In “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 doesn't 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 “ignorant”, especially because no one is telling them what is wrong with Antigua.
The biggest aspect of Kincaid's argument that makes it flawed is her anger. That is not to say that there aren't times where anger is justified. At the same time, the harsh language that Kincaid uses to discuss tourists is only based on her perspective. In other words, when Kincaid calls the tourists “ugly” because of how they treat a vacation, it makes Kincaid seem like she is placing blame on the tourists for not being proactive in making sure that the workers in the tourism sector are not better appreciated. Another quote that indicates a lack of consideration for the tourists was “they (the natives) envy your (the tourists) ability to turn their own banality and boredom into a source of pleasure for yourself” (pg 18-19). The words “banality” and “boredom” indicate that Kincaid believes that the tourists’ lives are based on the rare time that they can go to another place to escape the monotony of their lives. Kincaid’s belief is flawed because it does not consider the fact that people are going on vacation in Antigua, because they heard that it is a tremendous place to go on vacation. More to the point, the language that Kincaid uses shows an unjustified anger at people w...
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...est anything about the lives of people that she has only observed.
Kincaid makes strong arguments against tourism and tourist, especially those that vacation in Antigua. The problem with her argument (despite the fact that she acknowledges that tourists are only a small part of the problem in comparison to things like the government’s attitude) is that it puts a responsibility on tourists that they are not inclined to consider. It is not the job of the tourists to save Antigua, in fact (as harsh as it may sound), it is not even a responsibility of a tourist to consider the internal issues within a land they choose to visit. With that in mind, creating an Antigua that is truly beautiful and a place where the natives are treated well is not only primarily a responsibility of the natives and government; it is only the responsibility of the natives and the government.
The short story, What I Have Been Doing Lately by Jamaica Kincaid, in my perspective was a representation of two cultures. This story focuses on the two cultures that Jamaica Kincaid came from and also the change in location. What I Have Been Doing Lately, I believe, is a story about how Jamaica feels about the change of scenery when she moves from Antigua to Vermont. The story talks about how the cultures are different but it also captures what it feels like to be homesick.
“…staring at the sea, beer in hand…Free time is now the luxury, not sugar…or any of the goods that delighted the fickle tastes of Europeans…Such goods are now taken for granted – they came with a price, too, though that has long been forgotten (Gibson, 347).” In response, after reading a passage that states, “What is the earthly paradise for our visitors? Two weeks without rain and a mahogany tan…at sunset, local troubadours in straw hats and floral shirts beating ‘Yellow Bird’ and ‘Banana Boat Song’ to death…every island, is an effort of memory; every mind, every racial biography culminating in amnesia and fog (Gibson, 348).” I am truly in agreeance with Gibson, visitors are devoid of Caribbean culture and history to this
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is about a girl who struggles finding her true self. Esperanza sees the typical figures like Sally and Rafaela. There is also her neighbor Marin shows the “true” identity for women on Mango Street. She also sees her mother is and is not like that at the same time. The main struggle that Esperanza has is with beauty. This explains why most of the negative people that Esperanza meets on Mango Street, and her gender, helped her see the mold she needed to fill in order to give herself an identity.
The book I read was The Island by Gary Paulsen. It is about a 15 year
In the passage from the novel LUCY, author Jamaica Kincaid dramatizes the forces of self and environment, through her character whose identity is challenged with a move. The new home provided all she needed, but it was all so many changes, she “didn’t want to take in anything else” (15-16). Her old “familiar and predictable past”(40) stayed behind her, and she now had to find who she was in her new life. Kincaid uses detail, metaphor, and tone in the passage to show her character’s internal struggle.
Rosalie Schwartz analyzes tourism during the Twentieth Century in Cuba. She focuses mainly on the 1920s, 1950s, and then ending with the 1990s. In the introduction, Schwartz briefly describes and makes the point that her research is based not on the history of tourism, but that tourism as history is the focal point. She looks at tourism from the aspects of behavior, attitudes, and cultures that influenced tourism in Cuba. Schwartz’s historical issue gives attention to the impact that Cuba’s tourism had on the social change that would leave an everlasting impact on the culture, behavior, and country as a whole.
In “A Small Place” by Jamaica Kincaid written in 1983, she intensely expresses her belief and annoyance about the tourist at the first sentence of the quotation: "That the native does not like the tourist is not hard to explain”. "The native" here implies herself and she explains that tourism is all about people finding a way to leave from their routine life and enjoying themselves, yet every tourist is a native of somewhere. People who live in their native place seem to be boring for them but for tourists that place are very attractive. In my experience as a native of my hometown and as a tourist, I disagree with Kincaid's argument. She is very subjective and biased since she does not reveal the tourists side of the story. She pulls people
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 who was the first writer and the first individual from her island of Antigua to achieve this goal. Her genre of work includes novelists, essayist, and a gardener. Her writing style has been described as having dreamlike repetition, emotional truth and autobiographical underpinnings (Tahree, 2013). Oftentimes her work have been criticized for its anger and simplicity and praised for its keen observation of character, wit and lyrical quality. But according to Ms. Kincaid her writing, which are mostly autobiographical, was an act of saving her life by being able to express herself in words. She used her life experiences and placed them on paper as a way to make sense of her past. Her experience of growing up in a strict single-parent West-Indian home was the motivation for many of her writings. The knowledge we garnered at an early age influenced the choice we make throughout our life and this is no more evident than in the writings of Jamaica Kincaid.
