Jamaica Kincaid a Small Place

In the novel, A Small Place, Jamaica Kincaid takes the reader along a Caribbean vacation in Antigua. Kincaid’s informal writing style positions the readers in the role of the tourist. At first, she allows the reader to imagine the island’s beauty, making it seem like a typical tourist experience. However, she dilutes the picturesque attractions by picking out issues that tourists tend to overlook. She argues that tourists belittle the native people to make themselves feel better. They marvel at the anguish and desperation because it is gratifying to know that they are more fortunate. The sight of others suffering makes tourists appreciate their ordinary life. Kincaid shows the irony in how people go on vacation to reaffirm their prosperity. Since readers are forced to occupy the tourist, they are fronted with the true nature of tourism. In this passage, Jamaica Kincaid uses literary devices such as tone and satire to expose the crookedness behind tourism.

Throughout the passage, the speaker’s tone is accusatory and angry toward tourists. The use of second person narration conveys the resentment toward readers. The speaker establishes a personal connection by inviting “you” along the journey (Kincaid 13). First, she lures the readers into a tropical paradise, and then exposes their problematic tendencies. Since Antigua is underdeveloped, there is “no proper sewage-disposal” so “the contents of your lavatory” are dumped into public water (Kincaid 14). While the local people are hurting for water, tourists “wade carefree in the water (Kincaid 14)” As tourists rest and relax, the native people are too poor to live properly in their own place. All of the costs of tourism are afforded onto those who have done the least to deserve it. Further, she uses anaphora to show how tourists neglect to care about the world around them. She repeats the phrase, “you