After Annie

In After Annie, the dress Ali wears to Annie’s wake and funeral serves as a poignant symbol of Ali’s premature transition into adulthood. The dress is both ill-fitting and overly mature, as several of the other characters, particularly Bill and Annemarie, note. Ali, too, finds the dress uncomfortable—at the wake, she constantly tries to adjust the neckline and bodice, which doesn’t fit properly because her breasts are still growing. As such, the dress symbolizes how Ali is thrust into an adult world too quickly, a point later reinforced at a more literal level when she takes over Annie’s duties of cooking, cleaning, and caring for her younger brothers. At the memorial one year after Annie’s death, Ali wonders what happened to the dress and guesses that it’s crumpled somewhere in her closet. Instead, she wears a dress that belonged to her mother, which fits her well. Annemarie remarks upon the dress, noting how much Ali has grown in a year. While Annemarie is referring to Ali’s physical growth, the comment also points to Ali’s emotional growth. She has abandoned the dress that signaled her helplessness in the face of trauma and replaced it with one that represents both her autonomy and her bond with her mother.