Annie refuses to be Annie: the development of women’s rights in the Caribbean from Jamaica Kincaid’s Annie John

Abstract African American author Jamaica Kincaid’s novel Annie John, published in 1985 after being serialized in The New Yorker, is widely regarded by literary critics as a classic Bildungsroman. The novel Annie John provides readers with a snapshot of the social situation of women in colonial Antigua, demonstrating intergenerational conflicts and shifts in women’s traditional identities through the portrayal of distinctive female characters, thus hinting at the development of laws concerning women’s rights and protection in Antigua. This paper attempts to analyze the novel from the perspective of the rights and interests of Annie’s mother as a married woman, that of Annie as a child in the family and society, and that of Annie as a teenager in the schoolyard, combining relevant laws before and after the independence of Antigua and Barbuda to explore the gradual awakening of women and the gradual improvement of women’s rights in a traditional colonial society. It also offers a more equal and inclusive way to reflects on the development of women in contemporary society.