Annie John

“My Name Is Annie John”

At a young age most kids cling to their parent and try to be just like them. Kids follow their parent around imitating their every action. But when they are mature enough they realize that they have to separate from their parents and become individuals. This can be hard since we so desperately seek their approval on everything we do in life. At the beginning of the book Annie tries to grab on to her mother but as she grows up she understands that she must become her own person.

In the beginning of the book Annie talk about her mother’s trunk under her bed. That is filled with her old possessions. Annie used to enjoy hearing her mother tell stories about all the thing in that trunk and why they hold a significant meaning. “As she told me the stories, I sometimes sat at her side, leaning against her, or I would crouch on my knees behind her back and lean over her shoulder”(22). This was a significant bonding experience that would make it harder for Annie to accept being separated from her mother later on in the book. Since all of the thing inside that trunk belonged to her she defines herself by them. But when Annie asks for her own trunk she separates herself from her mother by wanting to be herself to have her own trunk which would hold her history like her mother’s trunk did for her. Annie take the new trunk with her when she leaves to England and that trunk would help define Annie as a new person.

Water also helps transform Annie as it appears trough out the entire book as a healing and transforming mechanism. At the start of the novel Annie talk about how she used to take bath with her mother the salt water helped purify Annie and strengthen her kidneys. When Annie becomes ill the rain continues to fall and when it stops Annie feels like a completely different person. When she wakes up the first thing she says is “My name is Annie john” (130) which signifies her becoming a new person. She had grown physically and emotionally trough the sickness she is tree inches taller and feels secure enough to accept the separation from her mother. In the end the water carries Annie off to England a new place