Symbolism In Annie John
In the novella Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid, the motif of death, and the symbols of the marbles and water, show the range of emotions Annie feels regarding her mother, including jealousy, rebellion, and separation.
The idea of death seems to be a warning for Annie and her separation anxieties throughout the novella. The death of Nalda, a young girl, spurs the fear that death can separate her from her mother. “One day, a girl smaller than I, a girl whose mother was a friend of my mother’s, died in my mother’s arms”(4). Her father is an undertaker and also builds the coffins. Her family moved outside the city while her dad fixes the roof on the house. The house outside the city is next to a cemetery. She sometimes catches her self waiting and watching the funerals go by. Death consumes Annie so much that it leads to her imagining that she is dead and that her dad is so distraught he cannot build a coffin for her. The premonition is another example of the separation of her from her parents. Annie is faced when death when her grandma died when she became ill. Annie hates her mother and she wants to kill her mother but she …show more content…
Initially, Annie received her first set of marbles from her mother from a free package of oats. Annie believes that the blue and white marbles represents the oceans and lands of the world. With each new marble, Annie becomes more and more invested into collecting marbles and each new marble represents the new world and beliefs of Annie. As Annie’s beliefs expand outside of the teachings of her mother and her teachers, Annie’s mother begins to resent the marbles and what they exposed Annie to more and more.
In the novella Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid, the motif of death, and the symbols of the marbles and water, show the range of emotions Annie feels regarding her mother, including jealousy, rebellion, and separation. With all of these
The idea of death seems to be a warning for Annie and her separation anxieties throughout the novella. The death of Nalda, a young girl, spurs the fear that death can separate her from her mother. “One day, a girl smaller than I, a girl whose mother was a friend of my mother’s, died in my mother’s arms”(4). Her father is an undertaker and also builds the coffins. Her family moved outside the city while her dad fixes the roof on the house. The house outside the city is next to a cemetery. She sometimes catches her self waiting and watching the funerals go by. Death consumes Annie so much that it leads to her imagining that she is dead and that her dad is so distraught he cannot build a coffin for her. The premonition is another example of the separation of her from her parents. Annie is faced when death when her grandma died when she became ill. Annie hates her mother and she wants to kill her mother but she …show more content…
Initially, Annie received her first set of marbles from her mother from a free package of oats. Annie believes that the blue and white marbles represents the oceans and lands of the world. With each new marble, Annie becomes more and more invested into collecting marbles and each new marble represents the new world and beliefs of Annie. As Annie’s beliefs expand outside of the teachings of her mother and her teachers, Annie’s mother begins to resent the marbles and what they exposed Annie to more and more.
In the novella Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid, the motif of death, and the symbols of the marbles and water, show the range of emotions Annie feels regarding her mother, including jealousy, rebellion, and separation. With all of these