A Small Place

A Small Place
Jamaica Kincaid’s novel A Small Place was a very fascinating read on the author’s journey through the post-colonial Antiguan society. Although I personally found that the book was quite a dry-read and not entirely appealing to me, the story that Kincaid tells has a true message that talks a lot about the role of tourism on her country, and on the corruption of big business that prevents "culture" from flourishing on its own. From my standpoint, I feel as if this book mostly discusses the awareness of the situation on Antigua rather then finding an actually solution to the problems. The island of Antigua may still seem trapped in a place of slavery for those who inhabit there but even though it may seem rough they still fight to maintain all they can and keep the island a place of beauty and enjoyment.
Jamaica Kincaid takes two views on one subject and transforms them into one big perspective on problems occurring in this exquisite place. The way this book was written was pretty neat in the sense that it went from introducing this one big problem and finishing off with a happy sense of tranquility even though there were so many quandaries along the way. The book starts of with Kincaid going to the island and seeing all the beauties that every tourist just about sees. She says things how tourists only see the beauties of the island and the ugliness is sheltered off into other parts of it. Only someone who actually lived there would know what its like to live n a place that can have so much integrity yet is still very poorly run. The island is run down and slowly deteriorating due to not keeping up with the ways the island used to be run and now is just focused on making money keeping the tourists happy. She finishes the first part by describing why the tourists are considered to be “ugly” when she says, “A tourist is an ugly human being” (Kincaid 14). Morally, their just people who come to nice places to use the commodities that those places offer...