Metaphors In Lucy

A person's identity, or whom they think they are, can be tied to family, work, school, hobbies, race, religion, and more. None of how people construct identity has more to do with their sense of place than identity. In an excerpt from Jamaica Kincaid's novel Lucy, the narrator finds herself in a strange new place that challenges her identity. The author uses imagery, contrasting details, and tone to reveal the narrator's inner turmoil and sense of freedom. This passage uses metaphors to illustrate the narrator's situation and help the reader identify with the narrator. The third section completes the latter, describing the narrator's reading experience. Since the reader of this essay presumably reads Kincaid's novel, sharing the experience

In the second section, the narrator's description of the sun reflects her emotional state. She initially described her former sun as such a pale yellow that "everything curled around the edges, almost fell apart." Then she turns to her current sun, her current emotional state, and her new position in a northern climate, and reflects that it is "yellow," as if she were "weakening it trying to shine." Finally, she uses the lack of sunlight to describe her future, and the gray seascape filled with rain reflects her bleak outlook. The past, present, and future progression give the reader a strong sense of the narrator's doubts about her transition to the new environment. The exciting contrast in the sun metaphor continues in the narrator's choice of details.The narrator contrasts detailed descriptions with vague descriptions representing challenges to her sense of self. They provide certain information if they reflect a positive aspect of the narrator's emotional

Her description of the end needs more detail to tell the reader. Withholding details is not reserved for the narrator's future, as evidenced by her memories of reading novels in which the characters come from harsh backgrounds and reminding her of her own "bad situation." Readers can imagine what she might be thinking by further explaining what makes her situation difficult. The contrast between the details and the omission continues with the difference in the passage's tone—the narrator's tone changes throughout the passage, reflecting her inner conflict. The opening tone of the first episode conveys a giddy sense of wonder, as the narrator feels like she's riding an elevator for the first time and enjoying food in a refrigerator. However, the tone at the end of this paragraph reflects the narrator's sense of overwhelm, saying that she fell asleep not from exhaustion but to "take nothing else" from her new surroundings. The second and third sections follow a similar pattern, each opening on a note reflecting hope, positivity, or warm memories, ending in words like grey, empty, cold, black, blacker, and