Maria Helena Lima’s “Imaginary Homelands in Jamaica “ Essay

Outline dent 1 Writing to rescue her lifeIt calculates as though generator Jamaica Kincaid has written a number of novels in an sudor to understand her past and her harvest-tide and development throughout it. Almost totally of the novels Kincaid has written seem to be interconnected in that they all shed light on certain struggles of her past (paragraphs 1-4). persona 2 Function of bildungsromanThe bildungsroman inning, in which a novel foc wasting diseases on a persons development or spiritual education, is used specifically by Kincaid and other Caribbean writers to unravel the difficulties and dis raiseations of ripening up across the margins of distinct traditions and ethnic universes. The acculturation of a egotism can be portrayed through the form, however in Kincaids novels specifically, the bildungsroman is non so much used as to suggest the growth in Lucy and Annie Johns adolescent life, but rather to show their reactions respectively to more(prenominal) worldly matters such as racism and colonialism (paragraphs 5-7) (freedictionary.com). bulge outicle 3 Far from homeExile for characters the like Lucy and Annie John does non serve the purpose of testing life without their parents, but rather opens their look to the escalating world. It is in this big bad world that the characters are forced to honour their new identity and beliefs. Not only are these characters left with a sense of distantness to the new world, but they also signal struggles with the fundament in which they came from. The extensiveer they spend time in the new extraneous world, the further they find themselves from their first home. These colonial characters face the challenge of identifying themselves and their heathen origins (paragraphs 8-11).Section 4 Effects of reading belles-lettresLiterature is claimed to piddle outside(a) an important role in a persons development. A persons emotions and reactions stem largely from the literature he/she reads. Lucy had acerbity toward daffodils because as a young girl, she was required to memorize a long poem about the flower without having ever seen one in objective life. Lucy reads several books, which have an effect on her wanting to change her name. recitation of literature ultimately affects the way in which people react and suppose (paragraphs 12-13).Section 5 Writing as a means of relieveIn an effort to cure Lucys desire for home, she becomes a writer. She writes controvert letters to her mother in order to assu age or nap with her feelings. As much as Lucy wants to believe that she is not the girl her parents evaluate her to be, it is the written letters that she sends and receives that ultimately lead her to realize her true feelings (paragraphs 14-15).Section 6 Finding identity in a culturally different worldAs Lucy and Annie John, representations for Kincaid herselflose parts of their past and are subject to a strangely new present, they use their knowledge in an effort to com prehend the nature of the world and their part in it (paragraphs 16-17).Summaryprof Maria Limas Homelands in Jamaica Kincaids Narratives of Development, claims that writers in diaspora relieve oneself the bildungsroman form in their composings to explore the characters gather up for individual and national identity. Specifically, Jamaica Kincaid uses mostly all of her novels to write about her struggles and developments in a strange world. Bildungsroman is used in these novels by showing characters reactions to more worldly matters such as racism, colonialism, and sexism. Exile is used in these novels, not to test life without the characters parents, but rather to open the characters eyes to the fantastically complicated world that lies ahead. These characters are forced to find a rear end for themselves in the strange world as well as having to form their own beliefs about societal matters.However, the longer the time these characters spend away from home, the further they find themselves, emotionally, from home and are left with a strange feeling of loneliness in the world. They are then challenged with having to identify themselves and their cultural origins. Lima claims that Kincaid employs the reading of literature and writing as means of salvation. When put into the tough position of being emotionally disconnected from the world, characters, specifically like Lucy, in Lucy A bracing, read and use their memories from books to identify themselves. In addition, writing helps the characters to cope with their estranged and complicated feelings. Those caught between culturally different worlds use what they know in an effort to comprehend the nature of the world and their part in it.Discussion Questions1. How are the struggles Lucy faces similar and/or different than those of Melinda and Charlie in finding their respective identities? 2. What role does age play in all of the novels we have read thus far? How has Lucys older age helped/hindered her in fin ding her identity? 3. What role have reading literature and writing letters played in the novels we have read so far, specifically in The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Lucy A Novel?Works CitedLima, Maria Helena. Imaginary Homelands in Jamaica Kincaids Narratives of Development Callaloo 25.3 (Summer 2002) 857-867.