Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
racism in literature
racism in english literature
analysis of a small place by jamaica kincaid essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: racism in literature
Jane King stated in her essay entitled “A Small Place Writes Back” that “A Small Place begins with Jamaica Kincaid placing herself in a unique position able to understand the tourist and the Antiguan and despise both while identifying with neither” (895). Another critic, Suzanne Gauch, adds to this claim by asserting that “A Small Place disappoints…readers when it undermines the authority of its own narrator by suggesting that she is hardly representative of average Antiguans” (912). In her narrative A Small Place, Kincaid often attacks and criticizes the average tourist with what appears to be evidence of racism towards white Europeans and Americans, but perhaps even more strongly she demeans her Antiguan homeland; however, contrary to what King states in her essay, Kincaid belittlement of the Antiguans is a satirical effort to expose the racism of the primarily white tourists.
According to King, Kincaid is uncertain in her place in Antigua. In her essay, she asks: “what is Kincaid’s point of view, Antiguan or tourist?” (894) She is neither an Antiguan, because she left at a young age and returned to find her home in shambles, nor a tourist because they are “incredibly unattractive, fat, pastrylike-fleshed” (Kincaid 13). Since she is neither, the question remains—how would Kincaid be treated in the airport? She states in her own narrative that “since you are a tourist, a North American or European-to be frank, white-and not an Antiguan black returning to Antigua from Europe or North America with cardboard boxes of much needed cheap clothes and food for relatives, you move through customs swiftly, you move through customs with ease. Your bags are not searched” (4-5). In this passage, Kincaid places the black Antiguans far ...
... middle of paper ...
... the plight of the Antiguan. At times she appears to revile Antigua, but she disproves any doubts about her true loyalty as she alludes to the hidden beauty of the country. At other times it seems as though Kincaid agrees with the treatment of the Antiguan natives, but she is doing so only in an attempt to point out the racism that is so embedded into Antiguan culture. So the answer to the question “is Kincaid an Antiguan or a tourist” is quite simply both.
Works Cited
Gauch, Suzanne. “A Small Place: Some Perspectives on the Ordinary”. Callaloo: A Journal of African-American and African Arts and Letters, (25:3), 2002 Summer, 910-19.
Kincaid, Jamaica. A Small Place. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1988. Print.
King, Jane. “A Small Place Writes Back”. Callaloo: A Journal of African-American and African Arts and Letters, (25:3), 2002 Summer, 885-909.
Chow, Balance. "The Poetry Of Angelou." Masterplots II: African American Literature, Revised Edition (2008): 1-5. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 5 Apr. 2014.
Rooks, Noliwe. The Women Who Said, I AM. Vol. Sage: A Scholarly Journal On Black Women 1988.
History can significantly influence the ways in which a place, along with its community, evolves. Now considered postcolonial, not only are Hawaii and Antigua heavily defined by their colonial pasts, but they are also systematically forced into enduring the consequences of their unfavorable histories. Through their unconventionally enlightening essays, Jamaica Kincaid and Juliana Spahr offer compelling insights into how the same idea that exists as a tourist’s perception of paradise also exists as an unprofitable reality for the natives who are trapped in their pasts yet ironically labeled as independent. The lasting impacts of colonialism on the history of Antigua and Hawaii can be noted through their lasting subservience to their colonizing
Lawrence, L. (2007). Black Culture and Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought from Slavery to Freedom. London: Sage Publishers.
Angeles, Los. (2009). African arts. Volume 28. Published by African Studies Center, University of California.
In part fictional and part autobiographical novel “A Small Place” published in 1988, Jamaica Kincaid offers a commentary on how the tenets of white superiority and ignorance seem to emerge naturally from white tourists. She establishes this by using the nameless “you” depicted in the story to elucidate the thoughts they have when visiting such formerly colonized islands. This inner mentality of the white tourists reveals how tourism is still a form of oppression for the natives of such formerly colonized tourists as it continues to exploit them. I will be focusing primarily on page 10 of the text to illustrate this.
Michelle Cliff’s utilization of language in Abeng is paramount to the novel’s discussion of nationality and identity. As it is a postcolonial text, Cliff faces the decision of what language she would adopt to tell the story, ultimately deciding on hybridizing formal English in narration and dialogue with occasional Patois dialogue. Her decision here communicates several of the underlying themes of the text that Cliff attempts to address. Throughout the novel, there is juxtaposition between Clare’s narration and the dialogue that occurs between her and other characters. Cliff introduces the juxtaposition in a way that it is difficult to notice at first, due to early encounters with characters being in English. However, as the novel progresses,
Mercer, K. (1994). Welcome to the Jungle: New Positions in Black Cultural Studies. London: Routledge.
In an expressive voice, Ms. Angelou paints a memorable picture of a small black community anticipating graduation day fifty-five years ago. She describes the children as trembling "visibly with anticipation" and the teachers being "respectful of the now quiet and aging seniors." Although it is autobiographical, an omniscient voice in the first six paragraphs describes how "they" - the black children in Stamps - felt and acted before the omniscient voice changes to a limited omniscient narration in the seventh paragraph. Her eloquent voice skillfully builds the tension as she demonstrates bigotry destroying innocence.
One of the most important themes running through Kincaid’s essay is the political and economic scene of Antigua. The fact that the airport is named after the President, instead of a school or hospital, shows exactly how vital the role of the airport is in the life of the Antiguans. W...
(7) Anthony Kwame Appiah, In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosphy of Culture (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992)
Karenga, Malauna. Introduction to Black Studies. Los Angeles: University of Sankore Press Third Edition, 2002.
Morrison, Toni, "Recitatif." African American Literature: A Brief Introduction and Anthology. Ed. Al Young. New York: Harper Collins, 1996. 209-25.
In conclusion, Kincaid uses the mother-daughter relationship in Lucy to highlight and also expose the parallels between the systems of colonization and the patriarchy.
Nnoromele, Salome C. "Representing the African Woman: Subjectivity and Self in The Joys of Motherhood." Critique 43.2 (2002): 178-190.