In Lucy, Jamaica Kincaid explores the disillusionment faced by the eponymous character upon immigrating to the United States. The novel's style of narration allows Lucy’s thoughts and emotions to remain hidden. Despite this intense privacy, Lucy's disillusionment is clear. She had hoped that moving around the globe would solve her problems but she still struggles with homesickness and her relationship with her mother. Her move is disappointing. The erasure poem And Coldest also engages disillusionment. The poem suggests the speaker has become disillusioned by observing the world, and indicates their plan to be “shut tight.” The poem inspired me to consider the causes of Lucy’s disillusionment, and her failure to address her own emotions. As a recent immigrant, the causes of Lucy’s disillusionment are somewhat obvious. More enigmatic is her self-avoidant, “shut tight” attitude. In this paper, I argue that Lucy’s disillusionment causes her to avoid the discomfort that comes with self-reflection.
Lucy’s experience in the United States is dissatisfactory from the moment of her arrival onwards. She describes her first night as “gray-black and cold” and notes that no one told her January would be cold (Kincaid 3-5). This comment marks the intensity of Lucy’s transition. And Coldest, too, opens with an unforgiving winter. The first lines, “cold, and coldest,” reflect not only the season but Lucy’s experience of it - she has never experienced a night so cold. The unfamiliar season
St. Lucy’s home is a home for girls to go to when they have been raised by wolves. They go there to gain skills and manners that they weren’t taught growing up. During their visit, they go through five stages to become more human. Some girls change and improve, but others do not and they stay the same. Something happens with Mirabella and she did not improve during her visit.
Unit 306 - (HSC037) Promote and Implement Health and Safety in Health and Social Care
In this coming of age novel Lucy, by Jamaica Kincaid, a story is told of a young girl named Lucy as her life in America changes from what it was in the West Indies. Lucy struggles throughout the novel to find what exactly she desires. Drifting further and further from being similar to her mother. Lucy and her development throughout the novel are shown through her virginity, heterosexuality, and love as Kincaid forces questioning upon what is sexual normality. How one can feel trapped under sexual norms and feels lost.
b. The snow symbolizes Ann’s depression. Cold is obviously associated with snow, which is how Ann feels about the cold. In reference to the text, Ann says “Wad something along the window sills to keep out the drafts. Then I’ll feel brighter. It’s the cold that depressed.” The depression is resulted from Ann’s isolation and she is always trying to fix it. A lot of the times in the story the snowy cold drafts creep through the window sill and makes Ann feel even more depressed.
The remainder of the poem's setting takes place in the United States, where the speaker and her family now reside. Living in the United States, the speaker's miserable tone results from the fact that she feels alienated from her children, but now they, "go to American high schools/ They speak English" (Line 8-9). English, a language she does not understand and is, "embarrassed at mispronouncing words" (Line 16). This barrier of language has broken off a major form of communication between her children and her. There once was a time when she would laugh along with her children as they told jokes, but now all she can do is, "stand by the stove and feel dumb, alone" (Line 11). The speaker's setting has distorted her self image. The fact that she now feels dumb is a completely different feeling from how she felt in Mexico where she, "understood every word they'd say" (Line 4). Yearning for that familiarity of the bond between her children and herself she, "bought a book to learn English" (Line 12). This is her only way to adjust to her new setting and because she feared that one day she, "will be deaf/ when (her) children need (her) help" (Line 21-22).
Oftentimes, when burdening or stressful circumstances begin to generate strain on an individual, they find themselves turning to literary art as a form of mental relief. This deliverance applies, in particular, to the narrator in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and the father in “The Boat,” by Alistair MacLeod. In both short stories, readers can pinpoint several instances in which these specific characters seek solace through differing formats of written language. The function of the father’s books in “The Boat,” and the narrator’s diary in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” is to serve as an instrument of escapism, rebellion, and self-expression, within the controlled existence of
Elaine Potter Richardson, more famously known as Jamaica Kincaid, is recognized for her writings that suggest depictions of relationships between families, mainly between a mother and daughter, and her birth place, Antigua, an island located in the West Indies. She is also familiarized with Afrocentrism and feminist point of views. Kincaid’s work is filled heavily with visual imagery that produces a mental picture in readers that helps them connect stronger to the reading. An example of this really shines through in her short story piece, “Girl.” This short story describes the life of a lower class woman living in the West Indies, and also incorporates thick detailing between the relationship between her and her mother. Jamaica Kincaid structures the story as if her mother is speaking to her. She writes broad, but straight to the point, allowing readers to imagine to picture her experience. Kincaid uses visual imagery and repetition consistently throughout “Girl” to reveal the theme and tone of the story; conflictual affair between a mother and daughter.
