Lucy By Jamaica Kincaid

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey is a critically acclaimed novel produced in 2009 and set in 1965. Described by The Monthly as “an Australian To Kill a Mockingbird”, the book deals with a variety of themes in an intriguing and comedic way. The extent to which the themes in Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey mirror the context of production more closely than the context of the setting varies depending on which theme is being discussed. The wide range means that both years are represented in a balanced way. In the novel, Jasper Jones, half-aboriginal and half white, and Jeffery Lu, Vietnamese, often fall victim to mistreatment, oppression and violent hate crimes because of their race. Their characterisation as victims positions the reader to explore the theme of prejudice in 1965 society. Moreover, Charlie’s (the narrator) characterisation as an open minded person deals with the theme of acceptance. His relationship with both Jasper Jones and Jeffrey Lu represents this. The novel also, perhaps less explicitly, deals with ideas about masculinity. This theme is largely explored through Charlie Bucktin and Warwick Trent and further reinforced in the resolution. In terms of context this embodies 2009 more as the flourishing of the media has changed and created ideals. Themes of prejudice and fear appeal more to 1965. However, acceptance and masculinity mirror 2009.

A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid presents the hypothetical story of a tourist visiting Antigua, the author’s hometown. Kincaid places the reader in the shoes of the tourist, and tells the tourist what he/she would see through his/her travels on the island. She paints a picturesque scene of the tourist’s view of Antigua, but stains the image with details of issues that most tourists overlook: the bad roads, the origin of the so-called native food, the inefficiency of the plumbing systems in resorts, and the glitches in the health care system. Kincaid was an established writer for The New Yorker when she wrote this book, and it can be safely assumed that majority of her readers had, at some point in their lives, been tourists. I have been a

Esperanza had always desired a new home, but realizes Mango Street will always be a part of her. “I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn’t it” (5). At first Esperanza wanted an escape from Mango Street, she was embarrassed of where she came from. But as she grows as a person and is exposed to devastations in other people's lives around her, she realizes something much more ugly than just the looks of Mango Street. “You must keep writing. It will keep you free, and I said yes, but at that time I didn’t know what she meant” (61). Writing kept Esperanza free, and helped her cope with her problems. Esperanza later perceives why her aunt wanted her to continue writing, because not everyone had something to set them free from Mango Street. “They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the ones who cannot out”(110). Instead of leaving to never return, Esperanza realizes the women in her community have it

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.

When Anzaldua says “So, if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language” she wants you to feel every aspect of what she is saying. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” she persuades her readers to believe this and that she has went through hell to fight for what she believes in.

When a character is exposed to an incident in which his or her perspective is forever changed, he or she will gain knowledge and maturity. An event such as being raped is an example of how one can lose his or her innocence. The House on Mango Street leads the reader into analyzing his or her own life. It shows how Esperanza’s pure view of life has changed to become a more sophisticated and realistic one. Growing up is something that everyone, at one point or another, goes through. This loss of innocence is something that is unavoidable and irreversible. When people lose their innocence, they gain maturity and gain knowledge. When a person losing the pureness in them, they open their eyes and they are able to see the world for what it really

The most interesting book I have read in the past year was “Still Alice,” written by Lisa Genova. This book narrated the life of Alice Howland, a successful Harvard psychology professor who loses herself to Alzheimer’s disease. Alice is an intelligent, ambitious woman with a loving husband, John, and their three children. Initially, Alice starts off forgetting minor details, such as words during her presentations or where she might place some of her belongings. Dismissing it, Alice goes for a run in her town square where she’s run for several years. She suddenly finds herself lost and panics because she could not figure out how to get home. Eventually, she finds out she’s diagnosed with early on-set Alzheimer’s and she is left to deal with her family and work life as well as do as much as she can each day before she loses herself completely.

