Alienation In Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John

Annie, the narrator and Holden are all going through new experiences that result in alienation. Annie has just entered the part in her life where she must stop being a kid. The narrator, and Holden have had others forcing ideas onto them in which they disagree. These different scenarios lead to the same result. Because of others pressuring these characters, they alienate themselves.
In Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid Annie is a little girl that has finally reached the age where she must start learning how to become a lady, or that she is “too old” to do the things she used to do. Before this point her mother and her had always made their clothes out of the same material. One day at the fabric store Annie selects a fabric that she loves and asks if she can make matching dresses for them. Her mother

During this trip he reflects on the white men that try to make his people civilized. “I am tired. I am weary of trying to keep up this bluff of being civilized. Being civilized means trying to do everything you don't want to, never doing everything you want to. It means dancing to the strings of custom and tradition; it means living in houses and never knowing or caring who is next door. These civilized white men want us to be like them--always dissatisfied--getting a hill and wanting a mountain.” (Whitecloud, 1) The narrator feels pressure from others to become like the rest of them; all of them are educated, civilized, white men that follow tradition. When he feels that this stress has become too large, he alienates himself and travels home. Like Holden, leaving where he was, helped him think about the situation more clearly. “So many things seem to be clear now that I am away from school and do not have to worry about some man's opinion of my ideas.” (Whitecloud, 3) The men that are trying to change him force the narrator to leave. This results in his own alienation because of societal