Lucy mentions that she "had been mourning the end of a love affair, perhaps the only true love in [her] whole life [she] would ever know" (pg. 132). This "love affair" that she refers to is the love that Lucy once had for her mother. Before Lucy was nine years old, and before Lucy's mother had three sons, Lucy and her mother were identical. They were very similar and they spent a lot of time together. They understood each other. However, after her three brothers were born, Lucy felt that her mother betrayed her (pg. 130).
Lucy's love for her mother has ended. Now, she looks to other men and to other women in order to feel love again. She looks at Mariah and Lewis's relationship. She examines her friendship with Peggy. She sleeps with many men, including Hugh, Paul, and the man at the camera store. Lucy feels deprived of love, and she is trying to feel the void in her heart by running away and finding love elsewhere.
In the end, however, I do not think that this void will ever be filled. The love that she finds with others will not be enough to satisfy her heart. She will always long to be with her mother at home in Antigua, whether or not she wants to admit it. Nothing can replace love that stems from the home.
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4 comments:
I completely agree with you. Throughout this novel I have been struck by all of the hostility she harbors for her mother but it is because of this deep connection with her that they clash. She may also feel deprived of love because she never had a strong relationship with her father. This may be the reason for her promiscuity with random men. Overall I completely agree with your post!
hey Michelle!
So, I hope you don't mind but I used your blog as inspiration for my post...? I think you have good points and I agree that there is something in that quote that closely relates directly to how Lucy and her mother interact. I, however, took it in a different direction and said that the love affair Lucy is speaking of is a lost love affair with an idea. Guess we will have to talk about it in class!
I completely agree and that is why I feel so bad for Lucy. She will keep searching for that missing love and who knows how many more men she will have to go through to find anything close to love? In the mean time she will just continue to feel worthless and she goes from man to man.
I agree with your post too. Throughout the entire novel I kept thinking that Lucy cannot let herself be satisfied with anything she involves herself with. Her job, the men she encounters, and even her best friend do not give her the love she is looking for which is the love of her mother. I think it would be a hard thing for anyone to do--replace one's mother's love. I think Lucy realizes this at the end and cries because she sees that she hasn't been able to love like she loves her mother since she moved away from her home.
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