In Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid, the main character Lucy is excited to be able to start a new life in a foreign country. She is eager to discover who she is outside of her Caribbean homeland and household. Her coming of age story is sparked through this journey. She navigates the complexities of who she is and begins to examine the nature of her relationships with her country and with other people. 

Lucy’s relationship with her country is a complicated one and she more often than not sees it with conflicting eyes. She associates the Caribbean to the oppressive colonial practices she is familiar with growing up in the West Indies. Despite the oppressive customs Lucy’s identity is impacted and with it her perspective and way of expressing herself. She uses writing as a way to process the mixed feelings she has about her life growing up and the life she is living now far from home. We see that despite leaving her home country Lucy is still being shaped by it. This allows the reader to understand that although the protagonist rejects the social limitations from her past it still impacts her in the present.  While Lucy might have physically left her country she can not completely leave it behind her no matter the distance. But what she can do is redefine her relationship with her country differently. While learning about her relationship with her homeland and its impact on her life she also learns about her relationships with others. 

Mariah for instance is one of Lucy’s employers and she is a representation of the white upper middle class motherhood and femininity. Lucy is at first impressed by Mariah’s honesty and kindness. But as Lucy realizes the limitations of their relationship she becomes increasingly critical of Mariah’s privilege and naivete. Maraiah is completely oblivious to Lucy’s experiences as a Black woman and immigrant. This clearly highlights the power dynamics at play between these two characters.  Looking back in the book Lucy expresses her experience having to memorize a poem about a flower she would never see.  “I did not know what a daffodil looked like, but I knew that I hated them. Mariah said, “These are daffodils. I’m sorry about the poem, but I’m hoping you’ll find them lovely all the same. .. how could I explain to her the feeling I had about daffodils-that it wasn’t exactly daffodils, but that they would do as well as anything else?”(29) It isn’t the flower that she has a problem, like Lucy states in these lines. What she does have a problem with is the very insinuation of colonial rule and the oppressive customs she was indoctrinated with back home. This is what is  triggering Lucy to react in such a way. Also, the fact that Mariah just carelessly dismisses Lucy’s feelings about the poem and these flowers is also reminiscent of colonizer behaviour. Mariah knows how Lucy feels about the poem and inadvertently these flowers but doesn’t truly understand. It isn’t just about some flowers. The underlying problem is the colonial ties that are bonded to the poem and the flowers and understanding that can allow us to understand how Lucy chooses to have relationships with those around her. This poem she had to memorize and recite at age nine in her country where these flowers do not grow. It is only after she immigrated to America that she at age nineteen is finally able to see these flowers. 

When it comes to Lucy’s relationship with her mother she has a lot of unresolved feelings of pain and anger. There are a lot of unresolved feelings of pain and anger in Lucy’s relationship with her mother. Lucy was deeply wounded by her mother’s biased treatment of her brothers and her involvement in upholding patriarchal standards. Lucy’s mother’s influence still follows her, even in a foreign country. She is constantly having memories and dreams about her. But because of her physical distance, she is able to question this relationship and pursue independence. Lucy struggles with guilt and longing despite her anger because breaking off contact with her mother is both freeing and devastating. Lucy learns to face her past without letting it consume her as a result of the conflict between love and resentment.

We see a lot of character development with Lucy. Throughout the novel Lucy transforms from a passive observer to an active participant who understands who she is in the big world. She isn’t just a simple girl from the Caribbean. Her development stems from frequently feeling alone because of her independence and her longing to have connections because of her rejection of attachments. She embraces the unpredictable way of discovering oneself despite the social norms, familial responsibilities and assigned roles. Lucy has developed by learning that while independence is nice it comes with an expensive price of sacrifice. At the expense of emotional stability and intimacy, Lucy gains a sense of independence.  She learns that identity is fluid and through these lessons discovers that her identity is not rooted in geography or relationships but is something that she has to continuously redefine for herself without others defining it for her. Lastly, while it definitely requires a person to confront their past, this is a requirement if one wishes to grow. While Lucy distanced herself from her homeland and her mother’s insistence on patriarchal norms; Lucy also has to begin to acknowledge the influences that have stemmed from her origin by confronting it. As Lucy considers her past she also acknowledges that her journey of self-discovery is far from over.  

Source: Kincaid, Jamaica. Lucy. New York, Farrar Straus Giroux, 1990.