A Small Place By Jamaica Kincaid - 1266 Words

A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid analyzes the ugliness of tourism through the effects of colonialism. The book is a punch in the gut for every tourist, westerner, and individuals who are the product of colonialism. Most western education does not teach the full context of colonialism. The extension of students’ knowledge is the Berlin conference of 1884, which divided African territory between Europeans and US leaders without the inclusion of Africans. The education in the West does not delve into the impact of the conference after colonialism. There is never a mention about the lack of identity throughout the region, the lackluster of education, or the social and government corruption. Textbooks tend to have a brief chapter titled†¦show more content†¦Impoverished neighborhoods suffer from low access to electricity, water, and gas for multiple days in a row. However from a naked tourist eyes, Egypt is the land of pharaohs with beautiful landscapes and an exotic cultu re. I thought this book was interesting because it gave a bold and honest view of tourism. As much as everyone has been guilty of being a ‘tourist,’ tourism has a strong effect on culture. In A Small Place, Kincaid constantly refers to the broken library sign, which reads â€Å"â€Å"THIS BUILDING WAS DAMAGED IN THE EARTHQUAKE OF 1974. REPAIRS ARE PENDING.† The library sign is a symbol of Antigua’s damaged culture. The earthquake evoked the move from colonial to self-rule, which disrupted the culture that the building was meant to serve. The sign is used as a symbol of how Antiguans are trapped in their colonial past and are still enduring the impacts of their colonizers. For example, hotel training school is offered to teach Antiguans how to essentially be a good ‘servant.’ This idea relates back to tourism. As Kincaid eludes most of the tourists who vacation in Antigua are white or from Western backgrounds. To develop a hotel training schoo l in a post-colonized country, it would assume that it is culturally acceptable to serve white individuals as a ‘job.’ Sadly, that is the reality in many African countries such as Uganda where tourism is developed to be an extra and a unique experience. I have attached a photo of porters at Uganda’s BwindiShow MoreRelatedA Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid1389 Words   |  6 PagesA Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid presents the hypothetical story of a tourist visiting Antigua, the author’s hometown. Kincaid places the reader in the shoes of the tourist, and tells the tourist what he/she would see through his/her travels on the island. She paints a picturesque scene of the tourist’s view of Antigua, but stains the image with details of issues that most tourists overlook: the bad roads, the origin of the so-called native food, the inefficiency of the plumbing systems in resortsRead MoreA Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid1447 Words   |  6 Pages In â€Å"A Small Place† by Jamaica Kincaid, Kincaid criticizes tourists for being heartless and ignorant to the problems that the people of Antigua had and the sacrifices that had to be made to make Antigua a tremendous tourist/vacation spot. While Kincaid makes a strong argument, her argument suggests that she doesnt realize what tourism is for the tourists. In other words, tourism is an escape for those who are going on vacation and the tourists are well within their rights to be â€Å"ignorant†, especiallyRead MoreA Small Place By Jamaica Kincaid1525 Words   |  7 Pages Jamaica Kincaid, an essayist, explains the idea that history of the Caribbean (specifically Antigua), helps shape identity through her book, â€Å"A Small Place†. In regards the history, Kincaid also discloses how capitalism and colonialism are used as a foundation in shaping our epistemological ways of knowing the self and the world around us. In this essay, Kincaid uses tourism as a way o f viewing the effects of capitalism and colonialism. She disliked tourist and through her accounts, there is tensionRead MorePersuasive Analysis Of Jamaica Kincaid s A Small Place1451 Words   |  6 PagesPersuasive Methods in A Small Place Jamaica Kincaid’s influential work of nonfiction â€Å"A Small Place† (1988) tells how a once beautiful island in the Caribbean has been transformed into a disgusting holiday resort that is there to only accommodate American and European tourists. Kincaid seeks to inform the readers about the situation and the history of Antigua, and also to remind them of the role they played in the downfall of the small island. Although her tone is full of anger, she does not forgetRead MoreOpinions towards Imperialism in Antigua in the Novel, A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid1078 Words   |  4 PagesIn the novel, A Small Place, Jamaica Kincaid expresses her opinion towards imperialism in Antigua, which has change the way how Antiguan people live. She then talks about issues of tourism and corruption, and how everything to the readers is â€Å"your fault† as she described. Kincaid also reveals the native’s view on tourism. The book is written in second person, explaini ng her opinion, and the reader is spoken to directly in the book. To make more sense of this, the reader is like a tourist whose visitingRead MoreA Small Place Part 3 Rhetorical Analysis1373 Words   |  6 PagesA Small Place Part 3 Rhetorical Analysis A Small Place, a novel written by Jamaica Kincaid, is a story relating to the small country of Antigua and its dilemmas from Jamaica Kincaid’s point of view. In this novel Kincaid is trying to inform her audience that Antigua is in a poor state due to British imperial, government corruption, and tourism. Kincaid exposes her audience to the effect of these very problems in Antigua by using persuasive visual language. In the third part of Jamaica Kincaid’s ARead MoreExposing the Ugliness of Tourism in Jamaica Kincaids Book, A Small Place763 Words   |  3 PagesJamaica Kincaid addresses the reader as a tourist in her book A Small Place. Throughout the book her sarcasm and resentment towards the postcolonial state of the country cannot be missed. She exposes the â€Å"ugliness† of tourism, she writes, â€Å"The thing you have always suspected about yourself the minute you become a tourist is true: A tourist is an ugly human being† (14). Kincaid points to the fact that the tourists (European and American) and the tourism industry are morally ugly. The first sectionRead MoreLucy by Jamaica Kincaid Essay1613 Words   |  7 PagesJourney into Discovering My True Self Jamaica Kincaid’s success as a writer was not easily attained as she endured struggles of having to often sleep on the floor of her apartment because she could not afford to buy a bed. She described herself as being a struggling writer, who did not know how to write, but sheer determination and a fortunate encounter with the editor of The New Yorker, William Shawn who set the epitome for her writing success. Ms. Kincaid was a West-Indian American writer whoRead MoreAnalysis Of Ann Hood And Jamaica Kincaid1373 Words   |  6 Pagesand Jamaica Kincaid, their family’s both certainly had enough of an impact on them to write articles about their personal pasts. Although the articles have a much different flow and a much different objective, they both touch on the effect their families have had on them growing up. When reading both articles it is apparent that Ann Hood has a better grasp on the importance of family values than Jamaica Kincaid does, because of the more nurt uring way Hood was raised, in comparison to Kincaid. AnnRead MoreBanal Racism in Antigua: An Examination of A Small Place and its Critics1186 Words   |  5 Pagesentitled â€Å"A Small Place Writes Back† that â€Å"A Small Place begins with Jamaica Kincaid placing herself in a unique position able to understand the tourist and the Antiguan and despise both while identifying with neither† (895). Another critic, Suzanne Gauch, adds to this claim by asserting that â€Å"A Small Place disappoints†¦readers when it undermines the authority of its own narrator by suggesting that she is hardly representative of average Antiguans† (912). In her narrative A Small Place, Kincaid often attacks