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Abstract： The mother-daughter issue is a common topic throughout many of Jamaica Kincaid’s novels. Annie Potter， Lucy’s mother has great influence on Lucy’s thoughts and action. The author not only uses it to explore the complex tension between mothers and daughters， but also uses it to represent the strained relations between colonized region and colonial power. The image of Lucy’s mother is really worth exploring.
Keywords： imagery analysis； Lucy’s mother； colonial power
Jamaica Kincaid’s fictionalized autobiographical novel Lucy： A Novel is about a young strong-willed Antiguan girl Lucy who migrate to New York in the late 1960s to work as an au pair for a wealthy white family， during that year she faced issues in conjunction with British colonized nation and dealt with the adolescent struggle to mother/ daughter relationship which implies the relationship between the colonizing culture and the colonial power. It shows us the theme that this kind of hybridized product just brought deep isolation to people.
1. Social Background
After the Second World War， there grow many left behind problems of identity， political and cultural conflicts after more and more regions finishing process of decolonization successfully. Authors from those countries draw a picture of colonial and postcolonial life through literary works. Many people from colonized area are always puzzled at one question： who am I？ Which country I am belonging to？ Because of being pulled by different culture， colonial writers are confused about recognitions from both family inheritance and modern and civilized society. These two parts power forced people like Lucy to make a choice： to stay with her family to be a real Antiguan women like her mother or leave to Unite State be a “happy” woman suck like Mariah. However， no matter which choice she decides， she may never maintain integrated identification anymore. Just like the end of the novel， Lucy will always be isolated and lonely after all. This is what Caribbean writers want to show us， the split from culture and identification may nerve merge together completely as problem left over from history.
2. Symbolic Significance of Lucy’s Mother
In the novel the writer endows with Lucy’s mother Annie Potter great symbolic significance. Some scholars believe the identity of mother having strong relationships with homeland and colonial power which form a triangle image showing the conflicts between birthplace， homeland and colonial power. And in the Lucy， mother has become the spokesman of these three forces. 2.1 Birth Mother
At first， Annie Potter is a person who gave birth to Lucy and brought her up. At this level she is a traditional mother who deserves respects. She protects her children from women who tried to kill them due to the love of her husband. In the novel， Lucy likes lying above the lake and bed， which two things represent mother’s womb when baby inside according to psychoanalysis. It implies that whatever shadow between mother and daughters， Lucy always wants to fix their relationship in the deep of the heart.
2.2 Homeland Culture
As each year goes by， Lucy starts drifting away into a delicate emotion toward her mother， “I love her， I hate her”（26）. On the one hand， she is Lucy’s birth mother which should be respected by daughter. On the other hand， Lucy starts to query her mother. Lucy couldn’t understand why her mother has been suffering this while her father left nothing to this family after his death.
Here Annie Potter represent the second identity—homeland culture which are colonized by other group. Lucy’s mother like their homeland Antigua they represents nature， a beautiful land full of primitive energy. They have their own life until one day， they found a single women or an uncivilized island which could not be independent anymore. They have to depend on somebody or some country， in other word they are slaved by the others.
2.3 Colonial Power
Besides being a spokesman of colonized people， Lucy’s mother has another identity—a representative of colonial power. Daughter who prepare to success tradition from homeland is need to be identified by her mother， a culture bearers. As a result， there must be conflicts if mother’s role absent. When Lucy was a little girl， she depends on her mother and adores her love. However， after her four brothers are given birth one by one， her parents have transferred their love from Lucy to boys. Mother’s ignorance leads Lucy’s hatred to her family and island， love’s absence only brought great conflicts.
The same condition also happens to the Antigua. It is discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1493 while the greatest discoverer never stepped on the island but only named it with a church’s name by passing. It’s very hard for us to image that Columbus remembers this small island after naming it casually. However， to the people who live in Antigua this casual name is their roots and identity， something will exist all through their lives. What a great similarity between Lucy’s mother and colonial power. They give life or identity to a new thing and then ignore their existence. 3. Conclusion
The mother-daughter issue is a common topic throughout many of Jamaica Kincaid’s novels. Annie Potter， Lucy’s mother is a foreboding presence who never physically appears in novel but who still influences Lucy thoughts and action. She constitutes a major force in the novel. On one level， the author uses it to explore the complex tension between mothers and daughters more generally. On another level， it represents the strained relations between colonized region and colonial power. Kincaid endowed with Lucy’s mother triple meaning to imply the complicated relationship of Caribbean people. They may have some commons with us， but more differences from us.
At the end， Kincaid practically gives no answer to how to deal with the embarrassing situation. Mother’s emotion is like a double-edged sword which breed great power of love and disasters. As a result， Lucy wants to be intimate with her mother gaining her blessing while avoiding being a copy of her mother， she has realized that mother is a sacrifice of colonialism while accomplice to it. This is the reason why she shows a seemingly paradoxical attitude toward her mother， her motherland and tradition culture. At the begging of the novel， Lucy abandons her mother which means her roots of group to find affection substitute in United State another country. Mariah’s tenderness and caring once remind her about her mother， then she finds this just insincerity feeling which just a hypocritical performance. At the end of novel， Lucy leaves false address to her mother and not staying in Mariah’ home anymore. She wants no relationship with her family. Ironically， she can suffer her friend has affections with her boyfriend， a cyclical of mother may follow her forever.
References：
[1]Alexander， Simonea James. Mother Imagery in the Novel of Afro-Caribbean Women[M]. Columbia University of Missouri Press， 2001.
