Friday, November 2, 2007
Annie John
Throughout the semester we have discussed the issue of identity and the different influences on identity. Annie John shows how one's relationship to their mother affects one's identity. Throughout the novel, Annie has a love/hate relationship with her mother. Annie is very reliant upon her mother and extremely close to her. This becomes an issue when Annie has trouble seperating from her mother. When Annie walks in on her mother and father sleeping together, she becomes angry and jealous that her mother is showing someone else affection. This stems from her fear of seperation from her mother. This fear and anxiety are what lead her to cause trouble in school. As Annie gets older I think she begins to realize that she needs to develop her own identity, seperate from that of her mothers. I think this is the main reason why she decides to move away. While I don't think it is what Annie really wants to do, I think she knows that she needs to. If she doesn't go off on her own and become independent of her mother, I think she fears that the rest of her life with mirror the struggle of her childhood with her mother.
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I think that the way in which you have explained Annie's jealousy and resentment towards her mother is very correct. And this plays a big factor in how she relates to the other girls and how she is in school. She wants to be the best because she is very competitive but also because she knows that this will please her mother. However, because of this resentment, she likes to do things that she knows that her mother would not like. For instance she plays marbles and hangs out with the Red Girl. I do not think, however, that the reason why Annie left is because she knew she had to grow up. I think the reason that she left is because she could not stop being mad at her mother and it was consuming her. And so she wanted to kind of get away from her.
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