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Lucy felt deeply personal. From the events of the story, to the language, the narrative almost felt like reading a diary. While Jamaica Kincaid examines what feels like every theme imaginable (colonialism, imperialism, racism, gender, sexuality, identity), the main part of the book that stuck out to me was the emphasis on Lucy’s intelligence. Her intellect seemed to be central to her growth and her identity, and it not only had an impact on how she determined her future, but it also largely impacted her past, where we see glimpses of a strained relationship with her mother. Lucy’s resentment towards her mother seemed to stem from her mother’s doubt in her, and her mother’s downplaying and almost suppression of her intellectual abilities. She discouraged Lucy from going to school, she even pulled her out of school. She wanted Lucy to be a nurse and not a scholar. Lucy’s mother took pride in Lucy’s brothers potentially being college graduates, but she ignored Lucy’s desire and potential to do the same, which made Lucy extremely upset: “I felt a sword go through my heart, for there was no accompanying scenario in which she saw me, her only identical offspring, in a remotely similar situation. To myself I then began to call her Mrs. Judas, and I began to plan a separation from her that even then I suspected would never be complete�� (124). Lucy implies that her mother only sees her as an extension of herself, and therefore only capable of what the mother wants. But throughout the book, we see Lucy deviate from every expectation she has of her, and her pursuing her intellectual abilities is a direct rebellion against her mother’s wishes. “I had been a girl of whom certain things were expected, none of them too bad: a career as a nurse for example; a sense of duty to my parents; obedience to the law and worship of convention. But in one year of being away from home, that girl had gone out of existence�� (127). In an attempt to free herself from her mother’s expectations, find independence, and build her own identity, Lucy not only physically distances herself by going to the United States and refusing to read her mother’s letters, but she also refuses to pursue the career her mother wanted for her. Lucy remains closely academic, reading, and going to night classes while she is an au pair, continuing to strengthen the intellectual abilities her mother refused to acknowledge in her. Despite having so much resentment towards her mother, Lucy thinks of her often and reflects on how her present actions in the USA would be perceived back with her family in the West Indies: “For a very long moment, I wondered what my mother was doing just then, and I saw her face; it was the face that she used to have when she loved me without reservation�� (148). With her past being largely influential over all aspects of her life, present and future included, Lucy’s inability to completely let go of her mother makes sense. As long as she is straying from her mother and as long as rebellion against her mother drives Lucy’s independence, it seems that her mother will always be connected to her in some way.