Children are usually very attached to their parents. They tend to follow their parents around all day and do many activities together such us shopping, doing the household chores, etc. As they grow up, however, they leave behind that special bond and start a process towards individuation from their parents. During this process, adolescents go through several stages in which they develop themselves and discover their interests, abilities and viewpoints. In that way, they little by little build up their own identities, different from their parents. This seems to be the case of Annie, the main character in the novel "Annie John" written by Jamaica Kincaid. When this young girl was a child, she had a strong bond with her mother, Mrs. John. They both did many activities together and Annie was always in her mother's wake. But, as she grew older, she began to go through a process of individuation from her mother. This process presented four important stages that went from Annie's initial awareness that she and her mother were separate beings to the girl's determination to lead a life of her own. .
The starting point in this process towards individuation was Annie's realization that she no longer formed a unity with her mother. As a child, Annie had behaved as if she and her mother were one and the same person. The little girl and her mother had done many activities together and the girl always had followed her mother around. However, after Annie turned twelve, there were some events that made her become aware that she and her mother were separate beings. For instance, one day Mrs. John and Annie had gone shopping and were about to choose the cloth for their next new dresses. The little girl, who was used to having her dresses made out of the same piece of cloth as her mother's, happily chose a piece of material for both. Her mother rejected her suggestion saying that Annie was too old for that and that she could not always go around looking like a little Mrs.
