A Different Kind of Love Affair. Take Two.

I just read a post that talks about the following passage:
" For ten of my twenty years, half of my life, i had been mourning the end of a love affair, perhaps the only true love in my whole life i would ever know" (Kincaid 132).

In the post, the author talks about her interpretation of this quote as a metaphorical description of Lucy's relationship with her mother and how the lost love affair marks the end of their love for one another. More so, the author goes on to discuss how Lucy seeks out other forms of love, such as sex, as a means to fill the void this love affair has left behind. While the author makes some valid and well supported claims about the significance of this passage, I stand that the passage means something entirely different.

Here is how I see it. The lost love affair that Lucy speaks of is the love affair she once had with an idea . As a girl, Lucy entertained thoughts of a successful, happy future in which she was granted the same kind of encouragement and entitlement that is so often associated with males. However, after Lucy witnesses the different treatment she receives from the world, and even her mother, compared to the treatment her brothers experience, she quickly realizes that the life she thought was possible would not be so easily attainable for her. This reality comes at an early age as Lucy witnesses how her mother's "eyes fill up with tears at the thought of how proud she would be at some deed her sons had accomplished, I felt a sword go through my heart, for there was no accompanying scenario in which she saw me" (Kincaid 130). I feel this is the main source of resentment that Lucy harbors for her mother and ultimately the world. The intense mourning that has consumed Lucy for ten years already will likely remain with her as she comes to terms with the loss of the love affair she once had with an idea for her life.