The nineteenth century was a time of economic, technologic, and population growth. These changes created problems in everyone’s daily lives. Two examples of things that affected the lives of many were disease and sanitation. Disease and sanitation led to high mortality rates in Nineteenth- Century England. This relates to North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell as it takes place during nineteenth century England and multiple characters died presumably due to disease.
In part fictional and part autobiographical novel “A Small Place” published in 1988, Jamaica Kincaid offers a commentary on how the tenets of white superiority and ignorance seem to emerge naturally from white tourists. She establishes this by using the nameless “you” depicted in the story to elucidate the thoughts they have when visiting such formerly colonized islands. This inner mentality of the white tourists reveals how tourism is still a form of oppression for the natives of such formerly colonized tourists as it continues to exploit them. I will be focusing primarily on page 10 of the text to illustrate this.
The short story, "A Small, Good Thing" by Raymond Carver tells of two American parents dealing with their son's hospitalization and death as the result of a hit-and-run car accident. The insensitive actions of their local baker add to their anger and confusion, yet by the end of the story, leave them with a sense of optimism and strength. With such content, Carver runs the risk of coming across as sentimental; however, this is not the case, and the anguish of the parents and their shock at the situation is expressed with dignity and understatement. It is a story with a broad appeal: the simple prose makes it accessible to a wide audience, while the complex themes and issues make it appealing to the educated reader. Written in Carver's characteristically minimalist style, the story poignantly evokes not only the trauma of the death of a child, but also the breakdown of communication and empathy in society. The plain and direct narrative style suits the content, conveying the lack of communication that is central to the narrative - between the parents, between the hospital staff, and with the baker. Critically, it is generally considered one of Carver's strongest short stories. It is a tale of isolation and of grief, but also of hope, and, with its fluid, pared-down style, clearly demonstrates why Carver is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers of the late 20th century.
The poem "Girl" by author Jamaica Kincaid shows love and family togetherness by creating microcosmic images of the way mothers raise their children in order to survive. Upon closer examination, the reader sees that the text is a string of images in Westerner Caribbean family practices.
...xtent will this essay bring about a change in Antigua? The Antiguan scene can only be modified by the government choosing to run the country in a more manner that will benefit everyone associated with Antigua, especially its natives. The native’s behaviours are related to their jealousy of tourists, and of the tourist’s ability to escape their own hometown to take a vacation. While a tourist can relate to the idea that the exhaustion felt after a vacation comes from dealing with the invisible animosity in the air between the natives and themselves, having this knowledge is almost as good as not having it, because there is nothing that the tourist, or the reader, can really DO about it! If Kincaid’s purpose is solely to make tourists aware of their actions, she has succeeded. If Kincaid’s purpose is to help Antigua, she may not have succeeded to the same magnitude.
Literature as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary is “the body of written works produced in a particular language, country, or age”. Literature comes in different variations, languages, and from different countries. Canadian literature is literature made exclusively by an author of Canadian descent that understands what life is as a Canadian. The Canadian play I chose to read was Toronto Mississippi by Joan Macleod. The play has different themes that can be used as to teaching tools in Canadian English classes. The theme of being handicapped is the theme that the play revolves around. The talented playwright Joan Macleod has yet again made another successful play and should be used as teaching tool to teach students in Canadian English classes.
Fletcher’s article helps to provide more of an insight on why these Caribbean countries rely on the tourism industry, giving a greater perspective of the workings of capitalism as in order to survive it must continually grow. While it is important to note that looking at one small area in the Caribbean and its impact on the tourism industry, cannot lead me to draw any general conclusions– as not every Caribbean country will react to the tourism industry in the same way - the study discussed on Jamaica’s Ocho Rios still can provide perspective as to how this heavy reliance on the tourism industry can affect the social, cultural, environmental, and economic standing within such countries. Further research must be conducted on all different effects and within tourist sites in order to come to a general conclusion. Many researchers have offered frameworks on how to prevent such negative impacts from occurring, and this can be helpful for the future of this fast-growing industry. As a person who has travelled to the Caribbean quite frequently (as I have family members who reside in Barbados), because I stay with family members and thus can see the island from a local perspective, I have witnessed first hand the small ways in which the tourism industry affects a big Caribbean tourist destination such as Barbados; not just with those deemed as outsiders with the tourism industry, but those working within it.