"A Small Place"

Book Review # 116308

African-American Studies > Slavery
Literature > American

"A Small Place"

A personal opinion on Jamaica Kincaid's work "A Small Place".

1,228 words () | 2 sources | MLA | 2009 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper provides some historical background of Antigua, an island in the Caribbean, and the role slaves played in creating the island's wealth. The paper then turns to discussing author, Jamaica Kincaid, a descendant of the slave population which toiled to create the wealth that was carried away from her island home. The paper looks at her work "A Small Place" and highlights the anger and cynicism at whites contained within. The paper questions whether such rage and frustration is justified and asserts that it is counterproductive and hard to understand.

From the Paper:

"Antigua is a small island in the Caribbean, near its confluence with the Atlantic Ocean. Native Americans inhabited it sporadically but Columbus discovered it. History books seldom discuss the sheer brazen effrontery that it takes to step into someone else's home and claim you have discovered it. Yet today, in this enlightened 21st century we still maintain that European seaman, scalawags, pirates and assorted thieves had some sort of right to claim what they claimed and implicitly agree that it was a good thing they did."

Sample of Sources Used:

Kincaid, J A Small Place New York: Ferrar, Straus and Giroux. 2000
Wiol.com West Indies On Line History of Antigua Retrieved 11-8-2006http://www.wiol.com/antigua/history.html