Annie John Analysis

Antigua was still a British colony at the time this novel is set, and this climate (both the tropical one and the Colonial one) is the backdrop to the events of this novel. There is a strong Britis...

Annie John is the first-person narrator and the main protagonist of this novel. As readers, we are privy to Annie's thoughts, feelings, emotions, desires, and hopes for the future as she embarks on...

Annie starts this novel as a naïve, sweet young girl of ten. She finishes the novel as an independent, strong woman of seventeen about to start her new life in England.Yessirree Bob: the descripti...

Have you ever retold a story from your childhood? There were certain things you emphasized (hey, childhood is vivid) and others you left out or just plain forgot, right? Well, Annie John is about r...

No, we don't mean that it's full of seventh grade-style spelling errors or that it's written on (shudder) binder paper. Kinkaid is a master of characterization, and she manages to write, stylistica...

Oh, man. This one's tough. We don't have the faintest clue, actually.Ahh, we jest. The title is, well, the protagonist's name. We see the world through Annie John's eyes and the book is titled Anni...

Some critics have complained about the abruptness of the ending: the book doesn't tie everything up in a nice, neat bow at the end. The eighth and final chapter ends with Annie boarding a ship that...

The language in Annie John is deceptively simple. What does this mean? Well, for starters, you probably will not have to consult your dictionary too much. Most of the vocabulary is pretty easy-peas...

Annie John is ten years old and has an intensely close relationship with her mother. This is an awesome mama-daughter relationship, full of affection and devotion. Fueled by her mother's loving car...

Anticipation StageAnnie is young, curious about the world and madly in love with her mother. When we first meet Annie, she's a ten-year-old precocious girl with a scientific curiosity. She wants to...

Annie idolizes her mother and safely resides within the cocoon of her family and home. She develops an obsession with death and is shocked to find out that children die.Annie starts to menstruate,...

Jamaica Kincaid left Antigua for the United States at age 17 to work as an au pair. Kincaid said she was "really a servant." (Source)Kincaid's often quoted version of "sticks and stones may break m...

While there are no overt references to sex (or graphic sex scenes) in Annie John, it is not a completely chaste book. Kinkaid keeps things ambiguous, particularly about when it comes to Annie's bur...

William Shakespeare, The Tempest (3.7)Enid Blyton (3.22)John Milton, Paradise Lost (5.9)Roman Britain (5.2)Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (6.9)Thomas Cooke, A History of the West Indies (5.3)Queen Vi...