Negotiating Halls Caribbean Identity in Kincaids Annie John

Negotiating Halls Caribbean Identity in Kincaids Annie John In his article Negotiating Caribbean Identities, Stuart Hall attempts to relay to the reader the complications associated with assigning a single cultural identity to the Caribbean people. Even though the article is intended by the author to represent the Caribbean people as a splicing of a number of different cultures, the processes Hall highlights are noticeable on an individual scale in the main character of Jamaica Kincaids novel, Annie John. Annie Johns quest for self-identification leads her on a path strikingly similar to the one Hall describes. From Annies journey, the reader might be able to glean what Hall hopes to instill in his own readers when he writes,†¦show more content†¦Annie is literally her mothers daughter and her identity is completely based on her mothers actions. The mother-daughter relationship in Annies quest for identity has been a favorite topic for critics. H. Adlai Murdochs article, Severing the (M)other Connection, deals specifically with that relationship and its affect on Annies identity. Murdoch separates Annies growth into phases, the earliest of which being an intense attachment with and affinity for her mother that does not foreshadow the conflict to come. The critic writes that, There can be no doubt, then, of the extent to which Annie John identifies with and valorizes the maternal image at this stage (Murdoch 330). Indeed, it is obvious from the text that their relationship is powerful, though most critics would argue the validity of Annies perspective. The memory of the trunk and its contents, which the narrator seems to enjoy, Murdoch calls representations of Annies fragmented self and her need for self-identity and self-expression; they are put into place here as a symbolic depiction of Annie herself, and thus of the mothers enclosure containment, limitation, possession, and direction of her daughters life and identity(Murdoch 330). This view calls into question the narrators reliability concerning h er journey away from the mother-imposed identity into an identity of her own. This examination of her reliability will be a key element of the later portions