Title Throughout history, exploration of foreign lands has always been intensely appealing to the average man. In the past, men such as Christopher Columbus traveled far and wide in the search of new lands. When Columbus discovered those lands he was essentially a tourist to those lands even though he had the intentions to colonize the new found land. At the time of colonization, Columbus did his best to convince the reader that colonization was going to help the natives of the land. A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid points out how this colonization did had the complete adverse effect on the native people. Throughout the story A Small Place Kincaid paints a picture of the beautiful country that she grew up in called Antigua. Antigua is a country that was once colonized by the Brittish. Because Brittain colonized Antigua the entire country’s native language is English. This also means that all education and literature that is provided to the Antigua people is in English. Kincaid believes that throughout her lifetime the Antiguan people have become far less educated and ignorant. The government within Antigua is also filled with politicians …show more content…
Kincaid wants the reader to feel as if they are a direct contributer to the morally wrong concept of being a tourist. The author wants you to feel awful for thinking about being a tourist in a poverty stricken country such as Antigua. The tourists and natives of Antigua are similar in the sense that they both want to escape the reality in which they are currently living in. For example, the Antiguan people have very similar stuggles that the tourists do back home. Throughout the reading Kincaid is also using a colossol amount of sarcasm. This is done to lead the reader into genuinely feeling bad for ever wanting to be a tourist in a poverty stricken country. Kincaid is attempting to directly pick at the readers
Imperialism is a recurring theme in the history of the world. Stronger countries see themselves as superior to other societies and believe their ways are right. They force religion, government, and practices on countless foreign lands. At the very end of the nineteenth
The Spanish war gave the United States an empire. At the end of the Spanish war the United States took Spanish colonies such as Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and many other islands. The creation of the American Empire leads to the end of the Spanish Empire. The United States wanted to build up the countries so that markets would open up and purchase American goods and to improve the American economy.
This is the message Kincaid, conveyed, when she expresses how tourist “marveled” at how in tune the Antiguans are with nature and how they are able to take simple things and create useful things and she tells the tourist that what you surprised at, the only reason why we are left in this state serving you because we don’t have the resource to escape our realities is because your ancenstors enslave us and left us poor that they benefited from. So you the tourist come, leaving your luxurious life to enjoy a pleasureable vacation all at the hands of the poor
Imperialism is when a larger, more powerful nation takes control of smaller, weaker nations. The American idea is for freedom. As a nation the United States promotes the freedom of itself and other countries. America once fought for the freedom from a larger, more powerful nation, so why would the government want to go back on what this country was started on, which was freedom.
American Imperialism has been a part of United States history ever since the American Revolution. Imperialism is the practice by which large, powerful nations seek to expand and maintain control or influence on a weaker country. Throughout the years, America has had a tendency to take over other people 's land. Authors like Frederick Jackson Turner, Alfred Thayer Mahan, Albert J. Beveridge, Mark Twain, and William James all distinctive perspectives on U.S expansion and imperialism at the turn of the 20th century.
