Reaction on the First Two Chapters of A Small Place (Part II)

The author of A Small Place depicts a hardship that she faced along with her fellow Antiguans. She recounts her point of view first on the tourist who come to visit and Antigua and then about her own journey as a kid. One may say, well she is Antiguan but she only lived there until she was 16 years-old and ask can she really act like and expert on Antigua? To those people, I say yes indeed.

 She starts off calling out every one of those tourists who is not really welcome in Antigua because of what the mean to the Antiguans, tourists. They are not welcome because too the Antiguans they represent exactly what they want to be. The want to be able to travel and run away from where they came from at least for a week or so. Tourists are the mere reminder of how stuck an Antiguan could be. Those tourists can see the sad differences between where the come from and where they have just arrived but only care for their vacation.

Following that she gives the reader some insight on what it was like to live under the English rule and grow up in those specific circumstances. She talks about the presence of racism in different aspects of her life, like the teacher and the doctor. She confronts the fact that the English came and took everything as if it was theirs to take without even asking. She also emphasizes on how the Antiguans were expected to act and live like the English but were never to become anything close to an English person. Kincaid highlights how the English murdered, robbed, all around hurt the Antiguans. This will never be made right because the wrong that was done was so wrong.

At first glance a reader may think that she is not at all clear on her identity but, she is a lot clearer on it that many are. She is Antiguan despite having left at 16 and she is fighting for her voice to be hear.