SELF-DISCOVERY AMID COLONIAL EDUCATION AND MATERNAL AUTHORITY IN JAMAICA KINCAID’S LUCY

Abstract

This paper examines Jamaica Kincaid’s Lucy (1990) as a narrative of self-discovery shaped by the intersecting forces of colonial education, maternal authority, and displacement. Focusing on the psychological and cultural experiences of Lucy Josephine Potter, the study explores how her identity formation emerges through resistance to imposed systems of knowledge, gendered expectations, and cultural belonging. Drawing on postcolonial and feminist theoretical frameworks, the paper identifies three interrelated dimensions of Lucy’s self-discovery. First, it analyzes Lucy’s rejection of colonial pedagogy, particularly the memorization of Eurocentric canonical texts, as an early act of intellectual resistance against epistemic domination. Second, it examines the mother-daughter relationship as a symbolic site where patriarchal and colonial values are transmitted and contested, highlighting Lucy’s refusal of maternal authority as a crucial step toward psychological autonomy. Third, it investigates Lucy’s experience of migration to the United States, where racial and cultural marginalization complicates rather than resolves her search for identity. The study argues that Lucy neither assimilates into the host culture nor nostalgically clings to her homeland; instead, she reconstructs identity as a dynamic and oppositional process grounded in rupture and non-assimilation.