The mother-daughter relationship is a common topic throughout many of Jamaica Kincaid's novels. It is particularly prominent in Annie John, Lucy, and Autobiography of my Mother. This essay however will explore the mother-daughter relationship in Lucy. Lucy tells the story of a young woman who escapes a West Indian island to North America to work as an au pair for Mariah and Lewis, a young couple, and their four girls. As in her other books—especially Annie John—Kincaid uses the mother-daughter relationship as a means to expose some of her underlying themes.
Loungs life in America is very complicated. She is living without her parents, and a majority of her family. Her family makes her feel like she belongs, but without her family with her it’s very hard for Loung to fit in and to fill all of the American expectations. “ ‘I hate myself’ I whisper. The words hang quietly in the air like an indictment of guilt” This
It is significant however, that the narrator herself had absolutely no say in this matter. She was never asked if she thought that it would be of help to spend time in the country. She was never consulted about whether or not it could be her writing that is causing her emotional difficulties. Instead, the men who have power over her decided these things for her, locking her in a nursery and forbidding her to write. Whereas before she was figuratively locked into the role of wife and mother, she is now physically locked into the uppermost room of the summerhouse. Just as she has never been able to leave her prescribed social role, now she cannot leave her wallpapered prison. The narrator's imprisonment echoes all the way back to the female Gothic's classic beginnings in Anne Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho. Instead of being locked away "in a foreign land... surrounded by vice and violence," the narrator is locked away by the man who should be closest to her and is surrounded by the oppressive patriarchal power structure of her time (Delamotte 206).
After first arriving in Italy, Lucy is portrayed as a child in need of protection; as Lucy experiences more of life and culture in Italy her character begins to develop independent opinions and mature from her exposure. While venturing through Italy at the beginning of her trip, Miss Bartlett vowed to “accompany Lucy everywhere” for she too young and naïve to navigate Florence (Forster 19). Nonetheless when Lucy first finds herself alone in Italy she witnesses a murder which exposes her to the negativities the world has to offer and begins her path to adulthood. From here Lucy begins to have a new view on life and its fleetingness. It is with this new view on life that has Lucy find herself on “a little open terrace” with George when “he stepped quickly forward and kissed her” (83).
Uncoincidentally, Esther’s leading depressive feelings towards marriage occur not long after she meets her first “woman-hater” (106) in New York and her rejection from a selective writing course, which proves her depression is a result of the events that occur in her life, rather than her own brain miswirings. In her article “We Are All Mad Here: Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar as a Political novel,” Laura De La Parra Fernandez explains: “the moment her career opportunities dwindle, she starts to feel trapped in a role she does not desire, and that is when she begins to identify herself with the Other counter to the American discourse—for, in refusing to fulfil her role as a woman, she is as terrible a traitor to her country” (165). Esther
Themes of Family togetherness and love are illustrated through the article “Girl” written by Jamaica Kincaid. Throughout the text Western Caribbean familial practices are discussed. Upon closer examination, the reader is presented with a series of images demonstrating customary cultural practices and moral principles that a Caribbean woman passes along to her young daughter. In the Case of Jamaica Kincaid, she has been influenced by common advice she received from her elders, in attempts to make the life ahead of her easier. In fact, the insight given is hoped to deflect her from bringing shame amongst the family. Moreover, the advices she receives from particularly her mother, are a mother's way of insuring that her daughter has the tools that she needs to survive as an adult in society. Inclusively, the fact that the mother takes the time to train her daughter on the proper ways for a lady to act in their culture is indicative of their familial love. The article "the girl" illustrates themes of familial love, cultural customs, and maternal bond through the eyes of a young black female growing up in the island of Antigua in a quasi society.
It’s hard to imagine someone’s personal experience without actually being the one enduring it; however, Jamaica Kincaid’s use of language contests other wise.Through intense imagery and emotional response, Jamaica Kincaid utilizes rhetorical appeals such as logos, pathos, and ethos, which successfully convinces her audience by creating a conversation between herself and the reader. Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place is an expression of her inner feelings on the transformation her hometown, Antigua, and the everlasting postcolonial impact that occurs. Kincaid reacts to the feelings she had as a young girl and compares that mindset to the opinions she holds today as an adult. Kincaid’s piece evaluates the foreignness, race, and power that consumes Antigua. While she descriptively explains the circumstances she faced in Antigua, Kincaid incorporates historical background which provides logical support to her purpose. Notably, the author’s first hand experiences gives her credibility, ethos, and allows the audience to clearly understand the context from her perspective. Not only does Kincaid effectively describe her experiences, but she also makes her audience feel as though they are looking through her eyes. Her purpose demonstrates the difficulty and impossibility of returning to origin after crucial influences. A Small Place proves that the effects of racism and racial inequality are long term and culture cannot simply return exactly how it once was in that specific culture,
Jamaica Kincaid’s (born as Elaine Potter Richardson) stories have been described as autobiographical or memoir fiction. This is for the reason that, there often exists frequent similarities between her own life experiences and those of the protagonists in her stories. The same is true of the novel, Lucy. While reading Lucy, one wonders how many of the author’s secrets are hidden within the narratives and events that take place.