Jamaica Kincaid Research Paper

Jamaica Kincaid was born on May 25th,1949 as Elaine Potter Richardson in St. Johns, Antigua and grew up in poverty. She and her mother had a close relationship up until she was 9, her mother had 3 sons and started neglecting her. She went to a British school and won a scholarship to the Princess Margaret School. At 13, she was taken out of school to support her step father because he’d become sick. To make money for her family, her mother sent her to the united states at 17 as an Au Pair but she decided not to send the money she made home to her family. She alienated herself from her family, quit the job she had and decided she wanted to write; that is when she decided to change her name to Jamaica Kincaid. The editor of the New

It all started when her mother realized she was growing into a woman because she got her first menstruation; she started treating her different and not allowing her to dress like her anymore. She was angry at her mother for wanting them to be detached and for Annie to stop being a baby. Even as a child when Annie and her mother had a great relationship, Annie started noticing some changes with her. For example, when the little girl Nalda died in her mother’s arms, Annie saw her mother as a different person therefore she said “For a while, though not for very long, I could not bear to have my mother caress me or touch my food or help me with my bath. I especially couldn’t bear the sight of her hands lying still on her lap.” (John 6) Annie loved her mother so much she did not want to share her with anyone not even her father, Annie suggested her mom would try to play a trick on her; she talked about a girl who used to suck her thumb but suddenly she

Annie John, written by Antigan born writer, Jamaica Kincaid, falls under the category of the latter described by Francis Bacon. Kincaid masterfully packs a lot of valuable insight about the complex relationship between mother and daughter into this brilliantly written book. Annie John focuses on an intense portrayal of the inner life of an adolescent girl growing up in Antigua in the 1950s and 1960s. The story is eloquently written in the first person with Annie mesmerically holding her audience by vividly describing her early childhood as paradise mostly because she had her mother all to herself. The book, Annie John, is one that can be enjoyed by both young adults and adults alike. Annie John's story is so touching and familiar that it could be happening anywhere in our culture. The whole process of change from childhood to adolescence is inevitable, so we all can identify with it. That's the books strength, it's wisdom, and its truth. This is not one of those books that should be read just for the sake of reading, it is one that should be chewed and