LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 17:1 January 2017
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Thematic Analysis of Jamaica Kincaid’s Annie John and Lucy

R. Maheswari@Rohini, M.A., B.Ed., M.Phil.


Abstract

Jamaica Kincaid is one among the prominent writers of the Caribbean literature. Her main themes are innocence, racism, power, colonial education, exile and return to the motherland, family bond, domination and Mother-daughter relationship. In the novel Annie John, she deals with Mother-daughter relationship. It also shows the psychological depression that the characters undergo especially after Annie attaining puberty. Finally, Annie in order to get away from the depression decides to leave home to England for higher studies. In the novel Lucy, Lucy feels that her mother loves her brother more than her and this feeling hurts her a lot and so she decides to isolate herself from her family. Kincaid’s two protagonists harbor their love for her mother in the hopes of better understanding the rest of her character’s development. In her both novels, Kincaid provides an intimate portrait of her characters, their joys, their pains, their hopes, and their despair. Thus, both the novels beautifully portray the life of women characters from childhood to adult age. Women suffer in the hands of men in all context of life. Kincaid brilliantly depicts the life and sufferings of women. Being a woman writer Kincaid understands the psyche of women and their mood swing which changes often according to the situation. Both the heroines manifest a strong desire of escaping. Escaping from their homeland; escaping from the adherence to British values, traditions, and customs; escaping from the role prescribed to them by society. Kincaid presents Annie ‘s, Lucy’s and her own immigration as both as an opportunity for a better life and as an escape from her past.

Keywords: Jamaica Kincaid, Caribbean literature, Annie John, Lucy, suffering of women, social restrictions for women.

Caribbean Literature

Among the literatures of the world, Caribbean Literature has attracted widespread interest and it is frequently referred to as West Indian Literature. Caribbean writers have produced some of the most enduring literary pieces by any standards in the world. The most significant features of the Caribbean writing are that it is deeply rooted in its culture. A noteworthy function of the Caribbean novel is that it aims primarily at investigating and projecting the inner consciousness of the Caribbean community.

Caribbean literature is the term generally accepted for the literature of the various territories of the Caribbean region. Literature in English specifically from the former British West Indies may be referred to as Anglo-Caribbean or, in historical contexts, West Indian literature; although in modern contexts the latter term is rare. The literature of the Caribbean is exceptional, both in language and subject. More than a million and a half Africans, along with many Indians and South Asians, were brought to the Caribbean between the 15th and 19th centuries. Today, their descendants are active in literature with strong and direct ties to traditional African expressions. This literary is connection, combined with the tales of survival, exile, resistance, endurance, and emigration to other parts of the Americas. It makes for a body of work that is essential for the study of the Caribbean and the Black Diaspora and indeed central for the understanding of the New World.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

R. Maheswari@Rohini, M.A., B.Ed., M.Phil.
Assistant Professor of English
PSRR College of Engineering for Women
Sivakasi 626 140
Tamilnadu
India
cuterohini1992@gmail.com
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