A Small Place By Christopher Columbus

The autobiographical-novel maintains its poetic form through repetition, alliteration, and rhythm. As Kincaid writes, “…for no real sunset could look like that; no real seawater could strike that many shades of blue at once; no real sky could be that shade of blue…” This charm lulls and immobilizes the reader, such that Kincaid’s narration graduates from the victim of such transformative power to a practitioner in her own right. The mystical form powerfully mixes with historical content, opening up new possibilities for discussions that extend the political argument beyond the metaphysical. Indeed, the deceptive simplicity of diction and the finely controlled syntax examine Antigua’s clouded process of existence with incisive clarity. An emotionally truthful, intimate, and poignant piece, A Small Place demonstrates the author’s conflicting attitudes of love and disappointment towards her birthplace. As Covi praises, “Reading A Small Place is like looking at the sea: the message is carried by the tide, but it is impossible to say upon which particular

Early settlers founded an excessive amount of land used for farming, however, they did not have the manpower to make full use of it. Due to the high amount of resources and the lack of manpower and wealth, settlers would purchase slaves from the African continent. This established Anglo-Saxon superiority over the African people forcefully living there and encouraged immorality to take place between slave owner and slave. Not only was this unjust, it contributed to the tragedy of European settlements in the Americas. European settlements allowing slavery, was a threat towards equality and freedom for all, proven through “…we shall take you and your wives and your children, and shall make slaves of them, and as such shall sell and dispose of them…” (Requerimiento). Innocent

Antigua is a beautiful island in the Caribbean that got its name from Christopher Columbus in 1493 when he first visited the small 108 square mile island (Niddrie). Antigua was later colonized by England in 1632, and won its independence in 1981 (Niddrie). Antigua was originally a country that was planned as a slave-breeding colony, but never became one; the slaves who were imported came to live self-reliantly in their own community (Niddrie). After, Antigua gained its independence; it established a constitutional monarchy, where the British monarch is still head of state, represented by a governor general (Niddrie). Sadly, Antigua is an impoverished country that has a history of being a victim of British imperialism, government corruption, and tourism (Kincaid). Kincaid informs her audience

Jamaica Kincaid successfully convinces her audience that post colonial impact still remains. Through the use of rhetorical appeals such as pathos, logos and imagery she successfully explains her claim. Through this novel she gives an insightful explanation of what antigua is like from a person who comes from that area. Kincaid being born in antigua, she gives us a view from her eyes on what antigua is really like while going through post colonial impact. Kincaid incorporates historical background in text to convince her audience that this impact is holding back antigua from the good and enjoyable place it can really be. She develops a connection with the audience when she makes them feel like the tourist that is figuring out what's going on in the background of antigua. This connection serves as pathos as it makes the audience feel the emotion of anger and disappointment for not knowing what mess is really going on in this small island. This demonstration shows how cultures everywhere are affected by postcolonialism and how there is a negative global commonality between tourist and natives.

The Colonial viewpoint lets one identify on how the country of Antigua was impacted by the British. Further, it shows how they imposed their social, economic, political, and cultural practices on the Antiguans. The British had a long lasting effect on Antigua and made them miserable for a long period of time, as she said, “And so everywhere they went they turned into England; and everybody they met they turned English… so you can imagine the destruction of people and land that came from that”(Kincaid 24), this quote really explains on how the English forcibly imposed their culture on the Antiguans, including Kincaid. The Britishers formed their own colonies and exclude the locals The Britishers made such an impact on the Antiguans that they could not take care of themselves. Once they left, the fight for political ideas and power left Antigua in a complete dispute. As Metzger explained, “The aftermath of colonialism on her native...greed and vice in the government of the impoverished society”(Metzger 1165). Kincaid mentions a lot about how the British society expected more of her, which was beyond her ability to do. She was told to be a “well behaved child” (Metzger 1164). Due to the corruption of the government the citizens of Antigua received a poor education. “In this place, the young librarians cannot find the

From the oppression of the government or a bully’s menacing acts, most people have felt the oppression of something or the other in their life. These instances in life are very hard to go through and in the 1900s oppression was at its highest. Britain was a major world power and in the colonies it still had left, it had major influence on the lives of the natives. Antigua was a colony of Britain until 1981 and most of the materials the people used were made in Britain. This was very oppressing the people of Antigua who had to live there and use all of the things from Britain. Kincaid view of England changes from a feeling of reverence to oppression and a perspective of disillusionment in her essay, “On Seeing England for the First Time”.

