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Selections from Annie John

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Selections from Annie John
Selections from Annie John
Jamaica Kincaid

The passage entitled “Selections from Annie John” was written by Jamaica Kincaid. In this extract it tells of the life of a young girl and her relationship with her mother. It begins with her stating clearly how being with her mother was an important part of her life. This was followed by narrating the things they did together. She would help her admirable mother to cook and clean. She then goes into detail of what and how things were done in regards to helping her mother with the cooking and cleaning. In the following paragraph she vividly describes her mother and briefly mentions her father. As the narrator is with her mother she tells of how they would spend time by her mother telling her stories of her past. During this past time is where the daughter showed her mother the most affection by leaning on her mother and sniffing her and gazing at her mothers’ beauty. She truly loved her mother for all that she was.
As the excerpt progresses the narrator becomes a little older and goes through puberty. During this stage she begins to see new sides of her mother and herself; which, to the narrator were not good sides at all. She didn’t recognize the response she got from her mother as the same woman she grew up loving. Ultimately one day she was confronted by her mother one day coming home late from school. She tried to lie and her mother knew the truth and exposed it. Vicious words were exchanged and in the end this love she had for her mother as a youth has slowly been deteriorated. Her mother ends her rebellious thoughts with a comment that makes the narrator go deep into thought and realises that there is going to be a gap between her and her mother after this day. This extract is a very good example of difficult it is to maintain relationships with parents. I clearly agree with Kincaid’s idea. Her idea shows how easy it is to admire and have good relationship with your parents for years and how one moment

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