Prompt 3: In chapter 3, 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). To what extent do you agree or disagree with this claim and why? Why does Lucy react so positively to this question? How has colonization shaped her response to this question? How does it shape her experiences, ideas, and values overall?

While this quote doesn’t fully resonate with me, I do agree with it to some extent. I’ve spent a large majority of my life in one place, physically and mentally. I always wanted/want change; a change of scenery, a change of mindset. I had never even left the east coast up until last summer. Being somewhere beautiful like California, or fun like Vegas, I never wanted to go back home. Often my vacations away from the city, no matter where they are east or west, leave me wanting to stay there. I’m not running away from anything, but when you’re in a new place with no responsibilities and where nobody knows you, anything seems possible. It’s a freeing feeling, which is what I think Hugh was getting at. It feels so much easier to say you’ll drop everything and start new. Imagine someone like Lucy, who actually had an upbringing that pushed her away from home itself. Real issues, that someone from America like Hugh could only hope to empathize with but would never actually come to understand. The way Hugh is saying this and the way Lucy understands it is probably vastly different from my own simple feelings, because it is certainly more complex than I put it.

 I believe Lucy responds so positively to this quote because she feels like someone finally understands her. Throughout her life it seems she felt nobody could quite understand the things she was going through. Not her family or friends, not even Mariah or Lewis. Mariah was empathetic but she couldn’t understand, and if she could, she could not vocalize it. Lucy wasn’t just with someone random either, Hugh is someone she’s having relations with. Although she’s adamant about not being in love with him, it’s still someone she’s actively choosing to be with and someone who’s actively choosing to be with her. She has agency, and the agency has led her to what, in the moment, is a positive outcome. Whereas growing up, Lucy’s mother made Lucy feel like any decisions she made that weren’t directly approved by her would lead to disaster.  Lucy’s relationship with Hugh is nothing like her relationship with her mother, or even Mariah for that matter. Ultimately Hugh could never actually relate to her, especially as it pertains to colonization. He respects her and her history but he can’t truly understand the things Lucy went through. At every avenue of her life, Lucy had zero control. Her home was colonized, she was taught things about a home that wasn’t truly hers, her mother raised her in her own image. Lucy never had the ability to make a decision for herself until she came to America. After Hugh says this and they embrace, Lucy says to herself “ If I enjoyed myself beyond anything I had known so far, it must have been because such a long time had passed since I had been touched that way by anyone; it must have been because I was so far from home” She’s essentially living out what Hugh said to her. She feels blissful in the moment simply because she was away from home and living a life, a moment, that she could never previously even imagine. As I said, she’s finally made a choice of her own, to consciously be with Hugh. Hugh wasn’t forced upon her like daffodils or the teachings of the queen. Likely, if Lucy had an upbringing like Mariahs, she wouldn’t be where she was and she would not be able to relate to what Hugh was saying. Her life and her personality were basically overtaken, or colonized, by the circumstances surrounding her upbringing. Freedom is what Lucy is chasing, and she realizes that just leaving home isn’t the answer. Perhaps, in that moment, she found her freedom in Hugh.