Notes from August 30, A Small Place

CLT-361-Sec01

Thesis group: Matthew Baumback; Kaitlyn Colagioia; Lana Dowd; Mary Garvey; Sidra Khalid; Zach Spoering; James Vazquez; Jacqueline Zinzi

Notes from 8/30/2012

Professor Barnhart opened the class with a set of word games designed to make us aware of the role of context in bringing the meaning of words to the surface. Combinations were given that shared the common noun “apple;” such as “apple, peach,” “apple, crust,” “apple, company,” etc… Different nouns called up different associations of meaning we had for apple; “apple, company” triggered the Apple software company in many responses. We also had students offer examples of sayings such as “the apple of my eye,” or “apple” as a term of endearment. Professor Barnhart offered a list that included “Jason is a bad apple,” and “the Big Apple,” where ‘apple’ takes on a socially constructed meaning completely other than apple the fruit.

Professor Barnhart then gave an anecdotal account of what the word beach means to him. We knew he was talking about the ‘beach’ as we know it to be as a sandy area near a large body of water, but what unfolded was true to Barnhart’s unique and complex relationship to the word. Barnhart recollected how, stuck in a desert like region, his mother made a devoted effort to give her children something that could replace the much talked about experience of going to the beach. Instead they went to Tweetsie Railroad, and for them, “it wasn’t the beach” but it was a distinctively fond memory. Not until Barnhart came to New York and began going to the beach could he speak to his own experience when speaking of a “day at the beach” except now, it may not be as special as Tweetsie Railroad for the loving effort that was a part of it. The two meanings live together in Barnhart’s recollection and are tied to other complex family experiences. The hypothesis given here is that meanings surface from relationships within a specific context. The evidence given in the word games are the different meanings given different groupings of the word apple and in Barnhart’s anecdote; the relationship between beach and Tweetsie Railroad. The conclusion is very strong that meaning cannot be isolated from context. The weakness of this approach is that it could be difficult to find a meaning that creates a solid platform for judgment as in law decisions. Conversely it may become too easy to find reasons why you have a different understanding so as to ignore another’s. Other problems that may surface are how we can determine if a meaning is wrong, right, or ethical.

We then hear the groups present on Jamaica Kincaid’s book A Small Place. The first group describes the narrative as from a native Antiguan. The narrator coaxes us into imagining ourselves as a tourist entering this beautiful vacation destination and suggests thoughts that may cross our mind. The group offers descriptive examples from the text that are often contradictory such as; “What a beautiful island Antigua is (pg3)…” and “the condominium style of building, ugly in any climate, is especially ugly in a small, hot place (pg62)…;” “Antigua is too beautiful. Sometimes the beauty of it seems unreal (pg77)…;” “degradation and humiliation of their daily lives into their own tourist attraction… (p69)”

The group’s work shows how the meaning of Antigua as a beautiful and placid tourist destination is a very shallow definition. When words such as degradation and ugliness pop out of such a picture book setting, it becomes a moral obligation to engage in Kinkaid’s game of pretending we are actually a tourist in Antigua.

The group mentions that Antigua has not changed over the years due to corruption, drug smuggling, and prostitution. The priority is to anything that will create easy money which is almost always dirty money.

The group explained the economic atmosphere as based in drugs and illegal activities with extremes of the very rich and very poor with no middle class.

Kincaid described the people of Antigua as being very resistant to the ideas of capitalism, not because they can’t grasp the concept, but due to the disgust they had for the uncivilized, disrespectful capitalists who treated them as nothing but capital. (pgs36.37) Kinkaid explains in these pages how the complicated emotional aversion to the ideas of these conquerors and the inability to forget pain they inflicted, and unlearn the language they were indoctrinated in, was enough to stain any “white” idea that Antiguans may have otherwise embraced openly with insult and blood and a general feeling of sickness.

The group finishes by stating the theme of the text- “historical colonial oppression of black Antiguans…corrupt government and foreigners… [poor] local black Antiguans”

The text also succeeds in demolishing the almost creepy beautiful serenity of our first impression of Antigua with the gorgeous blue oceans and crystal blue skies and dry warmth. Paradise was revealed to be resting entirely on the muted tortured souls of black Antiguans. This picture book definition is crushing the black Antiguan beneath it as he realizes he is a product of England and the loot of Syria. The English are criminalized by Kinkaid; those who never asked politely before they moved in and rudely took advantage of a sweet hearted culture who endured bad behavior with servitude and open arms. So our new meaning takes into account that both definitions exist and are a part of the truth and brings great justice to the native Antiguans in being written.

During the class we watched how meanings unfold with experiential richness the more we dig. Looking into the relationships between words and the experiences and context behind meaning helps us to prevent unintentional insensitivity to others.