A Small Place Response

            The opening line of A Small Place perfectly sets up what’s coming next. A tourist in Antigua will not see the same thing as an Antiguan. They will see the beautiful island; they will see it as a nice place to visit. Antigua will be a place of rest and relaxation. It will be a place to tell their friends and family back home about—their “exotic island vacation.” A tourist, even if she sees things that might make her curious about the inner workings of the country or the daily lives of its citizens, would probably not really think in depth about them. Everything a tourist sees is further proof of how quaint or exotic Antigua is compared to where she’s from. This is probably true of a tourist visiting any foreign country. How many people go on vacation to learn more about the local populace? And by “learn more” I mean, get to know them on a basis deeper than, “These are locally made crafts? How nice!” But clearly, this is a problem because treating countries like Antigua like they’re just an exotic vacation spot with citizens who are happy to serve your every whim denies not only the problems faced by Antigua—and countries like it—but also it denies its citizens any kind of depth or personhood. They are literally just cogs in a machine designed to keep you, the tourist, happy for the few days you spend there. Being a tourist is a privilege, but how often is it thought of that way?

            “And worst and painful of all, no tongue” it says on page 31. Antiguans have only the language of their colonizers, English. British holidays and symbols were forced upon them, and their own language was erased. Accurately describing the crimes committed by the British colonizers is impossible in English because it’s their language; it can’t work against them. It can’t speak for the Antiguans or let them speak, not really. It’s almost as though Kincaid is arguing that by talking about the crime of colonization and its effects in English, she is using the words the “criminal”—the British—would use when talking about it and trying unsuccessfully to change them.

            She asks if “you”, the former colonizers, have ever wondered why the Antiguans—and formerly colonized people as a whole?—have only learned from their colonizer how to be corrupt. That’s the legacy left to the Antiguans by colonization. They don’t look back at it and see the British as coming  into “civilize” them or “improve” their country. They see it as the British invading and taking things without asking. They see it as the robbery and murder of Antiguans by the British, and when things were no longer profitable and the rebellion against them was too strong, the British left. They had the luxury of and power to do that. Now, they seem to blame their former colony for not being in better shape, but could it be if, as she argues, that was their example for running a country?

            Kincaid’s assertion that Antiguans can’t make connections between slavery and emancipation—past crimes/wrongs and the ending (on paper) of those crimes—and their current situations, such as living under a corrupt government was one I spent a lot of time thinking about. Is this inability to make the connection a willful ignorance? A coping mechanism for dealing with the injustices still being perpetuated against them? For the fact that “freedom” seems to be a bit of a hollow word in the Antigua described in this book. The focus on the everyday, on making it into an event, distracts from the rea “events” and issues. But if dealing with or changing the problems is basically impossible—as she seems to be saying it is for Antiguans—why not focus on the everyday instead?

            Antigua is literally a “small place”, but the repetition of it indicates that’s an important part of Antigua, something one should remember about it. It seems to me that it’s being described as a “small place” as far as history and the Western world are concerned. It doesn’t matter all that much. It was a British colony, and now it isn’t anymore. Kincaid there’s nothing that can make the crimes committed by the colonizers better, no way of making up for it, but is she also saying the colonizers haven’t even bothered to try?