"A Small Place"

Questions:

1.       Why is there so much hate between natives and tourists?

2.       Do tourists feel a sense of domination over second and third world countries?

3.       Why does the country of Antigua express so much disgust towards tourists?

Response:

                In Jamaica Kincaid’s book,  A Small Place, she describes the poor life of the people in Antigua and the way they view tourists; “ugly human beings”. Antiguans live in poor living conditions, but it wasn’t always like that. At one time, they were under English rule. During that time the country was very civilized and well taken care of. Today they are no longer under English rule and since then, conditions have gone downhill greatly. This leads me to the question: Why does the country of Antigua express so much disgust towards tourists? Well, first off, most of their hatred is toward American and European countries. That’s not very surprising to me because America and Europeans like to get into everyone else’s business.We like to feel like we are large and in charge at every moment of everyday. We like to help countries that do not want our help. Anyways, when a country, like Antigua, is taken over by a more civilized country, like Europe, this can cause the natives to become frustrated. I think that if America was a second or third world country, like Antigua, and a more developed country, like China or Japan, basically took over America, we would feel the way Antiguans feel about us. Antiguans see Americans and Europeans as these stuck up, rich, and overpowering countries, which we are. America and Europe are some of the most developed and technological advanced countries in the world and we sort of “flaunt it” to other lower countries, like Antigua. They don’t have fresh water or computers or a sewage system. So when tourists come to Antigua, they hate them. They hate that they don’t have what we have. Even if the tourists are nice and show respect towards them, they won’t like them because they already dislike America and Europe as a whole. They sort of have a sense of jealousy, but I don't necessarily think it is bad. If I were in their position, a country coming in an taking over, I would feel the same way they do towards tourist. They do not want any people coming into their country. But, I do believe that Antigua has a sort of grudge held against Americans and Europeans. As the Antiguan civilization continues to struggle so will the hatred of tourists.