Impressions of Beauty

In Lucy, I could not help but notice all the references made to beauty. Jamaica Kincaid presents images of beauty in the sun, flowers, and even other characters present within this novel. It made me wonder if the character of Lucy does not think that she is beautiful. She hates what is beautiful and simple (daffodils) but says that anything would have sufficed. Apparently she just needed something to hate.

If you hate what you are not then it makes sense that Lucy could be blind to her own beauty or has denied it in an attempt to hold on to her identity. She seems to think that beauty often only serves to cover up a deeper truth as with the daffodils being "made to erase a complicated and unnecessary idea". As an eighteen-year old adrift in a new society, being a stranger and therefore somewhat of an outcast seems to have adversely affected her opinion of the world around her. Therefore, it seems as if the true beauty of the world around her is hidden by her first impressions. However, it may in fact be possible that through being blind to beauty she is free to see the true ugliness of the situations around her.