How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
But sometimes they would show up standing under a tree just as you were passing by. Then they might follow you home, and even though they might not be able to come into your house, they might wait for you and follow you wherever you went; in that case, they would never give up until you joined them. My mother knew of many people who had died in such a way. (1.2)
Annie lives in a world in which the spirit of the dead can come back to haunt you until you join them. This is a scary prospect for a child… or really for anyone. Jeepers.
Quote #2
We took these baths after my mother had consulted with her obeah woman, and with her mother and a trusted friend, and all three of them had confirmed that from the look of things around house […] 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. (2.2)
Many women on Antigua practice obeah. We learn here that Annie's father was busy with women in his life before Annie's mother and that these women want revenge for him abandoning them. Believing in obeah also means that everything is a sign or symbol of something else in Annie's world.
Quote #3
Most likely, my mother agreed, but she also would have said that, just to be sure, she would call Ma Jolie, an obeah woman from Dominica who now lived not far from our house, and who was recommended to my mother by her mother, Ma Chess, who still lived in Dominica. To the Ma Jolie idea, my father would have said, "Very well, but count me out; have her come when I am not here." (7.3)
When Annie's father suggested that Annie made herself sick by studying too much, Annie's mother wanted to call Ma Jolie. Her parents' different response to her illness and who each thought they should call (either the Englishman, Dr. Stephens or Ma Jolie, the obeah woman) indicates how various beliefs exist in a Caribbean society. Antigua is a blend of many cultures and traditions.