How and why have conventional Western gender roles for women alienated Annie from herself and/or her home?

The central struggle, or agon, in Annie's story is her struggle to bring forth her own identity. That identity is fulfilled through the scripted story of the trunk - she will have her identity when she leaves bearing her trunk. This struggle involves mood swings, rebellious adventures, the awakening of sexuality, and a coming to terms with historical reality. However, the person on whom this straggle is focused, and who has some responsibility in its instigation, is her mother. The mother-daughter tension dominates the work. The tension is not eased though Annie's straggle meets with success. She gains an identity despite her adult telling of her story - in which she clearly becomes a woman in her mother's image - actual reconciliation is absent. Annie's trunk carrying identity, then, is a death to her self and loss of her mother.