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Jamaica Kincaid Analysis Essay

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In the passage, Jamaica Kincaid dramatizes the opposing forces of the desire for stability and the desire to grow as a human. The passage encapsulates Kincaid’s move to a new city up North and all the unexpected changes she discovers. By the end of the excerpt, she clearly delineates that she’s homesick and wants to return to her old, rural lifestyle because she “didn’t want to take in anything else.” This surface need of returning home and regaining stability in her life clashes with her subconscious, which begs to continue trying new experiences. Kincaid has outgrown her hometown and knows that the only way to further grow into a dynamic human being is through moving to a city filled with “good ideas.” Kincaid won’t be able to grow and evolve toward self-actualization if she only experiences her past, rural life. Kincaid implements much detail throughout the paragraphs, which allows the reader to step into her shoes and, furthermore, allows the reader to hold a magnifying glass up to their own life and search for any changes they should make. Kincaid reminisces on “eating a bowl of pink mullet and green figs cooked in coconut milk.” She even misses the “bed she had outgrown” and people she “longed to see dead at her feet.” She vividly describes her prior life and makes it out to be dissatisfactory. Even though it wasn’t favorable, it was …show more content…

Kincaid comes off as a pessimistic child who constantly complains and won’t give her new lifestyle a fair chance, even though it’s the best thing for her. The only option in her opinion is “to go back where I(she) came from” and achieve stability. Kincaid purposefully puts the reader in a more objective seat, so the reader understands that this decision can only end in eventual misery. She must experience new things, such as a new city, to grow and scale Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human

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