?From a reader's perspective, it is clear that Jamaica Kincaid is not happy with the current situation in Antigua. By comparing precolonial Antigua with colonial and postcolonial Antigua, Kincaid creates an anti-tourist novel and questions whether the island was better off in precolonial times or what its situation is today. In the first section of the novel, Kincaid describes to the reader the beauty of the island without going into the harshness of the natives' lives. She tells this part from the hypothetical perspective of a tourist, but ultimately ends the section by explaining how much she dislikes tourists. The second section describes ancient Antigua, when it was under the colonial possession of Great Britain. In the third section, Kincaid questions whether times were better in the past or how they are today. The fourth section ends the book with a comparison of the "mixed blessing" with which the island's inhabitants live: they are surrounded by the immense beauty of a tropical Caribbean island, only to find themselves stricken by poverty and a unsuitable lifestyle. terms. Kincaid's views on culture and history reflect what many people in the Caribbean and Antigua feel: that the living conditions they face today are very different from what they once were. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Kincaid's point of view in A Small Place reflects a Caribbean perspective, which is one of disgust toward Europeans. While they felt they were doing the natives a favor by coming to teach them their culture, Kincaid believes that the Europeans stripped many Caribs of their culture, including the Antiguans. She believes Antigua's culture was taken from them and that other Caribbean islanders feel the same way about their land. The culture they once had and understanding of their island's indigenous rituals are long gone, having been replaced by the ideas of Europeans. In the first section, Kincaid begins from the perspective of a tourist and shows readers how they would view the island. “When your plane comes down to land, you could tell what a beautiful island Antigua is.” [4] Kincaid shows from a tourist perspective that the island is extremely beautiful. However, the beauty of the island hides the true lives of the natives who live there, as well as the poverty and poor living conditions they face. A native sees the island differently because he has to live there and deal with it every day, while a tourist comes and sees the island for the first time. The tourist considers the island to be a paradise, a sort of escape from the usual troubles of his native country. “Every native of every place is a potential tourist, and every tourist is from somewhere. Every native, everywhere, lives a life of overwhelming and crushing ordinariness, boredom, despair and depression, and every act, good or bad, is an attempt to forget this. Every native would like to find a way out, every native would like to rest, every native would like to pay a visit. But some natives – most of the world’s natives – can’t go anywhere. They are too poor. They are too poor to go anywhere. They are too poor to escape the reality of their lives; and they are too poor to live properly in the place where they live, which is the very place where you, the tourist, want to go - so when the natives see you, the tourist, they envy you, they envy your ability to leave your country. their own banality and boredom, they envy your ability totransform their own banality and boredom into a source of pleasure for yourself. [18-19]The reader can better understand how the natives live their lives and, from a cultural perspective, can see that the Caribbean way of life is disrespectful to their culture. They live in poverty and their culture has been taken away from them, and they are now forced to live in a world where European influence has taken over. The second section sees Kincaid return to old Antigua, during the colonial possession. She briefly recalls Antigua's unconditional obedience to England and its culture. From a cultural perspective, we now see how England stripped the Antiguans of their culture and morals, being able to "mold" them, in a sense, to become the people they wanted them to be. be. This was often the case in many Caribbean countries once colonized. “Have you ever tried to understand why people like me can't get over the past, can't forgive and can't forget? There is the Barclay bank. The Barclay brothers are dead. The human beings they traded with, the human beings who were only merchandise for them, died. . . . So, do you see what's weird about people like me? Sometimes we hold your punishment. » Kincaid accuses the British colonial system of exchanging humans and transforming them into another object instead of a real human being. Kincaid cannot “forgive and forget” because there is no way to either forgive or forget how slavery affected people. In the third section, Kincaid questions whether things were better in the past or how they are now. She uses the library as an example: “If you could hear the sound of the quiet [of the old library]…. . . , the smell of the sea. . . , the heat of the sun. . . , the beauty of us sitting there like communicants before an altar. . . , the fairy tale about how we met you, your right to do the things you did. . . you would see why my heart would break in front of this pile of dung which now serves as a library in Antigua. » In the past, the library was a majestic place where people loved to spend their time. However, it is now temporarily located above a haberdashery store, awaiting repairs. Members of the Mill Reef Club have funds to help restore the library, but they will only donate money if it is completely rebuilt. Kincaid believes this has more to do with trying to remember colonial rule than trying to actually help. In the final section, Kincaid says that the island's beauty is a "mixed blessing" for the natives, who are surrounded by beauty but trapped in poverty. “It is then as if beauty – the beauty of the sea, of the earth, of the air, of the trees, of the market, of the people, of the noises they make – was a prison, and as if everything and everyone who was there was locked out and everything and everyone who wasn't inside was locked out. And what would it do to ordinary people to live like this every day? What might it be like for them to live in such a busy, intense environment every day? » Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized document from our expert writers now. the island were victims and considered them honorable, but their descendants and the people who live in Antigua today are just simple human beings. Europeans believed that colonizing these countries would give them a sense of hope and open them to new cultures. However, Kincaid believes that Antigua's culture was taken away from them with the arrival of the English.,, 21(1), 19-42.