A Small Place Jamaica Kincaid Analysis

If you were stuck on an island with people you despised, how would you feel? For the native islanders of Antigua, this was the case. But for one islander, Jamaica Kincaid, this misery not only became a reality, but also her motive for writing A Small Place. By analyzing her essay through the Psychological, Marxist, and Reader’s Response lenses, Kincaid’s use of language ties together a story of retribution. A Small Place reflects the psychological effects she was left with by colonization, the unfair social structure her homeland is faced with, and the shaping of the way her audience sees her.
Through the use of the Psychological lens, Jamaica Kincaid’s tale of retribution helps demonstrate the trauma that colonialism left her with. It is important
The Marxist lens gives insight on her economic background, which is very important to consider because it determines the context of her views in Antiguan society. Antigua’s dark history has always been a power struggle, where “Wealth and power are in the hands of a very few, all of whom, in Kincaid’s perspective, are corrupt,” rather than in a stable system of government (31). The imbalance of power in Antigua helps to demonstrate a series of unfair social classes, which inevitably led natives like Kincaid to fall to the bottom. Her perspective takes place from a low economic standing, giving it a tone of pleading rather than complaining. If she held a higher position in society, she’d have greater access to much more benefits and opportunities. Therefore, her argument would weaken, because nobody’s going to listen to a rich person complain about their wealth. The fact that Kincaid is aware of socioeconomic issues is phenomenal. One primary issue with the Antiguan government was that it was based on money. She learned of this issue from a friend who observed that “The government is for sale,” which allowed her to finally enforce her arguments on a target group, the colonial aristocrats who manipulate power, rather than end up complaining without meaning (Kincaid 47). Her belief that all trouble lies in this ruthless
Analysis with this lens shows the emotion she expends into her writing, and how it strengthens her style. The result of her emotional views caused reader Doris Grumbach to claim that her writing “results not so much in stories as it does a state of consciousness,” or that the emotions that Kincaid tries to create have much more of an impact than her logic (Hirsch, Schweitzer 477). she even relies on prompting emotions to distract from logic, because her writing becomes very contradictory at times. Her ideas of who’s responsible for instability are especially warped in the process, switching between colonists and corrupt natives. Kincaid’s writing style can hold two contradictory ideas together in such a way that they almost don’t interfere (Hirsch, Schweitzer 477). However, it is also her most criticized writing method. Despite the criticism, it gives her an advantage: she can express a plethora of contradictions, and with the proper use of her style, she can sneak past many contrasting statements. However, like the Psychological and Marxist lenses, Kincaid still believes she has to vindicate for herself, so she begins to criticize the language she writes in: English. Kincaid clearly states her criticism by writing “Isn’t it odd that the only language I have in which to speak of the crime is the language of the