Jamaica Kincaid's At The Bottom Of The River
Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid, 1985, Penguin Books
Type of work
· Novel
Genre
· bildungsroman, Caribbean novel
Language
· English
Time and place written
· New York City, 1982–1983
Narrator
· Annie John
Point of View
· First person
Tone
· It varies according to the age of Annie John. As a child, the language and imagery is very rich. As she ages, the tone grows more serious while also having more comic touches.
Tense
· Past tense
Setting (time)
· Sometime in the 1950s
Setting (place)
· A city on Antigua
Protagonist
· Annie John
Major conflict
· Separation from mother and definition of self
Rising action
· Annie's fear of separation from her family Annie's viewing of her parents as a sexual unit Annie's rebelliousness and insolence against her mother Annie's friendship with Gwen and the Red Girl.
Climax
· Annie John has a breakdown as a result of the confrontation with her mother and her need to finally become a separate self.
Falling Action
· Annie recovers and recognizes herself as a separate person. She leaves Antigua to study in England.
Themes
· …show more content…
Annie John was published two years later in 1985. The publication of Annie John was unique in that the New Yorker published each of the novel's chapters separately before they were compiled and published as the novel. For this reason, reviewers initially wondered if they should categorize the book as a novel or a collection of short stories. The independent nature of the chapters makes their compilation somewhat episodic, which is to say that each chapter involves a series of episodes about a certain time in a young girl's life. The strong voice of the narrator links the different segments together, but the book still differs from a tightly constructed novel in which every episode interlaces to form a close knit
Type of work
· Novel
Genre
· bildungsroman, Caribbean novel
Language
· English
Time and place written
· New York City, 1982–1983
Narrator
· Annie John
Point of View
· First person
Tone
· It varies according to the age of Annie John. As a child, the language and imagery is very rich. As she ages, the tone grows more serious while also having more comic touches.
Tense
· Past tense
Setting (time)
· Sometime in the 1950s
Setting (place)
· A city on Antigua
Protagonist
· Annie John
Major conflict
· Separation from mother and definition of self
Rising action
· Annie's fear of separation from her family Annie's viewing of her parents as a sexual unit Annie's rebelliousness and insolence against her mother Annie's friendship with Gwen and the Red Girl.
Climax
· Annie John has a breakdown as a result of the confrontation with her mother and her need to finally become a separate self.
Falling Action
· Annie recovers and recognizes herself as a separate person. She leaves Antigua to study in England.
Themes
· …show more content…
Annie John was published two years later in 1985. The publication of Annie John was unique in that the New Yorker published each of the novel's chapters separately before they were compiled and published as the novel. For this reason, reviewers initially wondered if they should categorize the book as a novel or a collection of short stories. The independent nature of the chapters makes their compilation somewhat episodic, which is to say that each chapter involves a series of episodes about a certain time in a young girl's life. The strong voice of the narrator links the different segments together, but the book still differs from a tightly constructed novel in which every episode interlaces to form a close knit