A Huge Unsolved Problem
A SMALL PLACE: A HUGE UNSOLVED PROBLEM
In A Small Place, Jamaica Kincaid brings us into the realm of Antigua- a small country in the British West Indies, having its hard time dealing with reality after being ruled by European for a very long time. From a native's perspective, Kincaid shows us the hatred Antiguans feel for white people since the colonization is based on racism and envy for their life conditions.
The huge difference between natives and tourists is the main reason why Antiguans show their resentment towards tourists even though they do nothing wrong. The envy that they feel for them is mostly based on the clear distinction between the native and the tourist, which in this case is the priority that a man gets because he is white, "Since you are a tourist, European or North Americans, to be frank, white, you move through customs with ease." (4). They are envious with the reason that made him gets here, which was as ridiculous as it could be, to escape from the ordinary, "Because being ordinary is already so taxing..."(16). Kincaid strongly shows her anger in the sense that while the man has already got a fulfilled life but still asks for a better one, all the native people here, have no other choices rather than to stay and continue their suffers.
Tourists are selfish in the sense that they only care about their own problems, but ignore others' as long as they can't find any relation to those problems. All tourists can totally deal with all kinds of situations no matter how hard they are, even humiliation from the local people. Though they do not send out the message that one is now being picked on, he is always be alert that he might be a perfect target for stereotyping. Degrading them in his mind: "And you look at the way they squat down over a hole they have made in the ground, the hole itself is something marvel at; their ancestors were not clever in the way yours", their bad manners are clearly shown. Compare his reaction towards the taxi
In A Small Place, Jamaica Kincaid brings us into the realm of Antigua- a small country in the British West Indies, having its hard time dealing with reality after being ruled by European for a very long time. From a native's perspective, Kincaid shows us the hatred Antiguans feel for white people since the colonization is based on racism and envy for their life conditions.
The huge difference between natives and tourists is the main reason why Antiguans show their resentment towards tourists even though they do nothing wrong. The envy that they feel for them is mostly based on the clear distinction between the native and the tourist, which in this case is the priority that a man gets because he is white, "Since you are a tourist, European or North Americans, to be frank, white, you move through customs with ease." (4). They are envious with the reason that made him gets here, which was as ridiculous as it could be, to escape from the ordinary, "Because being ordinary is already so taxing..."(16). Kincaid strongly shows her anger in the sense that while the man has already got a fulfilled life but still asks for a better one, all the native people here, have no other choices rather than to stay and continue their suffers.
Tourists are selfish in the sense that they only care about their own problems, but ignore others' as long as they can't find any relation to those problems. All tourists can totally deal with all kinds of situations no matter how hard they are, even humiliation from the local people. Though they do not send out the message that one is now being picked on, he is always be alert that he might be a perfect target for stereotyping. Degrading them in his mind: "And you look at the way they squat down over a hole they have made in the ground, the hole itself is something marvel at; their ancestors were not clever in the way yours", their bad manners are clearly shown. Compare his reaction towards the taxi