The Postcolonial Scenario in Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place

Abstract

Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place (1988) is a non-fictional book that perfectly highlights the postcolonial scenario in Antigua. It can be adequately described as a travelogue, for it is a book about travel and its experience. It deals with Antigua from the perspective of place, culture and other experiences. Besides, it is described as a polemic non-fictional book for the attack of the postcolonial image Jamaica Kincaid found in Antigua. The present paper aims at examining the postcolonial scenario presented in A Small Place (1988). It will review the way Jamaica Kincaid has put her view towards colonialism and its effect on the postcolonial society of Antigua. It will also provide the scene of postcolonialism with reference to different critics such as Bill Ashcroft and M.A.R. Habib, whose postcolonial views has put certain standards to the understanding of postcolonial texts. Thus, the paper will have clear portray of the postcolonial set-up in Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place (1988). The current research will be analytical as well as descriptive. It will analyze the scenes provided in the text based on M.A.R Habib’s views on postcolonial literature in his book Modern Literary Criticism and Theory: A History in which he quotes Robert Young’s ideas on the aims of postcolonial criticism. It will also have a touch on other postcolonial critics to highlight the postcolonial scenario clearly in the non-fictional book. Thus, the paper will come out with the clear postcolonial scenario in Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place (1988).