Kincaid in a Small Place uses many different forms of
conveying meaning; from specific and literal uses of words to theoretical ones
and emotionally jarring abstract ones.
He constructs and deconstructs our understanding of a word such as “tourist”
and “library” so that we may stop expecting and assuming and start
listening. This serves Kincaid’s purpose
of trying to tell the story of the native Antiguans who’s tale isn’t found in
the language of even the books in their own library but in unheard
meta-language and in their reaction to contemplating who they are, where they
came from and what Antigua is.
The following list will point to examples of tourism in the
book:
1) Pg 3: “You are
a tourist and you have not yet seen a school in Antigua, you have not yet seen
the hospital in Antigua, you have not yet seen a public monument in Antigua.”
2) Pg 4: “Since you are a tourist, the thought of what
it might be like for someone who had to live day in, day out in a place that
suffers constantly from drought, and shad to watch carefully every drop of
fresh water used (while as the same time surrounded by a sea and an ocean – the
Caribbean Sea on one side, the Atlantic Ocean on the other), must never cross
your mind.
3) Pg 4: “Since you are a tourist, a North American or
European - to be frank, white – and not an Antiguan black returning to Antigua
from Europe or North America with cardboard boxes of much needed cheap clothes
and food for relatives, you move through customs swiftly, you move through
customs with ease.”
4) Pg 6: “This
might frighten you (you are on your holiday; you are a tourist); this might
excite you (you are on your holidays; you are a tourist).”
5) Pg 7: “You pass the hospital, the Holberton
Hospital, and how wrong you are not to think about this, for though you are a
tourist on your holiday, what if your heart should miss a few beats?”
6) Pg 14: “Tourist is an ugly human being. You are not an ugly person all the time; you
are not an ugly person ordinarily; you are not an ugly person day to day.”
7) Pg 17: “An ugly thing, that is what you are when you
become a tourist, an ugly, empty thing, a stupid thing, a piece of rubbish
pausing here and there to gaze at this and taste that, and it will never occur
to you that the people who inhabit the place in which you have just paused
cannot stand you.”
8) Pg 18: “OH, the hard work all of this, are and is it
any wonder, then, that on your return home you feel the need of a long rest, so
that you can recover from your life as a tourist?”
9) Pg 18: “That the native does not like the tourist is
not hard to explain. For every native of
every place is potential tourist, and every tourist is a native of somewhere.”
10) Pg 48: “So that when tourists turned up they could
buy all those awful things they then take home, put in their attics, and their
children have to throw out when the tourists, finally, die.”
From the narrator's point of view, tourists are ugly. Kincaid feels that tourism is all about
people finding a way to leave from their routine life and enjoying themselves,
yet everyone is a native of somewhere.
People who live in their native place seem to be boring for them but for
tourists that place is very beautiful.
As for the meaning of "tourism", when she states
they are 'ugly', she is stating that they're both physically and morally ugly. Kincaid
is disgusted by the tourist because they're only on their vacation, as well as
the way the tourists treat the citizens of Antigua. And since hotels and
tourist businesses are the main source of money, many of the citizens work
within those businesses. When a tourist comes, all the problems are Antigua and
not their problems and are completely neglected because they're on vacation.
And the following list will point to instances of “library”
in the book:
Pg 8 line 21 “It’s a good thing that you brought your own
books with you, for you couldn’t just go to the library and borrow some.”
Pg 9 lines 12 “The library is one of those splendid old
buildings from colonial times…”
Pg 25 line 9 “There was the library on lower High Street…”
Pg 25 line 14 “…you could cash a cheque at the Treasury,
read a book in the library..”
Pg 36 line 9 “…you made sure to build a school, a library
(yes, and in both of these places you distorted or erased my history and
glorified your own)…”
Pg 41 line 14 “I was standing on Market Street in front of
the library. The library!”
Pg 42 line 20 “(for the quiet in this library was a sound in
itself), the smell of the sea (which was a stone’s throw away)…the beauty of us
sitting there like communicants at an altar taking in, again and again, the
fairy tale of how we met you, your right to do the things you did, how
beautiful you were…”
Pg 43 line 3 “…my heart would break at the dung heap that
now passes for a library…”
Pg 45 line 2 “In those days, she seemed imperious and stuck
up, suspicious of us (in my case, she was justified; I stole many books from
this library.”
Pg 48 line 18 “…I should ask the Minister of Education…why
it is that for so many years this island, which has as its motto of
Independence “A People to Mold, A Nation to Build” has not had a proper
library, but at the moment…he was in Trinidad attending a cricket match…since
he is not only the Minister of Education and the Minister of Culture but also
the Minister of Sport.”
1) “The library is one of those splendid old buildings from
colonial times and the sign telling of the repairs is splendid old sign from
colonial times” pg9
2) “But you should not think about the confusion that must
lie in all that and you must not think of the damaged library…” pg 9
3) “There was a library on lower high street above the
Department of the Treasury , and it was in that part of High street that all
colonial government took place.” Pg25
4) “…you loved knowledge, and where ever you went you made
sure to build a school, a library (yes, and in both of these places you
distorted or erased my history and glorified your own)” pg36
5) “Or, why, years after The Earthquake damaged the old
library building, has a new library not been built?” pg42
6) “I don’t know whether it is because of the chaos of
storing for a long period of time the contents of a public library in cardboard
boxes, or because of the bad post-colonial education the young librarians have
received.” Pg43
7) “The head librarian, the same one from colonial days,
seemed to spend her time wondering if there was anyone with money or influence
to help the library…”pg 44
8) “The old building where the old library used to be was
occupied by, and served as headquarters for, a carnival troupe.”pg46
9) “…this island, which has as its motto of independence ‘A
People to Mold, a Nation to Build’ has not had a proper library.”pg48
10) “…Mill Reef Club wanted to restore the old library, but
she didn’t know if they would be able to do so, because that part of St. John’s
was going to be developed, turned into little shops-boutiques- so that when
tourists show up they could buy all those awful things that tourists always
buy…” pg 48
It appears the term “Library” is utilized by the author for
several different uses. The British library on the island destroyed many ideas
about Antiguan identity and replaced it with the “superior” British mindset.
After Antiguan independence, the old British Library was closed for repairs
after an earthquake. The new idea for a library considered by the author was
progress and a tool to rebuild Antiguan identity. Unfortunately as Kincaid
explains, the current library was a travesty. This reflected on the lack of
governmental involvement for the progress of their own people and the
government focus on money and tourists.
The narrator's meaning of the library is a representation of
Antigua being damaged as a whole, and like the library, Antigua is unable to
both repair and/or build new structures. This is in regards to how the
Antiguans are stuck in the colonial past.
The library is the big lie.
It’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
It might have been okay if the English even tried to live up to the
dream they inserted in the books in the library. One way to live up to the dream and do
justice to the natives would be to have fixed the library and help educate
Antiguans. But the fancy words and fancy
titles are just a façade for a self-interested people and culture who are
nowhere to be found. Even the excuse as
to why the library isn’t fixed uses words to manipulate the truth; posting that
“the earthquake” caused the damage leads us sympathize with the British and the
Antiguans, both victims of nature now, instead of asking why it hasn’t been
fixed. What breaks Kincaid’s heart is
that the people really believed the British would soon embody the enlightenment
and rights and justice that were embedded in the words in the books in the
library. It never happened and the damaged
library is proof that the British were all talk hiding behind history, words
and titles with the library as another tool of manipulation for England’s self-interest. Kincaid can’t forgive or forget the role her
life and the lives of other native Antiguans played in Britain’s games.
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