Trading One Prison For Another

One of the main themes of this book seems to be escaping from constraining circumstances and finding freedom. Lucy attempts to escape the place of her birth- which has also been her home for nineteen years- that has constricted her development as a human being. Her biggest reason for leaving home was her mother, someone who was the guard to her prison walls, "I had long ago grown to despise her" (113). To escape her prison, Lucy comes to the United States.

In the States Lucy began to work as an Au Pair for a family consisting of a mother, father and four young girls. She lives with the family and her life revolves around theirs. However, she soon begins to feel like her freedom is being constricted. As a result she never experiences the happiness that she thought she would from being free of the place that for so long harbored her ambitions, "when I left my home I had wrapped around my shoulders the mantle of a servant" (95).

I found it interesting that Lucy escaped one prison for another. Her prison at home was her mother and now in the States Mariah takes on the aspects of a mother figure for her. This imprisons her again because she is in the servitude of this individual for at the least a year. It reminded me of the saying that the grass isn't always greener on the other side. I think that Lucy is going to soon discover this the more she stays in the United States. I also think that she will have to ask herself which prison is worse and can she ever escape it if she doesn't resolve her issues with her mother.