Jamaica Kincaid A Small Place

When traveling to another country or even just simply another place, we are oblivious to certain surroundings. We do not see how the choices we make while we are guests in this foreign place effect the natives. We expect sunny skies with no rain when visiting warm tropical places, but that is not what is wanted by the natives of this territory. Jamaica Kincaid dives into this controversial issue in her story; “A Small Place”. Kincaid gets her message across by targeting tourists. Although she targets the tourists, she likes to show both perspectives, one from the tourist and one from the native so the reader can put themselves in one of their shoes. “A Small Place” by Jamaica Kincaid uses word choice and tone to portray the feeling of being
a native. Jamaica Kincaid writes “A Small Place” in story form. It is written as if she is speaking from her own personal experiences. Kincaid views tourists as uneducated, needy, oblivious, and not very understanding. It is known that she thinks of them in this way based on the tone set for the story and Kincaid’s word choice. Tourists are seen as morally ugly, “You see an incredibly unattractive, fat, pastrylike-fleshed woman enjoying a walk on the beautiful sand… (Kincaid 13)” This description of tourists is also physically disgusting, she describes tourists as fat and unattractive. She targets the tourists pasty skin color because they do not have a sun like theirs. This makes Kincaid seem very angry towards tourists. It shows how the tone is being set for the story, and it is not very positive at all. Kincaid also suggests that tourists use natives who are generally much poorer for their pleasure; to get around the land, to wait on them at dinner, to sell them souvenirs, etc. The natives feel exploited by tourists need to have them do everything while they are on “vacation”. Tourists travel to get away from their ordinary lives and get a new scenery for a short time. They are fascinated by certain places and things that make up Antigua that the natives struggle with. Kincaid uses imagery to depict these places in the story. At first she will describe them as beautiful because that is how the tourist view them, then she gives the truth. For a short period of time it seems beautiful and like a wonderful place to live but in the long run these attractions are extremely detrimental to the natives. The gorgeous ocean that is seen from a tourists’ balcony and swam in by many tourists, do not realize that it is filled with the contents of their lavatory. There is no proper sewage-disposal system in Antigua, but the Caribbean Sea is very big and the Atlantic Ocean is even bigger (Kincaid 14). Only the natives have to deal with this unsanitary issue because the tourists will be gone in not too long. Kincaid’s tone when describing this obliviousness is very blunt. She says, “A tourist is an ugly human being (Kincaid 14).” Kincaid is categorizing all of the tourists in the world as ugly because that’s how she views them in her eyes. Kincaid sets the tone very negative for a reason. She wants tourists to wake up and realize these issues that occur when they are in foreign places. If she was nice about how she said these things, tourists would not really think it was a big deal which is why she does not put the story in that tone. Tone plays a huge factor when writing a story and that is proven in “A Small Place”. Kincaid uses her aggressive and somewhat sarcastic tone to intensify her point. There is a reason behind every choice an author makes when writing a story.
Jamaica Kincaid had many reasons behind her word choice in “A Small Place”. Kincaid speaks directly to the reader in this story. She is assuming that the reader is a tourist and not from Antigua. She makes multiple accusations of the reader being ugly. When she first begins to attack the reader it is with the word “you”. She tries to interpret what “you” are thinking when visiting her country. By using “you” she is not categorizing herself with these people. She is keeping the stereotype that she created targeted only towards the tourists. Using “you” effects how the reader considers themselves doing these certain actions when visiting an unfamiliar area. It will force the reader to consider if they fit into this stereotype created by Kincaid. Kincaid uses every single step that is taken when traveling in hopes to connect with every reader somehow. She hits every event from the time they land in Antigua to when they leave. “IF YOU GO to Antigua as a tourist, this is what you will see (Kincaid 1).” This is the first sentence of the story and Kincaid made it very to the point for a reason. She did not need an amazing five-star hook that would draw the reader in. She wanted to set the tone very early. She is basically telling you that if you visit as a tourist you will see things from this point of view and that’s how it will be end of story. The way she uses her words and forms sentences makes the
reader feel unwanted and overstepping a boundary of Kincaid’s. She makes the reader feel way more privileged than the natives. “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 (Kincaid 4,5).” Continuously repeating “since you are a tourist” creates the effect of feeling out of place and intruding for the reader. Kincaid wants the reader to feel this so that they can hopefully change their actions. Kincaid’s odd choice of words sets her story up to have great success with its message. The message of this story can be interpreted in many ways and is somewhat underlying. Due to her use of tone and word choice, it is believed to be that Kincaid does not like tourists at all. This may not be the case. She does not think tourism is bad although it comes across this way. Her country relies on tourism to stay afloat. Without the tourists there would not be an Antigua. She wants the tourists to respect Antigua’s culture and country for what it is. She wants to inform the tourists of their struggles so that they do not offend a native by admiring something that in reality is a huge issue in Antigua. And foremost, she does not want any other native to feel this way by tourists entering their country. She is putting this story out there to inform all tourists of the things that they do that need to stop or be altered when traveling to another country. Kincaid uses her pathos to connect to the reader and tourists of all types. “A Small Place” by Jamaica Kincaid is an informative story.
She uses many literary elements to build this successful piece. Her use of tone set for the story created a sense of unease for the reader. Her word choice was selective based on the fact that she wanted the reader to understand that they were being seen as the tourist in this story. Kincaid’s choices panned out for her in the long run and ended up connecting to many tourists, myself personally being one of them. When writing a story that needs to get a message across it can be done in two ways. One, very upfront and to the point. Or, two, subtle and hidden behind metaphors for the reader to uncover if they want to analyze the piece further. Kincaid’s upfront selection of relaying a message made readers understand the feeling of being a
native.