Jamaica Kincaid A Small Place

Jamaica Kincaid novel, “A Small Place” was published in the year 1988 as an essay. This novel portrays aspects of her native island and includes issues such as the tourist industry, the legacy from the British and the denunciation of the Antiguan government.

This writer was born on the island of Antigua where she lived until the age of sixteen; she conveys her strong opinions about her complex and frustrating childhood in this book.

When she left the island she went to the United States and started her writing career with many materials; always reflecting on her childhood. She was never afraid of sharing her ideas about the European and American inhabitants of her homeland.

She has certain writing styles that she brings out in poetic forms and is always grasping the attention of her readers. There are many critics and readers who has many questions to ask after reading some of Kincaid’s vivid tales of her own life; there is always the challenge of looking beyond the beauty and forces one to explore the truth and reality of the underlying factors.

Jamaica Kincaid starts this controversial story from the point of view of an outsider to her island. While reading this book you are left with many answers as there is the opinion from the outsider telling you of the wonders of Antigua and then Kincaid’s add her own prospective as a local.

If you have to review Jamaica Kincaid “a small place”, you have to examine four different sections, the first part contains Kincaid’s recounting the thoughts and experiences as a supposed tourist to the island.

While reading you will observe the natural beauty through her descriptions of the island and at the same time learning about the sheltered harsh realities the locals have to live with.

In the second part of the book Kincaid’s tells of her memories of the earlier years in Antigua as a British colony. She recalls the racism and subservience the Antiguans went through living the culture of the English.

This writer’s biggest problem was the fact that the islanders express themselves in the language of the English who oppressed them for many years. She finishes this section by comparing the present system and that of the colonial period.

The longest section in this book is this third part and it dealt with the state of her homeland in present times and even venturing as far as to say that maybe life was better in the colonial times. There was a reference to politics, education and infrastructure, especially the library which she is very fond of and has been taking them so many years to repair. From reading this section the readers get the impression that Kincaid did not think her country had grown in the years since its independence.

The final section of this book was much like an afterthought which started with a hint to the extreme physical beauty of Antigua. This is where you could see her dreamlike characteristic style of writing at its best, the descriptions that were given take you into a stage setting that felt so real.

Then she delved into the poverty of the people who were trapped in this unchanging scenery and was part of the mixed blessings of the island.

Jamaica Kincaid a small place is a thought provoking book that will invoke a longing in the readers as they get caught up in this world.