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The overall feeling the Jamaica Kincaid relays to the reader in A Small Place is very negative. All through out the book she bashes at the way-of-life on her native island Antigua by the politicians and tourists. I think that the two major tones in A Small Place are cynical and livid. Cynical is described in the dictionary as believing or showing the belief that people are motivated chiefly by base or selfish concerns; skeptical of the motives of others.
Kincaid talks cynically through out the book when speaking of the politicians and the drug lord that lives there. Now they own a lot of Antigua, they regularly lend money to the government, they build enormous (for Antigua), ugly (for Antigua), concrete buildings in Antigua's capital, St. Johns, which the government then rents for huge suns of money (Kincaid 11). Kincaid says here that the Syrian family controls the government of Antigua and makes money off of the people. Nowhere in the book does she use any facts to back up her assumptions and accusations. Not far from this mansion is another mansion, the home of a drug smuggler (Kincaid 11).
This is another accusation where the only way she backs it up is with the statement Everybody knows hes a drug smuggler (Kincaid 11). They final line the convinced me of her cynical mind is when she said It is not a secret that a minister is involved in drug trafficking (Kincaid 59). Livid is described as being Extremely angry; furious. I think that almost any line out of this novel that is said by Kincaid can be described as livid. You murdered people. You imprisoned people.
You robbed people. You opened your own banks and your put our money into them. The accounts were in your name. (Kincaid 35). This is just part of one of the many ramblings Kincaid does in the book. All she does is complain about the former British Empire and the government established after their independence. Sometimes she uses interesting ways of describing things to really bring home the point of her grievances.
The hospital in Antigua is so dirty, so run-down, that even if the best doctors and nurses in the world were employed, a person from another part of the world - Europe or North America would not feel confident leaving a domestic animal there (Kincaid 65). I truly hope this is an exaggerated statements because when you use domesticated animals to describe human establishments you know its pretty bad. A tourist is an ugly human being (Kincaid 14). Since the only money Antigua will be making legally is off of tourism I dont think it is wise for her to go after the tourists also. They may be ugly people, but they do usually have pockets stuffed with money which is better then the penniless peasants that live on the island. Kincaid really has some cleaning up to do in her attitude.
I think that she will get her and her beloved country nowhere if the only way she can express herself is by name-calling of others in high ranking places. Maybe if she was smart she would ask England to help clean-up what the started. This would be a more logically approach in my opinion then acting like an idiot and a baby to try and get your way on things.
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Research essay sample on Tones In A Small Place By Jamaica Kincaid
