At this stage of development, and nurtured by her mother, but she is outside the bodily protection of the womb, but her mother and she are together, yet separate beings in the tub, surrounded and protected by the water, which her mother has prepared and made special to protect Annie and herself against "one of the many women my father had loved, had never married, but with whom he had had children was trying to harm my mother and me by setting bad spirits on us "(page 15). .
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To summarize, the theme of water as a healing and unifying element is demonstrated when Annie and her mother took special baths. Similarly, the rituals of bathing in the sea and at home are shown to be a health treatment to heal Annie's sore, and also her weak kidney, and to unify and reinforce the nurturing connection between mother and her daughter.
When I was a small child, my mother and I used to go down to Rat Island on Sundays right after church, so that I could bathe in the sea. It was at a time when I was thought to have weak kidney and a bath in the sea had been recommended as a strengthening remedy.(page. 41).
Water reappears as a natural powerful element with the ability to cure Annie's weak kidney, and the bathing in the sea is a joyful experience. Like the salt content of amniotic fluid, which supports, heals, and protects the fetus, so is the salt water in the sea believed to have healing properties.
Later in chapter seven "The Long Rain"," Annie grows physically and emotionally. During the three months that the rain lasted, Annie grew: "During my sickness, I had grown to a considerable height "almost equal to my grandmother's. I have to double myself up to fit properly. (Page 128) She starts to realize that she wasn't any more a little girl and she started to become a woman with her own independent identity, needs, desires, and plans. For example, she wants to have her own trunk to create her own history.