Kincaid describes the reactions of the native people as tourists walk by; being a native Antiguan herself, her description of their behaviour is probably accurate. The justification she provides for their behaviour is sound. Most areas like Antigua depend on the funds that tourism brings in. While whatever luxury can be provided is given to the tourists, it is the native people who see the daily trials and sufferings. Understandably, even though their income comes from the tourists they so despise, the native population is trapped in the never-ending cycle of poverty. Unable to escape their own situations, the natives find solace in mocking tourists for their cluelessness or awkwardness. Kincaid shows this most effectively when she says, “we Antiguans, for I am one, have a great sense of things, and the more meaningful the thing, the more meaningless we make it” (113). She immediately
Some Americans supported imperialism from a moral rather than an economic opinion. They saw much of the world as living in darkness. It was the duty of the United States, in their view, to bring the light of freedom and Christianity to those dark places. Josiah Strong, a Christian missionary leader, was a leader of this group (Anglo- saxon civilization). Josiah Strong was a prominent leader in the movement to apply Darwinist principles to society (Social Darwinism). He, along with others like Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge believed that the Anglo-Saxon race was superior and was destined to rule the world or a large portion of it. In his influential book Our Country, Strong wrote that the United States had a “divine mission” to
To the above point, one of the reasons that Antigua is a destination for tourists is because of its aforementioned aesthetic beauty. Antigua’s beauty belies the reality of the situation that the people have, but it is not something that tourists should feel any responsibility to change. More to the point, Antigua’s beauty is one of the reasons that tourists should not be challenged. Indeed, tourists have no reason to believe that the people of Antigua are miserable because of the beauty of the land and the hard work that the people of Antigua put in to make sure that the tourists have a good time (even if the tourists acknowledge that the workers may be poor). One example of how Kincaid’s argument is flawed is when she says that tourists appreciate the fact that Antigua has no rain, when the lack of rain actually leads to droughts which negatively affect the natives in the long-term. Kincaid’s discussion of rain is representative of the difference between her perspective and the perspective of the tourist. The tourist has no stake in Antigua beyond how it profiles as a vacation
The United States experienced a period of growth and maturation during the twentieth century. Now, this is not to say that this was the only period of growth, but it was a significant time during which the United States began to establish its military force at an international level. By establishing itself during the twentieth century as one of the world’s largest superpowers, America grew to be respected by most of the world’s nations. America also grew to become much more active in foreign affairs, even in ones that had no relation to the nation. The United States began to look for chances to expand their country, as well as opportunities to benefit financially from these territories. Imperialism is the word that best describes the foreign
In the poem, Girl by Jamaica Kincaid, we see a mother writing/reading to her daughter a list of things she must follow to prevent her from becoming a “slut”. Instead she will grow to become a proper woman. The speaker of the poem, which is relayed to be a mother figure of some sort, is trying to make sure that “girls” grow to be strong and beautiful women. All of the things Kincaid is saying to her daughter, are things she has grown to know and learn, she is simply passing them down. The poem reaches its audience specifically through pathos and logos.
She understands that everyone reading the book is a potential tourist so this is a perfect way of addressing them all. Kincaid is also talking for the people of Antigua as a whole. She states how people do not actually like tourists, but tourists never realize how much people dislike
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.
To begin, Kincaid uses emotional appeal throughout the essay to further her argument. She begins by painting the audience a picture of themselves in their everyday life. Walking with an everyday crowd, they begin to realize “how alone you feel in this crowd, how awful it is to go unnoticed, how awful it is to go unloved” (Kincaid 206). Kincaid starts off her piece by making her audience feel isolated and alone, setting the tone for the rest of the piece. She makes the everyday audience, who can afford to escape their everyday life, feel unappreciative of their situation. This furthers her argument by making the audience feel poorly about things they may take for granted, that many natives from poorer countries cannot afford. They may have the luxury to travel outside of their bubble, while natives do not have the same luxury as them. In addition, Kincaid makes the reader feel embarrassed. Kincaid restates, “An ugly thing, that is what you are when you become a tourist, an ugly, empty thing, a stupid thing, a piece of rubbish pausing here and there… behind their closed doors they laugh at your strangeness” (207). She gives the reader the idea that the natives are mocking tourists because they are not familiar with their surroundings. Where people should feel the joy of exploring new places, Kincaid
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
In part one of A Small Place, Kincaid tries to persuade the readers, she does this by talking directly to them. Kincaid says that the tourists ruin the culture and that they are not justified in coming to Antigua for a vacation. Kincaid thinks that tourism is ugly, “an ugly thing, that is what you are when you become a tourist”(Kincaid 17). Kincaid is trying to persuade the reader instead of informing them with a fact or observation. This direct use of second person is successful to persuade the reader. It is successful because the reader might feel guilty for traveling and might change his or her perspective on traveling.