The novel Annabel by Kathleen Winter was a book that I really enjoyed from the beginning to the very ending. It wasn’t very dramatic, but it also didn’t find it very boring. A young couple in Labrador give birth to a child that is a hermaphrodite, meaning it has the parts of both genders. Jacinta and Treadway are given the decision to choose the gender that they want to give the child. Without discussing it with his wife first, Treadway tells Jacinta he wants the child to be a boy, and although it isn’t want she wants, instead of speaking up and telling him that, she takes the baby to the hospital for the operation. The operation goes smoothly and the baby is now a little boy named Wayne. In the novel we get to see Wayne grow from baby to a young adult. We get to follow him through the journey of life and Wayne’s life is anything but easy.
Every parent wants to think of their child being loved and accepted in this world, but unfortunately that won’t always happen. In the novel Wayne found out about the way he was really born late. His parents tried to keep it a secret from everyone in the village, including Wayne because they knew the people in their village wouldn’t approve and their family would most likely be judged for it.
“What’s complicit?” “Complicit is when you agree to something in secret and hide it from another person.” “It is always bad?” “It could be, if you hide something from someone you love.”
At first I didn’t agree with what his parents keeping it a secret and I still in a way don’t, but I understand that they did it to protect him. Wayne already had the mentality of a female and often fantasized about what it would be life if he were a girl, so telling him would only make him want to come off the pills sooner. People around the village would obviously take notice to the change and start to talk. I’m sure if Wayne hadn’t had that huge complication, his parents would have waited even longer.
I’m still very happy that I chose this novel for my assignment and reading it was very fun and interesting for me. It taught me more about hermaphroditism and it’s showed me how hard it is for the person and the family. It’s hard for them to be accepted in society. I really loved this novel and a recommend it to anyone because it’s different and it’s so easy to get attached to Wayne and love him because you follow him through everything in the book.
Every parent wants to think of their child being loved and accepted in this world, but unfortunately that won’t always happen. In the novel Wayne found out about the way he was really born late. His parents tried to keep it a secret from everyone in the village, including Wayne because they knew the people in their village wouldn’t approve and their family would most likely be judged for it.
“What’s complicit?”
“Complicit is when you agree to something in secret and hide it from another person.”
“It is always bad?”
“It could be, if you hide something from someone you love.”
At first I didn’t agree with what his parents keeping it a secret and I still in a way don’t, but I understand that they did it to protect him. Wayne already had the mentality of a female and often fantasized about what it would be life if he were a girl, so telling him would only make him want to come off the pills sooner. People around the village would obviously take notice to the change and start to talk. I’m sure if Wayne hadn’t had that huge complication, his parents would have waited even longer.
I’m still very happy that I chose this novel for my assignment and reading it was very fun and interesting for me. It taught me more about hermaphroditism and it’s showed me how hard it is for the person and the family. It’s hard for them to be accepted in society. I really loved this novel and a recommend it to anyone because it’s different and it’s so easy to get attached to Wayne and love him because you follow him through everything in the book.