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A Small Space Jamaica Kincaid Analysis

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Midterm Essay
Generally speaking, having a history of any kind is gratifying because it gives people or things a sense of worth. Sometimes the history we come to learn portray negativity and hatred towards people. At the same time, due to the fact of history we are able to identify rights and wrongs of certain social, political, economic issues. In learning about Caribbean culture, there was a lot of information I found interesting and powerful to the overall ambience of its culture. In reading both Social Structure of the Plantation Society, by Franklin Knight, and A Small Place, by Jamaica Kincaid, we not only see the plantation societies history; we also see how it’s transformed overtime and how it is still embedded in caribbean societies …show more content…

Throughout this semester, as well to reading Knight, we were able to see learnupon another author- Ms. Jamaica Kincaid. In A Small Space, by Jamaica Kincaid, it talks about the overall transition she has seen over time on her island Antigua. Broken up in four major parts, Kincaid takes us on a journey in Antigua and shows us the ugliness the island has acquired through history and how prevalent it is today with a mindset that has no time of leaving. Kincaid makes it obvious that her insecurities come from Antigua’s history of oppression and slavery from the English. Escaping the realities of the time, Kincaid was fascinated with reading and used this as a way to escape the horrors of her history. In all we see the biggest connection between Kincaid and Knight by the way they judge the overall institution they were exposed too and to other issues like corruption. As a whole Kincaid is a firm believer that corruption has a direct correlation to colonization in the way it was brought in and its use over time. Kincaid speaks about this corruption as it penetrates every aspect of Antiguan culture and blames the British for colonizing them. Kincaid states perfectly in her claim within the first section of the reading, “And so you needn’t let that slightly funny feeling you have from time to time about exploitation, oppression, domination develop into full-fledged unease, discomfort; you could ruin your holiday.” (Kinkaid 10). This quote that Kincaid discusses are all effects of the exploitation, oppression, and domination over the Antiguan people. Due to Kincaid’s writing style she tries and attack the reader's conscious and make you have an open mind listening to her. Her love for reading and writing is an exact way on how she is able to express herself and tell her story from her eyes and escape from this reality. Although she tries not to ruin

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