In the passage from a 1990 novel written by Jamaica Kincaid, the narrator shares how her movement to a new place challenges her understanding of her self- identity. This struggle of accepting and adapting to a new way of life occurs after she moves from the tropics to a colder climate. After wanting to move away from her hometown whose inhabitants “smallest, most natural gesture” (line 63) would set her into a “rage,” (line 64) she was surprised when she felt so “cold inside” (line 44) after moving. The external change of location alters her internal perception of herself. The author utilizes a plethora of literary techniques to display the depth of the struggle that that narrator faces, including using extensive detail, numerous uses of figurative language, and a negative tone. …show more content…
For example, she shares that the narrator felt such hatred and anger towards the people of her home that she “longed to see them all dead at (her) feet” (lines 64-65). She used a very exaggerated example to ensure that the audience understood the full extent of her anger. The passage ends when the narrator shares her memory of eating, “a bowl of pink mullet and green figs cooked in coconut milk,” (lines 74-75) even clarifying that it was cooked by her grandmother. This explicit fact portrays the true love that she still carried for home by showing her dreaming of a memory when she was home. The utilization of comprehensive details presents where the narrator’s true care