The period of slavery in Jamaica have left a number of legacies that the current Jamaican people continues to embrace. Some of these legacies are positive ones while some

Jamaica Kincaid, an essayist, explains the idea that history of the Caribbean (specifically Antigua), helps shape identity through her book, “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 of viewing the effects of capitalism and colonialism. She disliked tourist and through her accounts, there is tension between the tourist and the natives of the receiving countries. Kincaid believes tourist as so blind to the “true” Caribbean and in a way believes they act superior. Throughout the book Kincaid explains how she begins to view herself and how

Kincaid’s A Small Place and Walcott’s “A Far Cry from Africa” both demonstrate how the characters and countries are reacting to and dealing with being colonialized. Kincaid is very against the idea of tourists and foreigners coming into Antigua and trying to colonialize the island. She in turn sees the English as people who are coming into her country and trying to overrun it instead of trying to help. She blames the tourists for all of Antigua’s problems and describes the tourists as “ugly human being[s]” (Kincaid 14). Since the repairs of Antigua “the island

A tourist is under no obligation to know about the history of an island, city, state or country. It should be acknowledged that Kincaid displays anger at nearly every entity in Antigua, but at the same time it is her anger at tourists which seems to be the most misplaced because they are the ones who have the least power in fixing the problems the people in Antigua have.

The book gives a record of an important journey of the Godwin family in which they recalled the trail of the Aborigines. It dissipates the thought that the colonial masters surveyed the land starting from scratch. Those trails, actually, framed the reason for the first foundation for the road construction in Antigua and Barbuda. It also tells about the efforts of Governor Haynes Smith to enhance the health and education services, the courts and the continuous shutting down of estate prisons as the twentieth century progressed. It talks about the steady replacement of the teachers, English midwives and different laborers in the Civil services and the state of mind of the blacks that displaced

Antigua is a small island that was discovered in 1493, by Christopher Columbus. The natives that lived there were made slaves by the British and the economy thrived on producing sugar. In 1834 the British abolished slavery giving Antigua its independence. The sugar industry was failing so the economy relied on tourism. A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid is about Antigua. Kincaid narrates her novel in second person, blaming the tourists for ruining the culture of Antigua. Kincaid explains that the British were cruel to the Antiguan people but she forgives them for it. Kincaid also talked about how the Government is currently corrupt and how beautiful Antigua’s land is. Kincaids novel is broken up into four parts that address all of these issues in Antigua.The way A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid was written is effective in the way that it tries to persuade and inform the readers.

In “A Small Place” by Jamaica Kincaid, Kincaid explicitly describes the effects and consequences that imperialism had on Antigua, while implicitly condemning imperialism for the effects and consequences indigenous people endured through allegory. Examining the results of imperialism in a cultural aspect provides a deeper connection for the audience to fathom the struggle people of Antigua experienced. Kincaid illustrates herself as the main protagonist who directly speaks to the audience as if they are the ignorant tourist. Through the utilization of the second person perspective, she immerses the reader emotionally, which through the experience proves to be more captivating.

We know that in the centuries following Columbus's "discovery" of the New World (of which Jamaica was a part), a monstrous new networking of power and trade developed between Europe, Africa and the America's. Originally motivated by '; evangelical' missions of proselytization and the search for resources, European travelers traversed the Atlantic and often enslaved and killed the people they discovered on the other side. The explorers regarded both the indigenous people and their natural environment as commodities to be utilized for their own advancement. Although we believe that we have moved beyond these practices today, we continue to benefit from the seeds that these practices have sown. The sheer belief that a person or a resource can be bought and sold, owned and discovered has not left us. It continues to infect our current global systems from those of international corporate relations and trade to the conduct of pleasure seeking tourists.

British colonialism began in the early fifteen hundreds and even continues today with the British rule of the British Virgin Islands.  For centuries, literature has served as a type of historical documentation of colonization as many authors wrote about colonization from both a colonized and a colonizer's point of view. During colonization, and post-colonization, the physical environment of each colony was changed. Using references to A Small Place, A Passage to India, and Robinson Crusoe, I will provide examples of the physical changes to the colonized societies made by England and discuss the reactions of the colonized people.