Jamaica Kincaid’s novel, Lucy, follows the life of Lucy who recently moved to the United States from the West Indies to work as an au pair. The novel discusses issues such as colonialism and a troubling mother-daughter relationship, which plays a crucial role in Lucy’s ‘identity’ and search for her true identity. Thus, when Hugh says, “Isn’t it the most blissful thing in the world to be away from everything you have ever known – to be so far away that you don’t even know yourself anymore and you’re not sure you ever want to come back to all the things you’re a part of?” (66), Lucy agrees so positively because she heavily relates to this as she tries to detach herself from the identity she was forced to have in her home country, compared to the identity she makes for herself in the United States.  

First, in colonialism, Lucy has repeatedly shown several ways in which it formed her identity. In chapter 2, Mariah takes Lucy to a garden to show her daffodils, Mariah’s favorite flower which holds much joy for her. Upon seeing the daffodils, Lucy tells Mariah, “Mariah, do you realize that at ten years of age I had to learn by heart a long poem about some flowers I would not see in real life until I was nineteen?” (30). Lucy then goes on to stomp on the daffodils which is an important scene in the novel because it reveals that throughout her youth, Lucy was forced to memorize British poems, learn British education, and adapt to British customs/traditions. Moreover, in chapter 5, Lucy talks about the meaning of her name after seeing her birth certificate and states “The documents all said that my name was Lucy – Lucy Josephine Potter. […] The Potter must have come from the Englishman who owned my ancestors when they were slaves…” (149). Once again, Lucy reveals how deeply embedded colonialism has affected her identity, and no matter how far away she tries to distance herself from her home country, she still feels owned/captured. This is why Hugh’s phrase meant so much to her; Lucy never knew anything about herself to begin with and thus, she wants to be so far away where she no longer has any ties to her colonialized identity.  

Secondly, Lucy’s complicated mother-daughter relationship with her mother is another example of not having an identity to begin with. Throughout the novel, Lucy constantly mentions how much she despises becoming a replica of her mother, “I had come to feel that my mother’s love for me was designed solely to make me into an echo of her; and I didn’t know why, but I felt that I would rather be dead than become just an echo of someone” (36). This quote perfectly parallels what Hugh was trying to say. For Lucy, she was inhabiting characteristics of other people to make up her ‘identity.’ She was already struggling to find herself because of the effects of colonialism, and now, she was struggling to find herself as a woman because of the way her mother molded her to become a version of her.   

Overall, Lucy never felt as if she was her own person, especially back in her home country. So, when Lucy travels to the United States, it is when she finally obtains that opportunity to truly make mistakes, learn new, bizarre things, and overall start anew. Being in the United States, not only allowed Lucy to question her identity but also allowed her to fully detach the ‘old’ Lucy and become the real Lucy.