Syntax In Annie John

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The author Jamaica Kincaid, through this passage from Annie John, provides a commentary on the lack of accounting for the individuality of students in the educational system. Each student is different: learning, growing, and developing as an individual at their own rates. As this essay demonstrates, Kincaid argues that the educational system should account for this individuality and be wary of forcing students into one specific role or experience. This passage describes the usual activities of the girls in Annie John’s form at their extra long recess. It follows a relatively long section describing Annie John’s day at school, which seems typically dull--spending the mornings between geometry, physics, and history classes. The passage about …show more content…

Many of the sentences in the passage are lengthy, almost run on sentences. This was most likely intended to create the effect of a child talking about their memories. Children often ramble with no clear stopping point to their sentences. The syntax in Annie John attempts to mimic this, as often Annie John is recalling memories from her childhood. The specific memory in the passage is retold while Annie John is a teenager, but the childlike rambling is still present. The sentence “In this game...to the other” (Kincaid 79), is a fairly long sentence that uses descriptive dependent clauses to fully describe the game in detail. The use of this level of description, and therefore the length of the sentence, showcases the excitement this activity brought to young Annie John. She looks upon this memory with fondness making the mood of the passage positive and joyful. This further instates that it was important for the students to have this time of singing and dancing as kids, even if they could have gotten in trouble for it. The tone of the passage is also positive, meaning Kincaid also believes that it is important to kids to have time to be kids like this and looks upon that time in a positive

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