Lucy
Jamaica Kincaid
 Eager to leave the West Indies, Lucy longs to leave her past behind. She does not feel nostalgic for her childhood and her homeland, where she felt oppressed by toxic British and family influences. This becomes evident when Lucy describes an event that happened in her former school. While attending Queen Victoria Girl's school, she was forced to memorize a poem about daffodils. (This poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" was written by William Wordsworth roughly two centuries ago.) The poem recalls the beauty of daffodils that the speaker has seen years ago. Lucy cannot appreciate this beauty, because daffodils do not grow on her island. After reciting the poem, Lucy is applauded and she explains that at this moment she feels fake. She feels like people see her as English on the outside but on the inside she hates the English. The daffodils represent Lucy's alienation from both her education, and from her new home. Lucy also claims that she is trying to escape her mother. The relationship between Lucy and her mother is a central theme. Lucy thought that she has to leave behind her relationship with her mother in order to become an adult. Many things in the United States remind Lucy of her mother. At one point in her relationship with Mariah, Lucy sees Mariah (her boss) and her mother as the same, because they both try to control Lucy. (At other times, Lucy feels like Mariah's friend.) Lucy also sees a resemblance when she sees Lewis cheating on Mariah. Lucy's own father cheated on her mother. Lucy though begins to love Mariah towards the end of the novel. As the novel draws near the end, one is able to discover how Lucy really feels about her mother. The novel also encompasses Lucy actions in her new home. Lucy makes new friends. She meets a guy named Hugh with whom she has sex. In the park with the children one day, she meets a girl named Peggy. Mariah, the mother of the children, does not like Peggy because she smokes and curses but realizes that Lucy needs friends. Lucy also meets a guy named Paul with whom she becomes close. This novel explores Lucy's complicated sexuality, especially illustrated in Lucy's homoerotic relationship with Peggy. The novel ends with Lucy wishing she "could love someone so much that she would die from it." Lucy's dream of escaping her past leaves her feeling alone. ;Lucy: the narrator and protagonist ;Annie Potter: Lucy's mother ;Mariah: the wife whom Lucy works for as an au pair ;Lewis: the husband whom Lucy works for as an au pair ;Tanner: the boy with whom Lucy has her first sexual encounter ;Miriam: the youngest daughter of Lewis and Mariah, with whom Lucy develops a special bond ;Dinah: Mariah's best friend and the woman with whom Lewis has an affair ;Peggy: Lucy's best friend, whom she meets while in the United States ;Hugh: Lucy's first boyfriend in America; he is also the brother of Dinah ;Paul: Lucy's lover, who feels more for her than she does for him