A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid

A Small
Place

By Jamaica Kincaid

Discussion Questions

Part I

Open Ended

Why wouldn’t the Prime Minister have his name on a School or Hospital?

Open Ended

What’s wrong with other islands being “green”?

Open Ended

What do the Japanese cars reveal?

Open Ended

What is wrong with books telling the story on how the West got rich?

Open Ended

What do the three mansions in Antigua stand for?

Open Ended

Why visiting places like Antigua might make some tourist feel better about themselves?

Open Ended

What makes the locals hate the tourists?

Part II

Open Ended

What’s the problem of the English loving England so much?

Open Ended

What is Kincaid’s point regarding the Barclay brothers?

Open Ended

Why does Kincaid think the people of Antigua are orphans? What about language?

Open Ended

What is finally the legacy of the English? What have they taught the locals?

Open Ended

Why do the English “love knowledge” and bring education to the colonies?

Open Ended

Why is it some people from Antigua (and other ex-colonies) are “shy about capitalism” (202)?

Part III

Open Ended

What does the library stand for?

Open Ended

What does Kincaid mean by “the event turned into everyday, but also the everyday turned into an event”?

Open Ended

What Swiss superiority is hypocritical and fake?

Open Ended

What’s the connection between politics and a family business?

Part IV

Open Ended

Why is Kincaid comparing the beauty of the island to a prison?