A Small Place Question #2

In Kincaid's "A Small Place," a strong emphasis is put on the difference between what a tourist sees and what a local at a tourist attraction see. One example Kincaid gives is how each person sees the ocean on the island. The tourist looks out of his window and sees a beautiful blue sea. Perhaps the most beautiful sight he has ever seen. What he does not know is that whenever he flushes his toilet, his waste is dumped into the see. Only a local would know that, however, and because of that fact a local will not see the sea as beautiful, but instead polluted. The difference being the knowledge that comes with living in the area. Another instance where perceptions clash is in how the tourist is perceived. To the tourist, the tourist is not ugly. The tourist is beautiful, as he is in his normal everyday life. The locals, however, do not see the tourist as he is in everyday life. They see him as he is on vacation. They are not used to his customs, his mannerisms. He is strange. They laugh at him and make jokes, meanwhile all the tourists sees are a bunch of natives smiling at him. It's best that the tourist not know the truth, however. That would ruin his vacation.

Lucas Smith

What a tourist sees VS. What a local sees

In Kincaid, "A Small Place" the author talks about how tourists do not want it to rain, because it will ruin their vacation. This is mostly true in real life, because when you go on vacation you expect for everything to be perfect, the sun to shine, not for it to rain. The thing is though is that tourists, even myself, do not understand that maybe the natives who live there need that water supply to survive. So, as explained, Antigua is surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, so the natives watch carefully for every drop of fresh water is used. Which tourist do not think of it in that manner.
When a tourist comes to Antigua they move through customs easily. Their bags are not checked, unlike the natives who if returning to Antigua, they have cardboard boxes for their family with cheap clothes and food get searched.
What causes these differences is the fact that everyone wants to get away. Everyone is a native from somewhere and they all want to get away from banality, boredom, desperation and depression, but some natives can not get away from this. So therefore, when a native see's a tourist they envy them for turning their banality, boredom, desperation and depression into their own pleasure, because they can not do the same. They can not escape from reality like others do.

I found this article to be very interesting. I am someone who loves to travel. I have been to many places such as: The Bahamas, Tijuana Mexico,California, and this year Puetro Rico and New York. I have never minded being a tourist and it never really dawned on me how different the tourist and native's values, beliefs, and views are. Most natives are friendly, even in the poorest of places(Tijuana) The people in New York could be rude at times ,but for the most part were relatively nice. I think these different views are caused by growing up in completely different backgrounds and environments. I think hes able to convince the readers because most of us have been somewhere where we're not used to the place and he says things that is normal for anyone to think like I hope it doesn't rain, while the natives know that because of droughts they actually really do need it to

small place-nick weissenberger

The author talks about how the natives and tourist see differnent events in different ways. One of these diffrences is the amount of rain that Antigua receives, and the natives use of water. The long droughts that Antigua has benifits the tourist because he or she would like to enjoy their vacation time without it being interrupted by rain. On the other hand the natives of Antigua see the rain as a blessing to there land and allows them to use more water then normal. The landscape is another difference in the eyes of the natives and tourist. The tourist sees the land as different and beautiful, where as the natives to Antigua see the land for no more than their home. They do not appreciate the views as much as the tourist does. I believe this is mostly due to the natives living there and seeing these sights and living through the droughts that they do not appreciate these things the same way the tourist does.

"A Small Place"

The author gives many different contrasts between the views of the tourist and that of the natives of Antigua. One of these is their views of the rain. The tourist is pleased with the fact that rain is very rare because he does not want it to ruin his vacation, while the native is very conscience of the drought and is concerned with the amount of water used. The tourist is also forgiving of and even enjoying the disrepaired state of the roads, but the native realizes how badly they are in need of repair. Throughout this excerpt the tourist is only concerned with his own wants and desires and takes no notice of the local people living in such a sad state. The tourist also thinks nothing of the water that he uses freely and wastefully, while the native carefully watches every drop and is aware that there is no proper disposal system. The tourist is only concerned with getting his meal, and unlike the locals is unaware of the origin of the food. Natives see the tourist as an ugly person and dislike him. He sees himself as a nice and attractive person. The locals see their homeland as heaps of death and ruin while the tourist is inspired and enlivened by the sight of it. Finally, the natives are envious of the tourist's ability to find pleasure in their own common lives.

These differences are caused by varying backgrounds and being raised in vastly different environments. The locals are aware of the truth in every situation taking place in their homeland while the tourist has been taught to care only for himself and his own feelings.

