Reflection of "Annie John/chap. 8 A Walk to the Jetty" by: Jamaica Kincaid

In this chapter Annie has mixed feelings, she feels sad and happy at the same time. She feels sad because she is leaving her home, the place she has been living for 13 years, and she gets nostalgic as she starts seeing all the things she has in her room that her mother or her father had made her and she starts getting memories. At the same time she feels happy she is leaving, this way she will experience something new and will become more independent. Although Annie confeses that she does not want to study nursing or even go to England, she also says she is doing it just to leave to a new place. At the end of the chapter, when her parents are walking her to the jetty, she starts getting alot of memories as she walks by her school, church, etc., this is the most emotional part of the chapter, along with the part that she is waving goodbye to her parents and her mother starts to cry. For me, the desicion she took is a very strong one, since I am so close to my family. It is hard to choose between staying at the place where you grew up or going to a new one and leave everything behind. I can connect with her because I know how it feels to have mixed feelings over a desicion, for example when I think of leaving home to "become independent" I feel kind of happy, but then I think of my family and all the momeries and everything and I get nostalgic just thinking about it and it is almost imposible to imagine my life in a different place. It is always nice to try something new and become more independent, but never forget that place you grew up in and all the memories you have about it.