How Does Kincaid Break Her Connection With Her Mother

One the most heart wrenching times that a mother can have is when her little girl begins to break her bonds during the child's coming of age. Mothers often lament, "What have I done wrong?" Or, "doesn't she know that I'm telling her all of this for her own good; why does she have to get so angry with me?" One may ask, "What does a teenage girl often feel like when she is breaking her connection with her mother during her coming of age?" Men can scarcely understand this type of bonding, and moreover, most women don't seem to precisely understand this dynamic either. It's as if at first there is an intimate closeness, then heated separation, before a woman suddenly wakes up and begins to appreciate and bond with her mother all over again. Jamaica

Canton notes that Kincaid often describes the unity between mother and daughter as a metaphoric, "paradise" (Canton 131). Kincaid writes that there is a unity between mother and daughter; she describes that unity symbolically as, "A bower made from flowers whose petals are imperishable"(61). Canton wrote that throughout much of Kincaid's works, she describes each childhood memory with a symbolic analogy (131). Kincaid equates swimming on her mother's back as, "pictures of sea animals" (42). In describing the different type of situations that her mother would talk to her about, she used her mother's smells to symbolize the connotations. Of this Kincaid wrote, "She smelled sometimes of lemons, sometimes of sage, sometimes of roses, sometimes of bay leaf" (22). There is however, a paradox between these romantic symbols and the harsh reality of Annie's relationship with Mother. To Annie, Mother's attention can be stifling to the daughter at times; from conception mother has always been the focal point in Annie's life (Canton

Only by obtaining a personal identity can Annie ever hope to be freed from her mother and obtain her adulthood (Canton 131). Annie nervously steps out and accepts her new role of independence with some fear of her mother. She knows that her mother loves her, but at this point in her life she is afraid to show any return of that love (Canton 138). It is as if this slight must be used to distance herself from Mother before the daughter can actually leave. As the relationship deteriorates, Canton comments that Kincaid has identified that the mother's love is strong enough to transcend all the pain that the two have suffered (138). Kincaid's mother character says toward the end of "Annie John," "I'll always be your mother and this will always be your home" (Kincaid 147). This is a classic statement that most good parents will eventually tell their children, when it's realize that this time, their child is actually committed to