In the story, A Small Place, Jamaica Kincaid paints quite a vivid, and as Gabby said, accurate picture of what life is like in Antigua. Having traveled all over the country in my life, I too was a little upset to read what Kincaid says is the take on tourists by locals in major tourist hotbeds. Having been a tourist so many times in my life, I must say I was little disappointed in myself because I realize that I was probably one of the tourists, like the one in the story, who was criticized and mocked behind closed doors. But the further I read, the more I really began to understand what these people must go through, and why they act this way toward us.
Picturing myself as an Antiguan native, I see myself day in and day facing many hardships on that god forsaken, drought stricken little rock in the middle of the Caribbean. To have to work so hard for what I had on this poor desert like isle, and then to have people who were much better off than I pause to stare at me as I go about my daily life…it makes me sick. I just consider myself fortunate that I never have had to face the hardships that these people have.

Jeremiah, "A Small Place"

There are a few instances that the author points out that show major differences in how a tourist views Antigua and how the locals view Antigua. There is the instance where the tourist easily gets through customs with ease, while the locals have a harder time getting through customs because they have to bring needed provisions from another country. There is the instance where the tourist admires the beauty of the beach and the ocean, while the locals laugh at the tourist for swimming in the same ocean where the entire town dumps their waste. Throughout this excerpt from Kincaid's A Small Place, there are many instances that show the differences in perception of the locals and the tourists, but why do these differences exist?
In order to answer this question, one has to understand how the author feels about tourists. The author seems to describe a tourist as a person trying to escape from their boring, desperate, and lonely lives. The author is trying to convey the message that tourists are so bent on escaping from their lives, that they do not take time to look around at their surroundings. That is where the difference in perception lies. The tourist is so naive, that they do not even see the suffering and hardships that the locals see. The tourist only sees paradise, whereas the locals see the poverty and hardships that plague their home.

Gabby A Small Place

While reading this essay I was almost in disbelief, because as sad as it sounds, this essay is quite accurate. I think the thing that had the most impact of me was when I started reading about the rain. It's so true that whenever someone goes on vacation to some place like Antigua, (tropical and hot) if it rains people are always so upset about it. I know I for one have been upset before if it rains on my vacation, I'm sure I have even said the rain was ruining my vacation. When the author was talking about how a tourist might be upset about the rain because it was ruining vacation plans, the locals however are more than likely ecstatic because they have been needing rain for a long time. I had never thought of it like that before. I think a lot of times, people take things for granted, and when we go on vacations to places like Antigua, we are there to enjoy ourselves, but probably more than likely don't stop to think that people live there on a day to day basis, and have issues and problems just like we do at our home. All in all I think this story is a very good eye opening story, I know it made me think differently about the whole vacation experience.

-Gabby Henskens

Malcolm small place

At the very beginning of the story Kincaid, begins to talk about all the new images he sees. He talks about how the sun is always shining and dry, which we dont get in America, (or Europe). The way he describes the taxi driver gives us the readers a real view of how he experienced the driver driving and how if you lived somewhere like New York you'd already have a picture of how they worked. Then how he goes on and on about the other tourists and the colors of the ocean really creates a picture in the mind that you cant really appreciate unless you see it yourself.

Matt, I loved your blog, but I dont understand why you didnt use any of the visual images he gave like the colors of the ocean or the native he talked about on the beach. Everyone else talked about the airport, and getting off seeing the new land. You see new land off every airport, instead I think you guys couldve focused, on the people, how they looked, how they acted. Or also talk about the fact that the experience he couldnt get in the country. Thats just my opinion, so what do I know.

Analyze and connect: A small place

In reading this section from the book A Small Place, i have noticed one major factor that even I would not notice. When the person arrived at the airport and looks out the window to see the plants and vegetation that indicates that their is quite a bit of rain fall. The author describes how they loathe rain, mainly because back home they deal with it frequently. This is ironic to me because the people who live in Antigua strive off the rain that falls, while the tourists complain about the fact that their is not enough sun for them when they arrive. As a tourist you pay money so that you can enjoy a beautiful area to yourself, while the inhabitants might need that rain to surivive.

Another section that shows both point of views on Antigua comes when the author is at dinner. Since our customs usually do not involve eating with your hands very often, it is unlikely that someone from our culture would eat certain foods like that. When the author tried to eat with their hands, they stated they felt like a fool. This goes to show that in certain circumstances no matter how hard you try, you will always look like a newcomer. I do agree that when on a vacation you stand out like a sore thumb without even really trying. The differences that occur in both the tourists and the people trying to surive come down to envy. The tourists take for granted the luxuries they have, and the people who work in the resorts envy the freedom these people have on a day to day basis.

Matt Petrella
Eng 111