Twenty-second International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Jamaica Kincaid is a well-known Caribbean writer of post-colonial literature whose work portrays the reality of post-colonial life and consequences of colonization on women’s life. he focus of this paper is on her novel Lucy, on the way how the post-colonial state impacts Lucy’s life and motivates this young girl to search for her identity, and the right to belong as a human being with full rights in a modern society. This paper approaches the text from feminist critical approach, and it addresses issues such as identity, gender relations and sexuality. Lucy, the protagonist struggles because of the constraints imposed on her gender, by both the Eurocentric society and the society she encounters in Diaspora. The aim of this paper is to give an insight in the life of a woman who comes from a post-colonized background and faces the diasporic way of living. Kincaid through her work voices the truth that being a silent “subaltern” is not helpful in protecting one’s identity and freedom, and Lucy, differently from other post-colonial subjects, is a subaltern who speaks and raises her voice. This rebellion serves as a bridge to fight the patriarchal society and to win independence.