Jamaica Kincaid’s Annie John chronicles an African-Antiguan girl’s coming of age. Toward the end of her rebellious adolescence, Annie experiences a debilitating condition of extreme fatigue, loss of language comprehension, optical illusions, and tactile sensations like warm soot suffocating her. Her parents take her to the English Dr. Stephens, who cannot make a definite diagnosis. Her mother then calls in Ma Jolie, an Obeah healer, who works to identify the spirits and people who could be harming Annie, and to protect her from them. This excerpt takes place after these treatments have been tried, apparently without effect, and Annie is recalling the family story of her uncle’s illness.

When Uncle Johnnie got sick, Ma Chess was sure that a doctor was the last thing he needed. Pa Chess was sure that a doctor was the one thing he needed, and Pa Chess got his way. For two years, Uncle Johnnie lay in bed, each day looking rosier and rosier. Then one day he died. On the day he died, he had never looked better. When he died, a large worm bored its way out of his leg and rested on his shinbone. Then it, too, died. From that day on, Ma Chess never spoke to Pa Chess again, even though they lived in the same house. She never said a word for him or against him, and if his name came up she would absent herself in spirit—and in body, too, if his name continued to come up. Pa Chess not only oversaw everything about the funeral, he even preached a sermon—the usual thing: about everything happening for the best, people meeting again and living in eternal bliss. Ma Chess did not attend the funeral, though she visited the grave on special occasions. She had all her clothes made up in black cloth—the only color she wore from that day on.