In Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid, the author uses thematic symbols such as “the black thing” and Annie and her mother seeing “eye to eye” to guide the reader to a position where it is clear to see that Annie and her mother do not have the same, sweet relationship they used to have. Overtime, Kincaid develops the story in such a way where it is easy to see that the relationship between Annie John and her mother begins to go downhill and is not the same as it was in the beginning of the novel. Annie clearly begins to despise her mother as she realizes that her mother is not treating her like the little girl she used to be.

In this passage of Annie John, the use of “the two black things” provides a clear example of how the Annie John and her mother are very similar, yet they are never able to retain a good relationship because there is space between them. Throughout the novel, there are many circumstances where Annie wants to be loved and treated like a child by her mother, however, her mother treats her in a different manner than what she expects. This has a clear correlation with Annie’s attitude towards her mom. Annie states that “The whole Earth fell silent. The two black things joined together in the middle of the room seperated, hers going to her, mine coming back to me”(Kincaid, 102). A deeper look into this quote will show you that Annie and her mother have indistinguishable similarities and have a close bond, however, the bond is not the same as it was before since