How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Just at that moment, I was not feeling sad at all. I was feeling how much I never wanted to see a boy climb a coconut tree again, how much I never wanted to see the sun shine day in, day out again, how much I never wanted to see my mother bent over a pot cooking me something that she felt would do me good when I ate it, how much I never wanted to feel her long, bony fingers against my cheek again, how much I never wanted to hear her voice in my ear again, how much I longed to be in a place where nobody knew a thing about me and liked me for just that reason, how much the whole world into which I was born had become an unbearable burden and I wished I could reduce it to some small thing that I could hold underwater until it died. (7.26)
Annie longs for a break from the monotony and common sites of the island of Antigua. She longs to be anonymous. She wants the opposite of Cheers; she wants to go to a place where nobody knows her name.
Quote #8
"My name is Annie John." These were the first words that came into my mind as I woke up on the morning of the last day I spent in Antigua, and they stayed there, lined up one behind the other, marching up and down, for I don't know how long. […] My name was the last thing I saw the night before, just as I was falling asleep; it was written in big, black letters all over my trunk, sometimes followed by my address in Antigua, sometimes followed by my address as it would be in England. (8.1)
This passage points out the association between Annie finally saying her name out loud and the country where she was born and raised. There is a connection between Annie's identity and her location. There is also a tension between Antigua and England, given the history of colonialism.
Quote #9
[T]he road for me now went only in one direction: away from home, away from my mother, away from my father, away from the everlasting blue sky, away from the everlasting hot sun, away from people who said to me, "This happened during the time your mother was carrying you." (8.4)
In this sentence, notice the repetition of the world "everlasting." Both the blue sky and hot sun are "everlasting." Since it never changes, Annie is unable to appreciate it or recognize the beauty of Antigua.