Rhetorical Analysis of Kincaid's 'On Seeing England for the First Time'

In her essay “On Seeing England for the First Time” (1991), Jamaica Kincaid expresses her hatred for England by revealing England’s oppression of Antigua. Kincaid supports her claim by using irony, imagery, and constant repetition of the words “made in England”. She also reflects on her experiences living in a British colony to further show her oppression. Her purpose is to show what it is like living under another country's control in order to communicate her negative attitude towards England. She also describes the lives of the people living on the island of Antigua, so that her readers will sympathize with her and perhaps even become angry. The author establishes a bitter, sarcastic tone with her audience, particularly the readers of “Transition” and “Harper’s”. They are the educated people of England and America, the colonizers.

The first rhetorical strategy she uses is irony. Because of the title, “On Seeing England for the First Time”, we, the readers, assume that she wrote this essay about visiting the country of England for the first time. However, as Kincaid states in the first paragraph, she first saw England as a “child in school sitting at a desk.” The first time she saw England she was not visiting the country, she was looking at a map. This is very different from what might be
After stating that she first saw England on a map, she goes on to describe the map, comparing it to “a very special jewel”. Kincaid describes its yellow form as shaped “like a leg of mutton”, with shadings of pink and green and red squiggles running through it. Imagery is a very useful rhetorical strategy. It is the use of language to create vivid pictures in the reader’s mind, which makes writing more interesting. Another example of Kincaid’s use of imagery is when she talks about her father’s hat. It was a brown felt hat that would develop a hole in its crown and become separated from the