Symbolism In Annie John Bildungsroman

Annie John is a bildungsroman describing the story of a young girl experiencing puberty, and it is also telling the story of Jamaica Kincaid, as she experienced a similar life. Annie John is starting the adolescence, a key part of life, as it is the moment where we construct our identity, and we are trying to have some activities or group we can identify to. Annie John has at first a routine with her mother; she has rituals, such as taking a “bath together”, with “herbs given by an obeah”. This idea of routine is very important, as it is going to be really present at first, and during the roman it vanishes.

During the Rat Island essay, the symbol of ritual and routine is mentioned again. This symbol of ritual is very important in the book,

This is a metaphor of life, as Annie has to become an adult, and has to cross puberty, but she can’t do this alone, and has a lot of trouble doing it. Her mom is on the rocks and looking at her, again a metaphor because her mom is already an adult and is waiting for Annie to become one. The mother is not particularly helping Annie to cope with her fear of the sea, as in the real life when she is not helping her to become a woman. During the essay, Annie says that she “could forget how big the sea was and how far down the bottom could be”(p. 42), which is directly linked to the “small black ball”(p. 85) that she describes during the beginning of chapter 6, as she says that her “unhappiness is something deep inside”.

This big black thing is not described before the chapter 6, “The Long Rain”, and it is exactly in this chapter that she suffers from a mental breakdown. By the way, the title of this chapter is very interesting, it reflects sickness, and the long rain is the monsoon, a 3 months rain, there is the presence of emotions and rain, and it creates a pathetic