Lucy: A Novel (SparkNotes Literature Guide)

By SparkNotes

Lucy: A Novel (SparkNotes Literature Guide) by Jamaica Kincaid
Making the reading experience fun!
Created by Harvard students for students everywhere, SparkNotes is a new breed of study guide: smarter, better, faster.   Geared to what today's students need to know, SparkNotes provides:   *Chapter-by-chapter analysis
*Explanations of key themes, motifs, and symbols
*A review quiz and essay topics Lively and accessible, these guides are perfect for late-night studying and writing papers  

• Language: English
• Publisher: SparkNotes
• Release date: Aug 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781411476349

Book preview

Cover of SparkNotes Guide to Lucy: A Novel by SparkNotes Editors

Lucy: A Novel

Jamaica Kincaid

© 2003, 2007 by Spark Publishing

This Spark Publishing edition 2014 by SparkNotes LLC, an Affiliate of Barnes & Noble

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (including electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.

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ISBN-13: 978-1-4114-7634-9

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Contents

Context

Plot Overview

Character List

Analysis of Major Characters

Themes, Motifs, and Symbols

Important Quotations Explained

Key Facts

Context

Jamaica Kincaid was born Elaine Potter Richardson on May 25, 1949, on the British-ruled Caribbean island of Antigua. She showed intelligence at an early age but received little encouragement from those around her. Raised by her mother, a homemaker, and her step-father, a carpenter, Kincaid attended government schools, where teachers chastised her for sass and disobedience. Kincaid’s mother, a book lover, taught her to read at age three and gave her an Oxford Dictionary for her seventh birthday, but she discouraged Kincaid’s goal of attending college and becoming a librarian or teacher. Kincaid spent the first nine years of her life as an only child and felt rejected when her mother gave birth to the first of her three brothers. She escaped her misery by immersing herself in the work of William Shakespeare, John Milton, the Brontë sisters, and other classic British scribes. Because she encountered literature only by white, long-dead authors, the young Kincaid never considered the possibility that she, too, could become a writer.

As Kincaid entered adolescence, her unhappiness turned into anger, and her relationship with her mother worsened. Strongly influenced by British colonial values, Kincaid’s mother demanded pristine behavior from Kincaid yet deemed her unable to restrain her sexuality. At sixteen, Kincaid left her poor homeland to become an au pair for a wealthy New York family