After reading “How to Tame a wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua, I can definitely feel the social and cultural difficulties immigrants experienced while being raised in the United State in a profound way. So it brings up a question I have as an immigrant for a long time: Would we get treated differently if we act the same way they act, speak the same kind of language they speak, eat the same type of food they eat? If we accomplish all of those things, would they consider us like them? Or would they still see us as outsiders and always keep a distance away from us? Will we have better interactions with them? Or will we still have to hang out with those people who are same races as us? By reading “Do We Really Want Immigrants to Assimilate?”, Nathan Glazer posed the question: “Is Assimilation Dead?” three years ago and his answer was yes to this concern. Though he stressed the fact that assimilation still making the progress toward society, on the one side I agree with his notion that assimilation insists a social reality but on the other side, I strongly disagree with the idea that assimilation is dead as nation ideal. So should immigrant assimilate? There are many benefits of being multicultural and one should try their best to accommodate majority’s needs.

Imagine living in a world of perfect paradise, where no one disturbs you or takes away your freedom of thought. You’re living in pure harmony and feel as if your life is going to be peaceful forever. But what if one day someone comes along and changes your world, taking away your custom beliefs and changing your culture. What would you do? In the novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, the character Okonkwo, an indigenous member of the Ibo tribe, comes in conflict with the European settlers as they try to convert his tribe to Christianity. Even though many people choose to convert to this new system, Okonkwo, along with a few friends, respond adversely to this foreign settlement as they attempt to restore order in their native village. As the Europeans bring their religion, messengers, and government into the tribe, the outcome of Okonkwo 's response, causes him to bring his identity into query when he realizes that things that were formerly common, will always collapse in the end.

The quote indirectly shows that Lucynell can not interact with others very well, which forces her to be accompanied only by her mother for most of her life. She is also

In ‘Lucy’ the character Lucy, an immigrant girl, leaves her home in the West Indies to come to America in order to reinvent herself and to discover her own identity. Her struggles for personal freedom and independence would require her complete disconnection from her family especially her mother. To do so, Lucy not only had to let go of her former identity, but she also has to void herself of the self-destruction and loneliness. Lucy’s liberation from the past is the key element to her finding her new self. That too will require her to mentally recolonized her past and present in a way she feels comfortable. The novel places Lucy at a cross road of culture and identities Antiguan and American. Upon arrival to America to work as an au pair for an

In “A Small Place” by Jamaica Kincaid, Kincaid criticizes tourists for being heartless and ignorant to the problems that the people of Antigua had and the sacrifices that had to be made to make Antigua a tremendous tourist/vacation spot. While Kincaid makes a strong argument, her argument suggests that she doesn't realize what tourism is for the tourists. In other words, tourism is an escape for those who are going on vacation and the tourists are well within their rights to be “ignorant”, especially because no one is telling them what is wrong with Antigua.

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.

In the personal essay “My Mothers Tongue” (1990), Amy Tan, widely known author explains her insights on language and culture identity using details and memories from her own life experiences. Tan conceals that the language in which her mother used with her “was the language that helped shape the way [she] saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world” (1208) and in the process it made her who she is today as an author. Tan illuminates the euro centricity of the Master Narrative by retelling stories of her mother being treated poorly because of her “broken” or “limited” English. She recalls many past experiences where her mother suffered from bad service and treatment from restaurants, stockbrokers, and even hospitals. Using examples from her personal life Tan gets her point across about language and culture characteristics in order to show how Chinese culture is affected by the master narrative and also encourages others to include a variety of cultures in order to overcome bias opinions. Tan’s apparent audience can be ranged from the child of an immigrant to a doctor and offers an authentic and rich portrayal of Chinese history through her conflicting experience of her Chinese and American cultures.

The women of the late sixties, although some are older than others, in Alice Walker’s fiction that exhibit the qualities of the developing, emergent model are greatly influenced through the era of the Civil Rights Movement. Motherhood is a major theme in modern women’s literature, which examines as a sacred, powerful, and spiritual component of the woman’s life. Alice Walker does not choose Southern black women to be her major protagonists only because she is one, but because she had discovered in the tradition and history they collectively experience an understanding of oppression that has been drawn from them a willingness to reject the principle and to hold what is difficult. Walker’s most developed character, Meridian, is a person