Lucy

Lucy is the youngest of the four Pevensie children who find their way into the magical kingdom of Narnia, in C. S. Lewis’ timeless The Chronicles of Narnia, first introduced in the 1950’s, most notably in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. While she and her siblings are staying at the country home of Professor Kirke in order to avoid the bombing blitz on London during World War II, it is 8 year old Lucy who finds the entry to Narnia through a wardrobe door, and convinces her at first skeptical older siblings to eventually join her. Time stands still on Earth while the children are in Narnia, and Lucy grows into the beloved “Queen Lucy the Valiant” during her fifteen years there. Although it has been hailed as a Christian allegory (Lewis was an enthusiastic Catholic convert), with Aslan the Lion as the central Christ figure, that hardly matters to the generations of children who have thrilled to the adventures in the books, movies and televised series.

Lucy is the delightfully crabby, bossy-pants little 8 year old created by Charles Schulz in his comic strip Peanuts. She terrorizes her brothers and friends, plays bad baseball, runs a 5 cent psychiatric booth and harbors an unrequited love for Schroeder the musician. Whether she is thwarting Charlie Brown from his kickoffs, dodging Snoopy’s sloppy kisses or hiding her brother Linus’ security blanket, she is always amusing and entertaining, if somewhat scary in a bad-seed kind of way. Nonetheless, Lucy has her soft side also, albeit seldom seen. She has been known to burst into tears at a perceived slight, she has actually complimented Charlie Brown on occasion, she has selflessly rescued her brother Linus from the great pumpkin patch, and she has actually hugged Snoopy, famously declaring that "Happiness is a warm puppy”.

Lucy is the beautiful , vivacious and innocent young girl of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, Dracula, the dear friend of the heroine, Mina Murray, and the one who falls first victim to the vampire’s bloodlust, joining the ranks of the unholy herself. Through no fault of her own, for she is pure and good, Lucy embarks upon the morbid feeding of the blood of children, and it is only through her death that she is liberated and takes her rightful place among the angels.

Lucy is the eponymous heroine of Jamaica Kincaid’s 1990 novella, Lucy, about a young Caribbean woman who travels to the United States to become an au pair for the children of a wealthy white family. As a newcomer and foreigner adjusting to her new home, Lucy is beset by the demons of her past in the British-colonized islands, a past in which she felt neither valued nor recognized. Through the new relationships she forges and her experiences as an immigrant, Lucy comes to a new level of self-awareness and developing fulfillment, open and ready for what lies ahead.