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A Small Place

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“A Small Place”

In “A Small Place”, by Jamaica Kincaid, Kincaid reveals the native’s side on tourism. The essay is written in a second point of view and the reader is addressed directly in the essay. Kincaid places the reader in the shoes of the tourist, and tells the tourist what she would see through her travels on the island. In fact, the reader is a tourist in Antigua. Kincaid makes a connection in her essay that leaves the audience with an understanding of the corruption that goes on in the island of Antigua and how that relates to the negative view Kincaid has of tourists. Kincaid begins the essay by telling the beautiful sights and scenes Antigua has to offer. However, as the essay progresses the reader finds out how atrocious of a place Antigua is. For example, the schools are even unrecognizable: “You pass a building in a sea of dust and you think, It’s some latrines for people just passing by, but when you look again you see the building has written on it PIGLOTT’S SCHOOL”(Kincaid 1225). This is an example Kincaid uses to show how poor of a place Antigua is. This essay is written with many purposes in mind but the most important one is to change the tourists’ treatment and view of the locals. In order to make her point, Kincaid creates a feeling of compassion for the natives and instills a feeling of guilt in the tourists. Although, I think she is successful in creating sympathy for the natives, I do not think that she is successful in changing the behaviors of the tourists.

One of her main focuses in this essay is tourism and how tourism has impacted Antigua. She expresses her disgust through both a moral depiction as well as a physical one of tourists. For example, she discusses how the vain tourists are excited to see clear skies and no rain and are indifferent to the native people’s struggle with drought. Additionally, she comments on the physical appearance of tourists such as “pastrylike-fleshed” to demonstrate an embodiment of the ugliness of tourism.

Towards the tourists, Kincaid uses a lot of angry and even resentment: “A tourist is an ugly human being” (Kincaid 1228). Kincaid is here referring to the tourist’s ignorance and indifference towards the natives; the tourists realize some things are bad but they choose to ignore it. They are also completely ignorant of the Antgiuan culture; they have no idea how the Antgiuans live, act or eat, and nor do they care: “You see yourself meeting new people (only they are new in a very limited way, for they are people just like you)” (Kincaid 1227). Here she is referring how little the tourists care about the natives; the tourists aren’t looking to interact with people who serve them but they want to interact with random strangers on the beach just because they are “like them”. She is not only upset at the tourists for their treatment of the locals but also because of the fact that their relatives were the ones conquered Antigua in the first place. I believe Kincaid’s anger is very justified. How would you feel if someone walked into your house and eat your food but treated you in a condescending manner? That is essentially how the tourists treat the natives in Antigua.

Kincaid attempts to create sympathy for the natives. First, she does this by examining the harsh conditions that the locals must live through: “Not far from this mansion is another mansion, the home of a drug smuggler” (Kincaid 1227). Besides the honest and hardworking people of Antigua who are working very hard to scrape out enough money to get through the week, a criminal is living luxuriously in a mansion. This reveals how vile of a place Antigua is and the government will not do anything about it because they are corrupt. Kincaid expands on this by revealing how poorly the locals are treated by the tourists. Not only do the Antiguans have to live in this miserable place but they do not receive any sympathy from the tourists. After reading this essay, I think the reader will surely feel sympathy for the Antiguans. I also definitely think this essay will change your opinion about tourists.

On the other hand, instead of solely focusing on creating compassion for the locals, she also harshly and directly criticizes the tourists. This might be effective and create a feeling of guilt in a lot of people but there will be others who will be offended by it and instead of feeling sorry for the locals they will instead focus on defending themselves and justifying their actions; harsh criticism isn’t always the answer. Furthermore, it’s not even necessary for her to take this stance against the tourists. She has accomplished her goal of creating sympathy for the natives so making the tourists feel guilty is only overkill. If someone sympathizes with a group of people, then they will treat those people better regardless. So instead of having the essay resonate with readers, they will just shrug it off because their compassion for the natives is washed away by their concern with themselves.

Kincaid wrote this essay with a more objective tone, which is a method that may have been more effective. Kincaid is very one sided in this essay and never reveals the tourists side of the story. Some people may just take her essay as an angry outburst and not take the essay seriously because of how subjective and biased she seems. I’m not saying she should take herself completely out of the picture and just give us facts but a slightly less subjective tone would help, something that justifies the tourist’s actions. For example, tourists pay a lot of money to go on this vacation to relax, not to worry about other people’s issues. They work long weeks; have to feed an entire family and balance work and family. And maybe once in a while when they can muster enough money to afford a vacation, they want to make the most out of it and not have to worry about other people’s problems. This would still control any possible resentment they may have. Also, this would still create the sympathy for the locals but now the feeling of guilt for the reader will be amplified because now they will not have to focus on defending their actions anymore. Readers will also know that she is providing a fair argument instead of a biased one. Furthermore, doing this will also set an example for the tourists. Throughout the essay, she has treated the tourists as they have treated natives and if she diverged from that path then the tourists will be more likely to do so too.

In conclusion, Kincaid’s essay is aimed at tourists and her main point is to show tourists how poorly they treat the locals and how harsh of a life the locals live. It is a very provocative essay and Kincaid tries to mirror the treatment the tourists give the locals in her writing. She takes a very radical approach and I believe she would have been better off taking a more conservative approach. The tourists don’t have the power to change an entire nation, but they do have the power to brighten up someone’s day.

(Every tourist is a native to where they came from so they will carry out their own behaviors that they are used to from their own place. However, natives might do things differently and as both tourists and natives we should respect one another.)

Bibliography:

1.Kincaid, Jamaica. A Small Place. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1988. Print. Page 1225.

This is an example Kincaid uses to show how poor of a place Antigua is

2.Kincaid, Jamaica. A Small Place. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1988. Print. Page 1228.

Kincaid is here referring to the tourist’s ignorance and indifference towards the natives; the tourists realize some things are bad but they choose to ignore it.

3. Kincaid, Jamaica. A Small Place. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1988. Print. Page 1227.

Here she is referring how little the tourists care about the natives; the tourists aren’t looking to interact with people who serve them but they want to interact with random strangers on the beach just because they are “like them”.

4. Kincaid, Jamaica. A Small Place. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1988. Print. Page 1227.

Kincaid expands on this by revealing how poorly the locals are treated by the tourists. Not only do the Antiguans have to live in this miserable place but they do not receive any sympathy from the tourists.
Link: https://moodle.umass.edu/pluginfile.php/1259504/mod_page/content/1/22%20Kincaid.pdf

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