Stories of growth: Caribbean Women Writers (3)

Individuation through Separation: Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid

Outline

Kincaid About colonialism and Antigua And her mother

Annie John“Circling Hand”“A Walk to the Jetty”

Jamaica Kincaid: Bio (1) Born Elaine Potter

Richardson in St. Johns, Antigua in 1949; lived her step-father, mother, and three brothers

father: a carpenter and cabinetmaker

mother: a homemaker and political activist.

Completed her secondary education under the British system

Jamaica Kincaid: Bio (2)

Left Antigua (before its Independence) when she was 17.

As the eldest of four, and the only girl, she was apprenticed to a seamstress, then plucked from school, where she was excelling, and sent to the US as an au pair ("really a servant")

changed her name to Jamaica Kincaid because her family disapproved of her writing.

AntiguaA lot more blacks

than white people; No experience of

“freedom apprenticeship” after Emancipation in 1834. “Freedom was immediate but total.” (Murdoch 99)

A British colony till 1967.

Kincaid on Colonialism & Antigua

Within the structure of the British educational system imposed upon Antiguans, Kincaid grew to "detest everything about England, except the literature" (Vorda 79).

A Small Place: rage at colonialism & the failure of Antigua independence

"But nothing can erase my rage . . . for this wrong can never be made right and only the impossible can make me still: can a way be found to make what happened not have happened?"

“You distorted or erased my history and glorified your own")

Kincaid about her mother

She "should never have had children."“She loves us when we‘re dying - not

when we’re thriving because then we don‘t need her.”

She favors her sons over Kincaid.

Annie John

One central question:

What makes Annie change her views about her family and esp. her mother?

e.g. pp. 18-19; 136

“The Circling Hand”: Starting Questions

Mother-Daughter Relationship: What kind of gender model does the mother offer

Annie? e.g. p. 13-14; 25 What role does the father take in this part? What's the significance of the trunk? P. 20 What do you think about the mother’s way of teaching

Annie?

What does the title mean? What “finishes” her happy childhood and love for the family (p. 32).

Mother-Daughter Relationship in Annie John

Major Factors: Caribbean society: a male-dominated

society in which the men are allowed to be irresponsible about housework, and enjoy sexual relationships outside marriage.

Mother as a social institution to teach her girl to be socialized (= Englishized; lady-like)

“The Circling Hand” 1. The symbiotic stage: (pp. 13-25)

Examples of the daughter’s complete identification with the mother. pp. 13- 19

-- Physical intimacy (bathing); 14-- protective 14-15 -- Mother’s gender role model: shopping; doing

housework [cooking, washing clothes] p. 13-14; 25;

-- admiring the mother 18-19; be like the mother p. 139

-- sharing cloth-- continuation of identity -- the Trunk P. 20 (the

mother’s past + Annie’s sourvenir + story-telling)

“The Circling Hand” 1-2 1. The symbiotic stage: (pp. 13-25)

-- the father’s role – outsider; has a lot of women;

-- Someone to be sympathized with;

-- Served and mothered by his wife p. 24

“A Walk”

-- builds and makes a lot of things in the house;

-- p. 132 – 35 years older than his wife; sickly

“The Circling Hand” (2) 2. Separation: the changes at age 12in Annie’s body p. 25; p. 27 her schooling -- p. 29The changes in the mother’s attitudes:

The mother’s distanciation: her dresses p. 26; trunk p. 27; differentiation 28-29

the mother’s expectations of her: • “young lady business” pp. 28-29• Housework 29-30

“The Circling Hand” (2)

Why does the mother do this? Is it necessary for the mother to be so stern?

Possible Reasons – The mother’s preoccupation with housework; Her failure to smooth the transition from

Annie’s childhood to puberty; Her being influenced by the dominant British

values.

“The Circling Hand” (3) 3. the primal scene the importance of the circling hand? P.

30 What role does the father take after this

scene? Context: Annie’s wanting to “reconquer”

her mother

The mother’s hand

1. Mother’s Hands-- taking care of Annie; -- doing housework; “white, bony, dead, left out in the

elements”

Mother-Daughter Relationship in Annie John: Examples “The Circling Hand” -- Forced to separate

herself from the mother; sent to be educated, witnessing the parents’ sexual intercourse (primal scene).

“Columbus in Chain”: mother turned into a crocodile p. 84

being called a slut by her mother after conversing with a boy -- “Well, …like mother like daughter” (p. 102)

Annie’s independence process Pre-occupation with death; Pre-Oedipal symbiosis with the mother Exploring her own sexuality; Girl friends (Gwen,

Red Girl) Resisting British education (“Columbus in Chain”)Fascination for the father (112-13) Illness; grandmother’s (Ma Chess) care-taking -- a

substitute for the mother (pp. 125-26)Leaving Antigua

“A Walk to the Jetty” –Starting Questions

Is Annie’s separation from her family and the past inevitable and absolute? e.g. 130-131 “never” 133-34 “for the last time” Is it appropriate for Annie to criticize her

parents? Are you sympathetic with her hatred of the mother? Pp. 133

What does she reject in leaving the place? Can you relate to her need to leave the place forever? pp. 144-148

“A Walk to the Jetty” --separation A. From Mother

(“Circling Hand” 1.different dresses—A’s bitterness and hatred

2. Enforced “lady” education — mother’s disappointment

3.stop kid’s talking---awareness

4.after the turning point—“All that was finished” talk back.)

5.complete separation--- “never to be fooled again” “hypocrite” 147

6. Talk back 136 – mother’s image degraded

“A Walk to the Jetty” --separation A. From Mother 7. On guard against the mother’s love and

expectations 147

“A Walk to the Jetty” –separation (2)

B. From the social norm(and oppression)

1.to be a lady e.g. exploited by Ms Dulcie 138

2.marriage sexual inequality

3.Gwen p. 137

C. From the past (childhood memory)

1.Gwen

2. The community –does not even want to say good-bye 136-37

3. Childhood memory

“A Walk to the Jetty” Contradictory signs of independence +

signs of nostalgia in this chapter?] independence:

Name, address, separation: her listing of what she “never wants to see”;

joy at not having to see them. pp. 130-132.; her attention at what’s “hers” and what’s on her p. 134-

35. Nostalgia and fear:

the moment of getting out of bed 133 remembering a lot;

contradictory feelings at the wharf: 144; 145, 147

Walking away from the past (memories, education and transitional objects)Ms. Dulcie the seamstress, p. 138 first experience of buying things 139 saving money interests that she has outgrown: glasses, porcelain

dog, library cannot deny the mother’s good intention in

educating her; do we need to reject things we are no longer

interested in or people who are no longer on a par with us?

Walking to Empty OneselfDoes not know why it is an absolute

departure for her 134Passing through the place as if she were in

a dream 143Emptied out at the end