ASSIGNMENT
Read about Jamaica Kincaid at http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Kincaid.html. Based on what you read here and in her book, A Small Place, comment briefly on the question: How does Kincaid’s experience as a post-colonial subject from Antigua relate to the history of this nation? Add any thoughts you may have about what that history might continue to mean for us as teachers and citizens.
RESPONSE
I really enjoyed Jamaica Kincaid’s book. I found her quote at the end particularly profound, “Once you cease to be a master, once you throw off your master’s yoke, you are no longer human rubbish, you are just a human being, and all the things that adds up to. So, too with the slaves. Once they are no longer slaves, once they are fee, they are no longer noble and exalted; they are just human beings.”
As it relates to our nation the message ultimately is, that in the end, after slaves and slave masters we are all just human beings, with a memory that if our ancestors were slave owners they were human rubbish and if they were slaves they were noble and exalted. Being adopted, I find this concept particularly interesting, because I am born into this world without knowledge or interest in my ancestors. I see myself as just human being. It’s refreshing to have the opportunity to see yourself as the first in an ancestral chain. I own my successes and faults and blame or am proud of no one in my past. It starts with me and I like to look at others if possible this way too. Like they are all just human beings…with an opportunity to make their time on this earth meaningful and moral or not.
“A Small Place” also brought to mind the story of Columbus and the Arawaks. Kincaid explains, “You came. You took things that were not yours, and you did not even, for appearances’ sake, ask first.” Similarly Howard Zinn shares Columbus’s writings in “A People’s History of the United States,” As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts. The information that Columbus wanted most was: Where is the gold? What I found interesting though are some contradiction with Kincaid. For instance, Kincaid chose not to live in Antigua but rather in Vermont, which has very cold weather, the exact opposite of Antigua. I also thought it was interesting that she changed her name to Jamaica Kincaid from Elaine Potter Richardson so her writing wouldn't offend her parents. However, now her name is part of the appeal to read her books, and her name (Jamaica Kincaid) is no longer used as a way to mask her identity, but rather, to promote her identity.
Read about Jamaica Kincaid at http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Kincaid.html. Based on what you read here and in her book, A Small Place, comment briefly on the question: How does Kincaid’s experience as a post-colonial subject from Antigua relate to the history of this nation? Add any thoughts you may have about what that history might continue to mean for us as teachers and citizens.
RESPONSE
I really enjoyed Jamaica Kincaid’s book. I found her quote at the end particularly profound, “Once you cease to be a master, once you throw off your master’s yoke, you are no longer human rubbish, you are just a human being, and all the things that adds up to. So, too with the slaves. Once they are no longer slaves, once they are fee, they are no longer noble and exalted; they are just human beings.”
As it relates to our nation the message ultimately is, that in the end, after slaves and slave masters we are all just human beings, with a memory that if our ancestors were slave owners they were human rubbish and if they were slaves they were noble and exalted. Being adopted, I find this concept particularly interesting, because I am born into this world without knowledge or interest in my ancestors. I see myself as just human being. It’s refreshing to have the opportunity to see yourself as the first in an ancestral chain. I own my successes and faults and blame or am proud of no one in my past. It starts with me and I like to look at others if possible this way too. Like they are all just human beings…with an opportunity to make their time on this earth meaningful and moral or not.
“A Small Place” also brought to mind the story of Columbus and the Arawaks. Kincaid explains, “You came. You took things that were not yours, and you did not even, for appearances’ sake, ask first.” Similarly Howard Zinn shares Columbus’s writings in “A People’s History of the United States,” As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts. The information that Columbus wanted most was: Where is the gold? What I found interesting though are some contradiction with Kincaid. For instance, Kincaid chose not to live in Antigua but rather in Vermont, which has very cold weather, the exact opposite of Antigua. I also thought it was interesting that she changed her name to Jamaica Kincaid from Elaine Potter Richardson so her writing wouldn't offend her parents. However, now her name is part of the appeal to read her books, and her name (Jamaica Kincaid) is no longer used as a way to mask her identity, but rather, to promote her identity.
posted by book1 at 5:48 PM
1 Comments:
One of my favorite things to do when I go sight seeing to new places is look at old photos or things "from the past” they help me to connect to what I am trying to learn about where I am. Your desire to look in abandon homes or long ago letters attests to people’s inherent desire to be connected to the past in some form. Memorizing facts does not connect us to the past. Great connection Lisa!
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