Jamaica Kincaid A Small Place

When traveling to another country or even just simply another place, we are oblivious to certain surroundings. We do not see how the choices we make while we are guests in this foreign place effect the natives. We expect sunny skies with no rain when visiting warm tropical places, but that is not what is wanted by the natives of this territory. Jamaica Kincaid dives into this controversial issue in her story; “A Small Place”. Kincaid gets her message across by targeting tourists. Although she targets the tourists, she likes to show both perspectives, one from the tourist and one from the native so the reader can put themselves in one of their shoes. “A Small Place” by Jamaica Kincaid uses word choice and tone to portray the feeling of being
Jamaica Kincaid had many reasons behind her word choice in “A Small Place”. Kincaid speaks directly to the reader in this story. She is assuming that the reader is a tourist and not from Antigua. She makes multiple accusations of the reader being ugly. When she first begins to attack the reader it is with the word “you”. She tries to interpret what “you” are thinking when visiting her country. By using “you” she is not categorizing herself with these people. She is keeping the stereotype that she created targeted only towards the tourists. Using “you” effects how the reader considers themselves doing these certain actions when visiting an unfamiliar area. It will force the reader to consider if they fit into this stereotype created by Kincaid. Kincaid uses every single step that is taken when traveling in hopes to connect with every reader somehow. She hits every event from the time they land in Antigua to when they leave. “IF YOU GO to Antigua as a tourist, this is what you will see (Kincaid 1).” This is the first sentence of the story and Kincaid made it very to the point for a reason. She did not need an amazing five-star hook that would draw the reader in. She wanted to set the tone very early. She is basically telling you that if you visit as a tourist you will see things from this point of view and that’s how it will be end of story. The way she uses her words and forms sentences makes the
She uses many literary elements to build this successful piece. Her use of tone set for the story created a sense of unease for the reader. Her word choice was selective based on the fact that she wanted the reader to understand that they were being seen as the tourist in this story. Kincaid’s choices panned out for her in the long run and ended up connecting to many tourists, myself personally being one of them. When writing a story that needs to get a message across it can be done in two ways. One, very upfront and to the point. Or, two, subtle and hidden behind metaphors for the reader to uncover if they want to analyze the piece further. Kincaid’s upfront selection of relaying a message made readers understand the feeling of being a