Sex as Rebellion: A Close Reading of "Lucy" and "Brown Girl, Brownstones"

This essay examines how young women in two classic English Caribbean novels use extramarital and/or nonmongamous sex as rebellion against traditional conservative Caribbean upbringings and expectations. Lucy in Kincaid's eponymous novel and Selina in Marshall's novel reject Caribbean moralities that prescribe women's sexual restraint while expecting men's promiscuity. However, the protagonists in these novels discover that sex alone cannot liberate them from a restrictive society, and that they have more affinity for their Caribbean culture and community than they realized. Literary depictions of Caribbean moral expectations of the sexualities of girls and women are examined, as are how these two characters use sex as part of their transition to emotional maturity.