Book Club Guide

Annie John

by Jamaica Kincaid · 1985 · Literary Fiction

Key themes

Mother and daughter — the love that must become estrangement
Growing up in colonial Antigua — the education that erases you
The island that forms you and that you must leave to become yourself

About this book

Annie John grows up in Antigua through childhood and adolescence, her intense relationship with her mother slowly shifting from adoration to estrangement. Kincaid's autobiographical novel is about female independence, colonialism's effect on the self, and the specific loss of leaving the island that formed you.

Published in 1985, Annie John is Kincaid's first novel and is closely related to her memoir-like earlier work. It has been widely assigned in postcolonial literature and Caribbean literature courses.

Discussion questions

Annie's relationship with her mother moves from total identification to painful distance. How does Kincaid develop this — and what is she saying about female independence?
The novel is partly about the experience of colonial education — learning British history, memorising English literature, having your own world rendered invisible. How does Kincaid show this?
The island of Antigua is rendered with great physical specificity and emotional ambivalence. How does Kincaid develop the relationship between place and self?
Annie John is semi-autobiographical. What does fiction give Kincaid that memoir could not — and how does the slight fictional distance change what can be said?
A Small Place is Kincaid's angry essay about Antigua; Annie John is her tender novel about growing up there. How do the two works illuminate each other?