Annie John Chapter 1 AnswerDeath is a predominant theme in Annie John from the beginning. The story begins with death, explaining that Annie thought only people she didn't know were dead. This is a strange start to a coming-of-age story because Annie is so young and is already obsessed with death. Annie becomes obsessed with wanting to see a dead person up close, since she has never seen one before. She was curious to see if people looked different in life than in death. She began going to funerals after school without telling her parents because, after her neighbor Miss Charlotte died, her parents would not allow Annie to attend the funeral. However, the day finally came when a hunchbacked girl from the nearby school died. Annie didn't just want to see someone dead, she wanted to see someone she knew dead. Annie saw this as her chance to see a real-life dead person who she had actually met when she was alive. He attended this girl's funeral and watched as she lay in her coffin. It was his face that Annie wanted to see. Annie had heard that dead people look like sleeping ones, but she disagreed as she looked at this dead girl in her coffin. Annie is so young and she's obsessed with going to funerals and trying to see a dead person, but not just any dead person, someone she knew so she could feel something or something about him. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. Annie and her mother also have an interesting relationship from the beginning. I sense a certain coldness towards his mother. He has no understanding when he tells Annie that even children can die. When Nalda dies, Annie's mother helps Nalda's mother prepare her for the funeral because she cannot bear to do it alone. Annie's father built the coffin while her mother prepared the little girl for burial. After that Annie could never look at her mother's hands the same way again. All Annie could see when she looked at her mother's hands was her mother caressing the dead girl's forehead. The smell of bay rum lingered on her mother when she returned, this made Annie sick for a while. Annie shuddered at the sensation or thought of her mother touching her food or helping her bathe because she had touched a dead girl. But her mother also shows compassion for Annie. For example, when Annie lied and told her that the fisherman was busy, her mother made her go out to dinner and told her that she would not kiss her goodnight. But when night fell and Annie was in bed, her mother came in and kissed her on the forehead goodnight. Two motifs that really struck me were the hands and the water. For example, Annie's father built the house with his own hands. And Annie looked at her mother's hands differently after learning that she had touched a dead girl. The hands could indicate a sense of power. Another reason is water. Annie noticed that the girl sitting next to her in class had stopped sucking her thumb. She told Annie that her mother had washed her thumb in water in which a dead person had been bathed. This hurt the little one because she didn't want to put her thumb in her mouth as it now makes her think of death..