Kincaid's Essay 'On Seeing England For The First Time'

Britain’s colonies in North America went from a society with slaves to a slave society. Owning slaves became a key part of everyday life for many plantation owners by the end of the period. Throughout the period, the focus shifted from indentured servitude to slavery because slaves proved to be more profitable. Slavery in the colonies stayed so popular because it was based on racial, social, and economic values. It changed the way that plantation owners did things, and they wanted to keep their own profits

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 The mystical form powerfully mixes with historical content, opening up new possibilities for discussions that extend the political argument beyond the metaphysical.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

Kincaid clearly attacks the tourists for not understanding the value of Antigua and its heritage; they are “ugly human being(s)” (115) because of their ignorance. The vacant gazers are ugly because when they have reached the zenith of banality in their own lives, they use the poverty of the natives of a tourist destination like Antigua to feel better about themselves; the natives’ lack of wealth, opportunities and education all make that pasty-skinned tourist feel superior. The ugliness stems from the tourist’s use of the native’s backwardness to propel themselves forward.

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

Have you ever wished that someone had given you a guide on how live the right way? Jamaica Kincaid does just that in her short story, Girl. The narrative is presented as a set of life instructions to a girl by her mother to live properly in Antigua in the 1980’s. While the setting of the story is not expressly stated by the author in the narrative, the reader is able to understand the culture for which Girl was written.

It’s hard to imagine someone’s personal experience without actually being the one enduring it; however, Jamaica Kincaid’s use of language contests other wise.Through intense imagery and emotional response, Jamaica Kincaid utilizes rhetorical appeals such as logos, pathos, and ethos, which successfully convinces her audience by creating a conversation between herself and the reader. Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place is an expression of her inner feelings on the transformation her hometown, Antigua, and the everlasting postcolonial impact that occurs. Kincaid reacts to the feelings she had as a young girl and compares that mindset to the opinions she holds today as an adult. Kincaid’s piece evaluates the foreignness, race, and power that consumes Antigua. While she descriptively explains the circumstances she faced in Antigua, Kincaid incorporates historical background which provides logical support to her purpose. Notably, the author’s first hand experiences gives her credibility, ethos, and allows the audience to clearly understand the context from her perspective. Not only does Kincaid effectively describe her experiences, but she also makes her audience feel as though they are looking through her eyes. Her purpose demonstrates the difficulty and impossibility of returning to origin after crucial influences. A Small Place proves that the effects of racism and racial inequality are long term and culture cannot simply return exactly how it once was in that specific culture,

Kincaid doesn’t bother with throwing everything into quotations and the entirety of the story is essentially one sentence joined by semicolons. This style gives the work an overall matter of fact tone. The nagging voice is immediately evident in “Wash the clothes on Monday and put them on a stone heap; wash the color clothes on Tuesday and put them on a clothesline to dry…” (Fader/Rabinowitz pg. 66). The reader can also get a sense of the cultural expectations of the main character through the domestic imagery throughout the text. The girl is expected to uphold certain roles within her home and is instructed as to how to behave and not draw attention to herself. Her mother assumed that her daughter’s behavior was inappropriate and any protest she offered to defend herself was shot down. Kincaid drives her point home effectively when in the very last line: “...you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread?” (Fader/Rabinowitz pg. 67). The reader can see the mother’s surprise towards her daughter’s innocent question. The girl was unable to learn how to be adult and conduct herself properly, even after all of her mother’s speeches and

To begin, Kincaid’s use of symbolism to strengthen how the girl’s image is very important is shown with the constant reiteration of the upkeep of clothes. “ this is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut…” (320). In the past the type clothes worn and how they looked told a great deal about a person's social status. The girl's mother believes that if her clothes are not neatly kept people will look down on her and lose respect for her. Kincaid using clothes is a good symbol because she has the mother

Throughout the development of America, people in the colonies experienced lack of freedom and equality from

The narrator of Jamaica Kincaid’s Girl, who is implied to be a mother, reveals much of her worldview through the story’s dialogue. In this dialogue, she both instructs and scolds her a girl who is implied to be her daughter. The instructions that the mother imparts to her daughter in Girl offer a deep insight into what the mother believes is good for her. In teaching these lessons, the mother is preparing her daughter for what she believes is her daughter’s future. Thus, these lessons are setting the expectations that she has for her daughter within her world.

Elaine Potter Richardson, more famously known as Jamaica Kincaid, is recognized for her writings that suggest depictions of relationships between families, mainly between a mother and daughter, and her birth place, Antigua, an island located in the West Indies. She is also familiarized with Afrocentrism and feminist point of views. Kincaid’s work is filled heavily with visual imagery that produces a mental picture in readers that helps them connect stronger to the reading. An example of this really shines through in her short story piece, “Girl.” This short story describes the life of a lower class woman living in the West Indies, and also incorporates thick detailing between the relationship between her and her mother. Jamaica Kincaid structures the story as if her mother is speaking to her. She writes broad, but straight to the point, allowing readers to imagine to picture her experience. Kincaid uses visual imagery and repetition consistently throughout “Girl” to reveal the theme and tone of the story; conflictual affair between a mother and daughter.

Richard Ligon was from England and moved to Barbados in 1647. There, he lived amongst slaves, servants, and planters for approximately ten years. He witnessed many forms of slavery and paid close attention to how the different slave groups were being treated, in comparison to one another. In his article, he compares the living conditions of the slaves to the servants. Ligon also discusses what their motives and methods of resistance to their master’s authority are. In his work, it is also evident that cultural adaptations were made between the European and African inhabitants of Barbados. He demonstrates this by going into detail about how the slaves expressed their African culture through their music, religion, and recreation.

Kincaid was never prepared for England as it is; all she had to go on was the idea of England that was presented to her as a child. She never had a single real tie to England: "No one I knew had ever been and returned to tell me about it. All the people I knew who had gone to England had stayed there" (356). In England she is conscious of the fact that she is an outsider. She is made to feel this way by the difference she perceives between the English and herself: "Their skins were so pale, it made them look so fragile, so weak, so ugly . . . they didn't like me, and it occurred to me that their dislike for me was one of the few things they agreed upon" (357). The racial difference breeds a mutual distrust. She is made to feel she can never truly be English because of her race, ancestry, and the history of

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.

Authors use a variety of writing techniques in their pieces of literature to exemplify their ideas and message to the audience. The use of different writing techniques also helps make pieces of literature more comprehensible and sophisticated. The author of A Small Place, Jamaica Kincaid, uses numerous writing techniques that help to portray the novel’s message. Jamaica Kincaid displays an array of writing techniques in the novel such as repetition, rhetorical questions and the use of “you” to demonstrate her thoughts about colonization.