Banal Racism in Antigua An Examination of A Small Place...

Jane King stated in her essay entitled â€Å"A Small Place Writes Back† that â€Å"A Small Place begins with Jamaica Kincaid placing herself in a unique position able to understand the tourist and the Antiguan and despise both while identifying with neither† (895). Another critic, Suzanne Gauch, adds to this claim by asserting that â€Å"A Small Place disappoints†¦readers when it undermines the authority of its own narrator by suggesting that she is hardly representative of average Antiguans† (912). In her narrative A Small Place, Kincaid often attacks and criticizes the average tourist with what appears to be evidence of racism towards white Europeans and Americans, but perhaps even more strongly she demeans her Antiguan homeland; however, contrary to†¦show more content†¦King asserts that while anger at such unfairness is justified, it is unclear what Kincaid’s point of view is—Antiguan or tourist—and thus unclear whether her anger is justified. The essay continues on to explain that while Kincaid comments quite frequently on both the race and attitude of the tourist, she also criticizes her home country in doing so. In one example, King attempts to summarize Kincaid’s opinion on tourists concisely when she states that â€Å"the tourist only goes to a place like Antigua â€Å"to have a rubbish-like experience† (Kincaid 67) and besides, is white† (King 894) It seems harsh to describe the Antiguan experience as rubbish, which King notes and explains by further quoting Kincaid: Antigua was originally settled by â€Å"human rubbish from Europe, who used enslaved but noble and exalted human beings from Africa† although [Kincaid] softens the blow to those of her publishers’ complexion by continuing that once the masters ceased to be masters they ceased to be rubbish and once the slaves ceased to be slaves they ceased to be noble and exalted, each left being â€Å"just a human being†. (895) Is it correct to assume that Kincaid believed that the Antiguan people as being â€Å"noble and exalted human beings† reduced to â€Å"just human beings†? According to King, it would only appear as though Kincaid believed that â€Å"Antiguans—at least the black ones—were good, these descendants of the noble and exalted slaves,