The Ugly Tourist By Jamaica Kincaid Summary

748 Words2 Pages

A lot of tourists would not think that they are offending the native residents when they travel. In the article, “The Ugly Tourist” excerpt from Jamaica Kincaid’s book, Small Place, she argues that when one is in a state of being a tourist, one does not know the depth of the place and only sees what one wants to see. Kincaid gives a strong idea of what she is arguing when she described a tourist as “an ugly human being.” She presents the emotional conflicts between tourist and the natives by evaluating their different lifestyles. Right off the bat, you can tell Kincaid is directing this piece towards you. The first sentence of the excerpt, Kincaid gave a strong idea what this piece is going to be about, “The thing you have always suspected about yourself the minute you become a tourist is true: A tourist is an ugly human being.” You were not ugly …show more content…

It is very insensitive for the tourists to visit their land and not understands the natives’ way. Most people try to not offend the natives when they travel. However, if the native hates them because they are rich and have privileges then there is nothing the tourists can do about it. “Every native everywhere lives life of overwhelming and crushing banality and boredom and desperation and depression, and every deed, good or bad, is an attempt to forget this” (434). No one wants to be poor and struggle. Everyone works hard for their money. Even if there are people who were born into the success because of their heritage, they still have to work hard to live up to the expectation. For example, if the father passes down his company to his son, the son must work hard and learn about business and run the company as smoothly or if possible, run the company better than his father. Everyone has to go through some sort of struggles in their life and they have to work hard to achieves their goals. “Every native Hating on the rich people doesn’t make the native any

Open Document