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Full Title  Annie John

Author  Jamaica Kincaid

Type of work  Novel

Genre  bildungsroman, Caribbean novel

Language  English

Time and place written  New York City, 1982–1983

Date of first publication  1985

Publisher  Penguin Books

Narrator  Annie John

Point of View  First person

Tone  It varies according to the age of Annie John. As a child, the language and imagery is very rich. As she ages, the tone grows more serious while also having more comic touches.

Tense  Past tense

Setting (time)  Sometime in the 1950s

Setting (place)  A city on Antigua

Protagonist  Annie John

Major conflict  Separation from mother and definition of self

Rising action  Annie's fear of separation from her family Annie's viewing of her parents as a sexual unit Annie's rebelliousness and insolence against her mother Annie's friendship with Gwen and the Red Girl.

Climax  Annie John has a breakdown as a result of the confrontation with her mother and her need to finally become a separate self.

Falling Action  Annie recovers and recognizes herself as a separate person. She leaves Antigua to study in England.

Themes  Mother-daughter relationship Colonizer and colonial education Gender Relations

Motifs  Water Obeah Death

Symbols  Annie's mother's trunk Marbles Milton's Paradise Lost

Foreshadowing  Annie's essay about separating from her mother Annie's feeling of a black ball of sadness inside her

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