: What makes Annie change her views about her

family and esp. her mother? pp. 18-19 – 12-year-old Annie’s views o her motherp. 132-33; 136 – 17-yr-old Annie’s viewWhy are the mother and the daughter distanced

from each other?Related issues

1. closeness to the mother; father’s dominant role, rivalry among his women

2. the mother’s teaching (the young-lady business) 3. The mother’s social position and her relations

with the father

Mother-Daughter Relationship in Annie John

Major Social Factors: Caribbean society: a male-dominated

society in which the men are allowed to be irresponsible about housework, and enjoy sexual relationships outside marriage.

Mother as a social institution to teach her girl to be socialized (= Englishized; lady-like)

Mother-Daughter Relationship in Annie John: Examples“Figures in the Distance” Pre-occupation

with death; a girl without a mother –”a shameful thing” (8)

“The Circling Hand” – Pre-Oedipal symbiosis with the mother Forced to separate herself from the mother; sent

to be educated, witnessing the parents’ sexual intercourse (primal scene).

Annie’s independence process “Columbus in Chain”: [mainly about her rebellion at

school, resisting British education]; at the end, mother is turned into a crocodile p. 84

“Gwen” (a perfect pretty type) “The Red Girl” (lower-class) -- Exploring her own sexuality.

“Somewhere, Belgium”: age 15, out for a boy; mother and daughter with two faces (one polite and loving,

and the other hateful) called a slut by her mother after conversing with a boy -- “Well, …like mother like daughter” (p. 102);

wants a trunk of her own.

Annie’s independence process (2) “The Long Rain”

Fascination for the father (112-13) Illness; grandmother’s (Ma Chess) care-taking -- a

substitute for the mother (pp. 125-26)“A Walk to the Jetty” -- Leaving Antigua

Waking up with Sadness and Readiness to leave Taking note of everything around her (repetition of

“never” “for the last time” sadness; Resentment against her parents and the environment –

readiness. )

“The Circling Hand”: Questions for Group Discussion

1. Mother-Daughter Relationship: 1-1 Describe the mother and daughter’s closeness. What kind of gender model does the mother offer Annie?

e.g. p. 13-14; 25 What's the significance of the trunk? P. 20 1-2 What role does the father take in this part? How does

the mother relate to both of them. How do we know more about the society thru’ their relationships?

[Optional] Do you remember being close to your mother, or father, and admiring them? Since when did the relationship change?

2. What does the title mean? What “finishes” her happy childhood and love for the family (p. 32). Only the parent’s sex?

“The Circling Hand” 1. The symbiotic stage: (pp. 13-25)Examples of the daughter’s complete identification

with the mother. pp. 13- 19-- Physical intimacy (bathing); 14-- protective 14-15; 16 -- Mother’s gender role model: shopping (16); doing

housework [cooking, washing clothes] p. 13-14; 25; -- admiring the mother 18-19; be like the mother p. 139-- sharing cloth-- continuation of identity -- the Trunk P. 20 (the

mother’s past + Annie’s souvenirs + story-telling)

“The Circling Hand” 1-2 1. The symbiotic stage: (pp. 13-25)-- the father’s role – outsider; has a lot of women; -- Someone to be sympathized with (Annie—

wants to give him a mother); -- Served and mothered by his wife p. 24 “A Walk” -- builds and makes a lot of things in the house;-- social factor: p. 132 – 35 years older than his

wife; sickly

“The Circling Hand” (2) 2. Separation: not just by the parents– the changes at age 12in Annie’s body p. 25; p. 27 ( Persepolis)her schooling -- p. 29The changes in the mother’s attitudes:

The mother’s distanciation: • her dresses p. 26; trunk ritual p. 27; differentiation 28-

29 the mother’s expectations of her:

• “young lady business” pp. 28-29 – turning her back at Annie 28

• Housework 29-30

“The Circling Hand” (2) Why does the mother do this? Is it

necessary for the mother to be so stern?Possible Reasons –

The mother’s preoccupation with housework; Her failure to smooth the transition from

Annie’s childhood to puberty; Her being influenced by the dominant British

and patriarchal values.

“The Circling Hand” (3) 3. the primal scene the importance of the circling hand? P.

30 What role does the father take after this

scene? Context: Annie’s wanting to “reconquer”

her mother

The mother’s hand1. Mother’s Hands-- taking care of Annie; -- doing housework; “white, bony, dead, left out in the elements” –

distanced from her a revision of feminine Oedipus as well as the

“primal scene” Annie recognizes the father’s power quite late;

power conveyed thru’ the mother’s serving hand.

Conclusion –Separation from the (m)other

The mother is already an disadvantaged Other. (M/Other)

[stories of “forced” separation with social factors] or [voluntary and permanent separation] ??? WSS – Annette-- post-emancipation society; Abeng – Kitty: caught in between black and white skin “Bright Thursday” – Myrtle: eager to whiten her

daughter. Annie John – Annie, from the patriarchal and colonial

society of Antigua

“A Walk to the Jetty” Ref. Questions for Group Discussion “A Walk to the Jetty”4. Is Annie’s separation from her family and the past

inevitable and absolute? e.g. 130-131 “never” 133-34-35 “for the last time” Aren’t there contradictions between her readiness to leave and her sadness?

Is it appropriate for Annie to criticize her parents? Are you sympathetic with her hatred of the mother? Pp. 133

5. What does she reject in leaving the place? Can you relate to her need to leave the place forever? pp. 144-148

6. Describe the narrative style of one-day progress with flashbacks, the use of repetition and/or symbolic descriptions

Ref“A Walk to the Jetty” –separation after separation A. From Mother (“Circling Hand” 1.different dresses—A’s bitterness and

hatred 2. Enforced “lady” education — mother’s disappointment 3.stop kid’s talking---awareness 4.after the turning point—“All that was finished” talk

back.) 5.complete separation--- “never to be fooled again”

“hypocrite” 147 6. Talk back 136 – mother’s image degraded 7. On guard against the mother’s love and expectations

147

“A Walk to the Jetty”—the Past Walking away from the past (memories of education

and transitional objects)Education: 138-143

Ms. Dulcie the seamstress, p. 138 first experience of buying things 139 saving money at 6 140; a pair of glasses at 8 Porcelain dog and library 142

Memories -- Transitional objects: interests that she has outgrown: glasses (141), porcelain dog (142)

Memories -- Love – Mother & Gwen 137 cannot deny the mother’s good intention in educating

her and love for her; do we need to reject things we are no longer

interested in or people who are no longer on a par with us?

“A Walk to the Jetty” –separation from the social norms (2)

B. From the social norm(and oppression) 1. to be a lady e.g. exploited by Ms Dulcie 138 2. marriage sexual inequality 3. Gwen constrained by marriage and ignorance p.

137 4. The community –does not even want to say

good-bye 136-37

“A Walk to the Jetty” Contradictory signs of independence + signs

of nostalgia in this chapter?] Independence vs. Nostalgia:

Name, address, separation: her listing of what she “never wants to see”; joy

at not having to see them. pp. 130-132.; her attention at what’s “hers” and what’s on her p. 134-35. remembering a lot;

Fear of vacancy and of hole: the moment of getting out of bed 133 fear of falling into the water 143

contradictory feelings at the wharf: 144; 145, 146, 147

Walking to Empty OneselfDoes not know why it is an absolute

departure for her 134Passing through the place as if she were in

a dream 143 Resisting the mother when she says she’s

always her mother. Resisting the permanent control.

Emptied out at the end