Lucy: Feminism

Portrait of a woman, "Girl with
 a Fan", by Paul Gauguin

           In Lucy, by Jamaica Kincaid, the protagonist is confident in her identity and takes pride in her roots. When Dinah asks Lucy where Lucy is from, she shows very little interest in Lucy’s actual background or history. However, when Hugh meets Lucy, he can tell she is from the West Indies, and by demonstrating that level of specificity, he is presented as worldly and knowledgeable (64). Although Hugh and Dinah are siblings, the two have opposite, pronounced views on race and immigration. To Dinah, Lucy is simply an insignificant girl who takes care of the children (58). Lucy instantly connects with Hugh because of the juxtaposition of him to the men who inadvertently make her feel ashamed of her homeland. Despite Hugh’s kindness and his interest in her, Lucy cannot afford to form emotional or physical ties to a place where she does not intend to stay. She has just escaped from her home, where she had emotional bonds with her family and community that felt suffocating to her. She has to make the conscious decision not to fall in love with him. As she is contemplating this relationship, she thinks “I could tell that being in love would complicate my life just now. I was only half a year free of some almost unbreakable bonds, and it was not in my heart to make new ones” (71). Lucy wants to become her own person and feels as if she must be away from everything she knows in order to find herself, a feeling that she shares with Hugh (66). This contrasts with Dinah who wants nothing more than to become Mariah, not to develop her own sense of self. Lucy’s relationships with those around her indicate that she values her independence far above trivial arguments with petty women and even above possible loves.

Lucy readily and happily identifies as a slut. In her new life in the States, she has little control of her surroundings yet she finds liberation through her sexuality. Recently there has been a feminist movement over the term "slut". Some oppose the term, while others embrace it. Morgantown, WV, as well as other cities worldwide, just hosted a "Slut Walk" in order to address the sexual assault and rape that is so common on college campuses. Participants dress as scantily clad as possible to represent that no matter what they are wearing or how much alcohol they have consumed, it does not act as consent to sexual acts. However, the idea of consent to some is still a "blurred line". 

Robin Thicke's number one hit song, Blurred Lines, adequately depicts the issue with misogynistic perpetuation of rape culture. In the unrated version of the music video, naked women are used as props, and the official video is only slightly better. The objectification of women and the pure creepiness of the lead singers caused an uproar in some communities, while being praised in others. This song trivializes sexual consent with its repeated chant "I know you want it" which seems to encourage the idea that no doesn't always mean no. Although this is far from the first song that passes this idea onto the public, the worldwide spread and the overall popularity of "Blurred Lines" should be disconcerting to any person wise enough to listen to the lyrics. 

The backlash from feminists was incredible, inciting parodies from Auckland University law students as well as a response song by Lily Allen. These women, just like Lucy, are trying to show that they are more than just their sexuality. The number of people that one has slept with should not define them. Lily Allen's song, "Hard Out Here," also embraces the term "bitch" as a way to take control over the words used so commonly against women. 

Discussion Questions:

1. Why does Lucy view Mariah as a motherly figure in her life? How do her feelings about Mariah compare to her feelings for her real mother (58)?
2. By the end of this chapter, it is apparent to Lucy that Lewis is having an affair. She is able to relate this back to her own father and the trouble she and her mother have gone through due to her father’s actions (80). Although Lucy likes Mariah very much, Lucy views Mariah as overly pleasant and weak (27). Does Lucy view the affair as an event that might make Mariah a stronger, more interesting person? Is it likely that this affair is Mariah’s first encounter with actual strife?
3.  In class, we discussed the importance of having a “mark” to Lucy. It does not necessarily need to be a physical one, but something to show that she has lived a hard, meaningful life. When Lucy gets upset over Mr. Thomas not choosing her to have a sexual relationship with, do you think she wanted that experience purely for the significant “mark” that it would leave on her life, or simply because she has always been a very sexual person (Kincaid 104)?
4. How does Kincaid alter basic tropes and attempt to change the idea that sexuality is a form of oppression through the creation of her character, Lucy (Holcomb 309-310).

Fact:  Saint Anne, the origin of Lucy’s mother’s name, Annie, is the supposed name for the Virgin Mary’s mother. This draws a contrast between Mary and Lucy who have severely different reputations.
There are approximately 12,000 au pairs working in the United States presently.

Works Cited                                                                                        

Knight, Kevin. “St. Anne”. Catholic Encyclopedia. New Advent, n.d. Web. 31 March 2014.

“Au Pairs.” The IRS, 25 June 2013. Web. 25 March 2014.