Exposing the Ugliness of Tourism in Jamaica Kincaid's Book, A Small Place

Trask is able to use logos to prove how tourism has affected the Hawaiian culture. Trask refers to Hawaii as a “She” who “Rubs off” on the visitor with her magical presence. The beauty of Hawaii is used as an escape from “Rawness and violence” for most Americans though, Trask mentions that the land has a “Western sexual sickness” (Trask 1993). “Of course, all this hype is necessary to hide the truth about tourism, the awful exploitative truth that the industry is the major cause of environmental degradation, low wages, land dispossession, and the highest cost of living in the United States” (Trask 1993). Trask says that the areas of Hawaii which were “sacred” to the Hawaiian’s have now been turned into top of the line hotels. The beaches that were once full of fishermen and their nets are used for recreational activities like surfing getting a tan and jet skiing. On most of the beaches owned by resorts, the beaches are reserved for hotel residences only. In the essay, Trask gives the readers logos as to how tourism is changing the land. For example, thirty years ago the ratio of Hawaiians outnumbered the tourist 2:1. Today,

A 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 resorts, and the glitches in the health care system. Kincaid was an established writer for The New Yorker when she wrote this book, and it can be safely assumed that majority of her readers had, at some point in their lives, been tourists. I have been a

Daily, hundreds of thousands of people are traveling, whether it’s by plane, car, bus, boat, or foot, people are traveling to new locations and being immersed in different cultures. Many fail to realize how ignorant of a tourist they are. Kincaid explains that tourists are morally “ugly” and use other, less fortunate people, for their own amusement. She tries to enlighten those who are privileged to be more considerate when they are visiting new places. Published author Jamaica Kincaid wrote “The Ugly Tourist,” originally written in her book, A Small Place, where she tries to convince readers that tourists are, “a piece of rubbish” (207). Kincaid’s attempt to convey to the audience that tourists are ignorant and morally “ugly” is partially successful, due to her satisfactory emotional appeal, yet inability to produce a less angry tone, along with minimal logical appeal.

Hawaii is a beautiful island and it didn’t take long for people to realize it could be a lucrative business venture. Hawaii’s tourism began, as “bourgeois desires for contact with the rejuvenating "primitive"” became something that interested

It was very impactful being put in the tourist seat while reading this novel. In the beginning of the story as the tourist i am being exposed to all this negativity which i came here in the first place to avoid. Kincaid tells us that everyone has new cars here because it is really easy to get loans from the bank. This left

Sugarcoating the problem of Haiti’s image and tourism industry must be genuine and for that it should be more than nice-looking pictures. It needs to start with getting real ourselves and acknowledging that we have issues that beautiful sceneries and beaches alone won’t change. A prosperous Haiti open for business should also include achieving political stability, rebuilding our infrastructures and raising awareness about the importance of education and by promoting self-reliability to an uneducated population that relies mostly on the diaspora to consume since their own government with zero concern has failed them, grounding NGO’s and “messiah’s” with no regulation using the situation to make profit. Without all these changes tourism, will only be an ideal since a country cannot solely rely on tourism as its primary source of revenue, especially since the

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

In Jamaica Kincaid essay “On Seeing England for the First Time” conveys the contradiction of a young Antiguan women’s bitterness in her perspectives of learning about England versus exactly experiencing England. Furthermore, Kincaid presents the speaker’s voice as consistently bitter from the beginning by using subjective and sarcastic diction and convincing syntax.

In her essay “Lack, Part Two”, Jamaica Kincaid recounts her childhood experiences living in Antigua and how those experiences affected her life. She begins by focusing on the various things she did not have, such as electricity, plumbing, cars, and doctors, and how the absence of those things made life more difficult for her. For example, she describes how she contracted various illnesses, including typhoid fever, and almost died from them.

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.

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.

From the start of “A Small Place,” the author establishes an unsettling position for the reader by using second person perspective to give the audience a personal experience, “The thing you have always suspected about yourself the minute you become a tourist is true: A tourist is an ugly human being” (Kincaid, 14). The act of being the tourist in respect to Kincaid's statement is being unaware of the surroundings and people who reside in this country you refer to as a paradise. She pushes the audience out of their comfort zone to an unsettling acknowledgment of ignorance - if you have traveled and expressed these behaviors. The author presents the idea that the act of traveling with the mindset that indigenous people are benefiting is a form of self-justification rather than reality. Kincaid acknowledges the audience’s ignorance of the situation as an institutional one that educated you to have this mindset. She describes this situation the people of Antigua endured, as something you were not taught, which exonerates your oblivious demeanor toward your surroundings,

During a recent visit to Jamaica, I observed a number of resorts that themed their golf courses and pools after the old sugar plantations of the island. As the sun-burnt American and British children splashed among the recreation of the 'old mill', local Jamaicans in floral uniforms served drinks to the adults lounging by the pool. The association between the plantation and the modern resort did not appear to disturb the tourists relaxing in the sun. And why should it? This is

This paper explores a great number of academic research journals and databases on the impact that the tourism industry has on the countries in the Caribbean. Tourism impacts the Caribbean in three different sections. Tourism has a social impact that allows for increases in revenue, jobs, and service for the people living there. Tourism’s cultural impact allows the history and heritage of the Caribbean to be acknowledged and practiced not only here but around the world as tourists come and go. Tourism’s environmental impact effects the natural and geographical diversity that can only be found in these countries. Although tourism brings about many advantages in all three categories, there are still negatives attributes that appear from tourism that must be handled properly to maintain a successful industry. This paper examines 12 different research journals that suggest all of the positives and negatives of tourism in the Caribbean and how they can effect not only the tourism industry but the area in which they are practiced.

‘Why Antigua and Barbuda?’ is an advertisement created and published at ‘wheretostay.com’. The text advertises Antigua and Barbuda as an ideal tourist destination. The text advertises the twin-island nation from its luxury hotels to its main attractions. As a result, the target audience of the text is the general public, however they lean more towards rich people. This is because of the fact that the text uses words that appeal to those who have a high income. The overall purpose of the text is to persuade tourists to come to Antigua and Barbuda. That level of persuasion requires a great level of linguistic devices. This analysis will discuss the theme, diction, layout and photography, stylistic features, mood and tone, as well as the overall message of the text.