Annie John Character Analysis

Success is a feat that is desired in any lifetime by anyone who wants to be something amazing in their time of living. Yet with success comes great sacrifice because in the work that is done and the time that it takes to do it sacrifices must be made in order to allow your time to be used as efficiently as possible.
Although The characters Annie John in “ A Walk to the Jetty” and Marita in “ Marita’s Bargain” are both striving for success while enduring the same problems, they both have opposing views on the sacrifices they believe need to be made in order to achieve their goals.
Throughout the beginning of the two stories you are able to grasp the idea that both characters are enduring some complications that they can’t control which are

hindering their abilities .
Annie John who is the main character in “ A Walk to the Jetty, by Jamaica Kincaid” lives in Antigua a Caribbean Island and has lived with her two parents since she was a baby they are poor and what they have for possessions and furniture was built by her fathers bare hands, towards the end of the story Annie is reflecting on her life as she takes her final walk to the jetty for her departure from Antigua.

She takes a look back on her life and believes that everything she endured growing up only held her back from success. She has this sense of feeling that she needs to leave it all behind in order to star anew and begin her trek for success, though as she travels she begins to think otherwise of what is happening and that she truly did love what she had in Antigua. Marita the main character in “Marita’s Bargain by Malcolm Gladwell” Is a young girl living in the South Bronx of New York City. This is the side of town where most of the minority live and are struggling in education, and economic status. Marita lives in a single room apartment with her mother and was struggling in public school. She was not studying enough nor did she have the opportunity to try and get help in her studies. She was falling behind and could not gain ground. They both knew a decision had to be made at this point in their life in order to achieve what they

desired.
In order to achieve success you must be willing to make a decision that you believe is the best and will benefit you in your quest for the desired goal.
Annie feels that even though she may miss what she is leaving in Antigua she believes that being away from the complications that are holding her back will benefit her in the end. As she continues her walk to the jetty she begins to consider whether this decision is right or wrong as some of the sights she is witnessing cause her to remember the pleasures of her childhood yet others are making her wish to leave even more. She is set on leaving until she reaches her old fear of the jetty. The rise in anxiety and fear contradict her decision though she continues moving onto the small boat. Once aboard the small boat she has made the decision final. Marita on the other hand is suffering greatly from uncontrollable problems that are effecting her greatly. Her friend is also struggling from the same problems. They are walking through school one day when they learn about an educational service known as KIPP. KIPP is an academy which allows any child that is enrolled in a middle school to apply for it. The students are chosen by lottery so anyone can apply but only a few will be selected. KIPP has large classes. The fifth grade has two sections of thirty-five students each. KIPP pushes the ideas that children need to take schooling seriously in order to succeed. KIPP makes the students go by the code “SSLANT”: Smile, Sit up, Listen, Ask questions, Nod when spoken to, and Track with your eyes. Once Marita joined this highly recognized academy immediately she realized that she would have to change a lot about herself, and how she lived.
Sacrifice may be a bitter pill to swallow, but the sweet taste of success replaces that unwanted taste.
Annie approaches the Jetty and is fearing for her life.

The old fear of falling through the cracks of the jetty’s boardwalk came over her once again even though she was grown up. The anxiety and adrenaline of fear came over her and she was now regretting the decision to leave parents. As she boards the small boat that will soon take her to the large ship, she has one last chance to say good bye to her family. Annie now boards the ship and gives her family one last wave of the red handkerchief that her mother gave her. She can see the tears on her mother as she slowly floats away. She makes her way to the cabin where she will stay for the long trip. How she feels now contradicts how she felt then. Though in the back of her mind she still feels that the decision she made was for the best. Yet now with time to regather her thoughts she is beginning to wonder if this was really what she wanted. Was it really the best decision to leave Antigua in order to embark on nursing school or any other life than what she lived before or was it never the real desire. Now we look back at Marita , She is deep into her semester of school and she is on the right track to succeed. Though the times she use to spend after school with her best friend having fun now have turned into times of study, She rarely goes to her best friend’s house and when she does it is to work on an assignment together or to study. Marita has sacrificed all of her time to the school. School starts at seven twenty-five

a.m and the day ends at five p.m. So to further be prepared for the day Marita wakes up at five a.m to get ready for the day and eat breakfast, get dressed, and study a little before school . Then after school there are clubs and a variety of school activities that not are only somewhat fun but even more time for the students to get further into their studies in order to pick up the topic even more. If you add the rest of the time into the time that the students are at school then they are at school from seven twenty-five a.m until seven p.m. The results are set in stone for the success that KIPP achieves. KIPP promises it will get eighty-four percent of their students at or above their grade level and to no surprise over ninety percent of KIPP students receive scholarships to private or parochial high schools so that they do not have to go back to the inefficient and incapable public education system in the Bronx in which they struggled immensely. Although The characters Annie John in “ A Walk to the Jetty” and Marita in “ Marita’s Bargain” are both striving for success while enduring the same problems, they both have opposing views on the sacrifices they believe need to be made in order to achieve their goals. The two girls made the decision to sacrifice the freedoms and lives they lived before in order to benefit themselves in their quest for success.
Marita and Annie both endured uncontrollable complications in which they began to suffer greatly from such as over sheltering parents, low incomes, living in the less pleasing side of town or on an island that isn’t very economically advanced, they were trying to figure out a way in which they could leave all that behind or work through it in order to succeed, all they wished for was a chance to shine. “A Walk to the Jetty” and “Marita’s Bargain” were two different stories with totally different points, and different backgrounds. Neither story had any similarities because Marita in “Marita’s Bargain” had a goal and a desire to succeed for her mother and had no intentions on leaving her mother or the South Bronx. Annie John in “ A Walk to the Jetty” is completely different. She was accustomed to the way she lived yet she grew up bitter and wished to leave not for a particular goal or reason that really made sense. She used the excuse that nursing school was the reason for her decision to leave her parents and the island life she had lived. Though she mentioned that she would give anything to leave and that she would do anything else rather than what she was doing before she decided to leave. Whatever it took to get away from her problems she wanted to leave no matter what. As the stories progressed you are able to see the different views that pertain to different people even though the scenarios are similar and they have opposing views on sacrifice and what it takes to succeed in the future.
Although The characters Annie John in “ A Walk to the Jetty” and Marita in “ Marita’s Bargain” are both striving for success while enduring the same problems, they both have opposing views on the sacrifices they believe need to be made in order to achieve their goals.