[2]舒奇志.殖民地文化的成长之旅——牙买加金卡德小说安妮主题评析[J].南京师范大学学报，2004（9） .
（责编 张亚欣）
Keywords： imagery analysis； Lucy’s mother； colonial power
Jamaica Kincaid’s fictionalized autobiographical novel Lucy： A Novel is about a young strong-willed Antiguan girl Lucy who migrate to New York in the late 1960s to work as an au pair for a wealthy white family， during that year she faced issues in conjunction with British colonized nation and dealt with the adolescent struggle to mother/ daughter relationship which implies the relationship between the colonizing culture and the colonial power. It shows us the theme that this kind of hybridized product just brought deep isolation to people.
1. Social Background
After the Second World War， there grow many left behind problems of identity， political and cultural conflicts after more and more regions finishing process of decolonization successfully. Authors from those countries draw a picture of colonial and postcolonial life through literary works. Many people from colonized area are always puzzled at one question： who am I？ Which country I am belonging to？ Because of being pulled by different culture， colonial writers are confused about recognitions from both family inheritance and modern and civilized society. These two parts power forced people like Lucy to make a choice： to stay with her family to be a real Antiguan women like her mother or leave to Unite State be a “happy” woman suck like Mariah. However， no matter which choice she decides， she may never maintain integrated identification anymore. Just like the end of the novel， Lucy will always be isolated and lonely after all. This is what Caribbean writers want to show us， the split from culture and identification may nerve merge together completely as problem left over from history.
2. Symbolic Significance of Lucy’s Mother
In the novel the writer endows with Lucy’s mother Annie Potter great symbolic significance. Some scholars believe the identity of mother having strong relationships with homeland and colonial power which form a triangle image showing the conflicts between birthplace， homeland and colonial power. And in the Lucy， mother has become the spokesman of these three forces. 2.1 Birth Mother
At first， Annie Potter is a person who gave birth to Lucy and brought her up. At this level she is a traditional mother who deserves respects. She protects her children from women who tried to kill them due to the love of her husband. In the novel， Lucy likes lying above the lake and bed， which two things represent mother’s womb when baby inside according to psychoanalysis. It implies that whatever shadow between mother and daughters， Lucy always wants to fix their relationship in the deep of the heart.
2.2 Homeland Culture
As each year goes by， Lucy starts drifting away into a delicate emotion toward her mother， “I love her， I hate her”（26）. On the one hand， she is Lucy’s birth mother which should be respected by daughter. On the other hand， Lucy starts to query her mother. Lucy couldn’t understand why her mother has been suffering this while her father left nothing to this family after his death.
Here Annie Potter represent the second identity—homeland culture which are colonized by other group. Lucy’s mother like their homeland Antigua they represents nature， a beautiful land full of primitive energy. They have their own life until one day， they found a single women or an uncivilized island which could not be independent anymore. They have to depend on somebody or some country， in other word they are slaved by the others.
2.3 Colonial Power
Besides being a spokesman of colonized people， Lucy’s mother has another identity—a representative of colonial power. Daughter who prepare to success tradition from homeland is need to be identified by her mother， a culture bearers. As a result， there must be conflicts if mother’s role absent. When Lucy was a little girl， she depends on her mother and adores her love. However， after her four brothers are given birth one by one， her parents have transferred their love from Lucy to boys. Mother’s ignorance leads Lucy’s hatred to her family and island， love’s absence only brought great conflicts.
The same condition also happens to the Antigua. It is discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1493 while the greatest discoverer never stepped on the island but only named it with a church’s name by passing. It’s very hard for us to image that Columbus remembers this small island after naming it casually. However， to the people who live in Antigua this casual name is their roots and identity， something will exist all through their lives. What a great similarity between Lucy’s mother and colonial power. They give life or identity to a new thing and then ignore their existence. 3. Conclusion
The mother-daughter issue is a common topic throughout many of Jamaica Kincaid’s novels. Annie Potter， Lucy’s mother is a foreboding presence who never physically appears in novel but who still influences Lucy thoughts and action. She constitutes a major force in the novel. On one level， the author uses it to explore the complex tension between mothers and daughters more generally. On another level， it represents the strained relations between colonized region and colonial power. Kincaid endowed with Lucy’s mother triple meaning to imply the complicated relationship of Caribbean people. They may have some commons with us， but more differences from us.
At the end， Kincaid practically gives no answer to how to deal with the embarrassing situation. Mother’s emotion is like a double-edged sword which breed great power of love and disasters. As a result， Lucy wants to be intimate with her mother gaining her blessing while avoiding being a copy of her mother， she has realized that mother is a sacrifice of colonialism while accomplice to it. This is the reason why she shows a seemingly paradoxical attitude toward her mother， her motherland and tradition culture. At the begging of the novel， Lucy abandons her mother which means her roots of group to find affection substitute in United State another country. Mariah’s tenderness and caring once remind her about her mother， then she finds this just insincerity feeling which just a hypocritical performance. At the end of novel， Lucy leaves false address to her mother and not staying in Mariah’ home anymore. She wants no relationship with her family. Ironically， she can suffer her friend has affections with her boyfriend， a cyclical of mother may follow her forever.
References：
[1]Alexander， Simonea James. Mother Imagery in the Novel of Afro-Caribbean Women[M]. Columbia University of Missouri Press， 2001.
[2]舒奇志.殖民地文化的成长之旅——牙买加金卡德小说安妮主题评析[J].南京师范大学学报，2004（9） .
（责编 张亚欣）