A Frustrating Place

          Kincaid’s A Small Place brings a certain level of rawness to the world of literature. Not only does one become keenly aware of the dynamics between the tourist and the native, the colonized and colonizer, the have and the have-notes, but one also becomes aware of the power relations of the world, from a global and historical perspective. Kincaid rightfully showcases the absurdities in modern-day Antiguan government, while also making somewhat harsh critiques on the Antiguan people. I enjoyed the lack of inhibitions with which Kincaid writes, the scathing critiques she puts forth against the Western world (the tourist, whiteness, racism, colonialism, as well as Antiguans in positions of power), and the genius analogies she makes plain of colonialism and racism. One immediately senses the immense rage that is writhing beneath the surface of this short, simply and plainly written book. Being able to write with through that level of pain is nothing short of an amazing accomplishment; writing one’s experience and speaking her truth is nothing short of revolutionary and a triumph.

          In one of the latter chapters, she questioningly laments on her fellow Antiguans in such a way that I find saddening: “I look at this place (Antigua), I look at these people (Antiguans), and I cannot tell whether I was brought up by, and so come from, children, eternal innocents, or artists who have not yet found eminence in a world too stupid to understand, or lunatics who have made their own lunatic asylum, or an exquisite combination of all three. (p. 57)”. Here, I wonder whether or not Kincaid, when writing this, did not reach the height of her frustration with her people. In an interview with Kincaid, quite some years after A Small Place had been published, she said one of the issues most Antiguans had with her book was not that it was untrue on any level, but rather they questioned why she felt the need to state it at all. In other words, the agreed with everything she had to say, but didn’t think she needed to write it for the public/world to know. They felt, in a sense, that she was “airing dirty laundry”. I see this sentiment in a number of colonized communities in which one who tells of the issues of the community, of their suffering, of their realities, of their histories – is more criticized by those she seeks to liberate than those who one is seeking liberation from. In the U.S. African American community, Black feminists were lauded by the Black community a number of times for supposedly “airing dirty laundry”. But, relating it to our discussions on “silencing”, it is important to note the ways in which silencing is also maintained and sustained by those that have and are actively being silenced. Understanding colonialism means understanding that many a times, the colonized become the biggest ally for colonialism. I think this is the frustration Kincaid was speaking to in the excerpt, as well as the entire book.