In this part Kincaid focuses on the English invasion in Antigua. She talks about how the English just came to Antigua and made it their own, influencing their very way of life to the point that they slowly erased the heritage of Antigua. Kincaid expresses her anger towards the English for the blood spilled during the conquest and their complete insensitive attitude. She talks about the slave traders in the island that later founded a bank (Barclays Bank). After they were done with the slaves, they still exploited the economy. She also emphasizes the racism the English have towards the people of Antigua and how they look at them like lower life forms (although the people of Antigua look at them in a similar way). One example is when she talks about a teacher that tells her students to stop "behaving like monkeys".
I felt like I was the one in that situation so I understood her pain and anger. Puerto Rico is a colony and although it is believed that we invited the U.S. here, the truth is that they invaded our island and it wasn't at all pacific. Assimilation is something that comes with invasion and like Kincaid I find it irritating and sad that we lose more and more of our identity as Puerto Ricans and yet we can barely do anything about it (since our mentality has always been like this). I personally hate injustice and am quickly to point out anything that I find is a violation of rights, so when I read the thing about the teacher I quickly thought "Man I wish I was there so I could say a few things...".
Nice blog!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your personal reaction here and appreciate your perspective. This same chapter makes me reflect on how people move around the world and the tensions this movement causes. In the US their was a body of land that had few people(the 1st world people were there.)
As more people left Europe and moved to the English Colony, it was probably like an invasion too. From the perspective of the English pilgrims who left England to practice their form of religion in Holland-in a real sense for freedom-this new land was an open place to create their vision of a new world. Down south a bit, another colony was formed that was based more on material gain. Both had challenges and were in conflict with the 1st people.
However, they were also helped by them at certain times. It's complicated. The way people thought was that it was their destiny, desire, and right to take the land. When we think of it, we think the 1st people were a group of like-minded individuals but they also shared some of the same ideas as the English.
The pilgrims replicated the same conditions of intolerance that they experienced by the English as seen in the persecutions of community members for behaviors or suspicions that were not permitted in their understanding of the Bible, and some were burned as witches or dealings with the devil. They couldn't dance in the woods, try to predict the future or have pleasure. When a person was removed from the community, the property was sold cheaply or taken. The material gain was a real temptation to name someone evil. In the South, the work couldn't be done by the available people or the 1st people who were easily infected by the English germs and habits. But they discovered that African people could work and survive, which in part created the conditions for slavery.
In Antigua, the land was probably sparsely populated with moving groups of Caribs and the English brought themselves, and their workers-later enslaved African population. Over time the population was mixed. Kincaid is angry at the British not only because of the island peoples' subjugation to them but also because of the social mess created on the island.
Later, Kincaid introduces the idea that the British colonial education system is also good in that she learned to excel because of it. But even that sentiment is not uncomplicated because she's clear in her anger at the British: How can you appreciate a group of people who don't respect you? She's also angry with Antigua's current population and the other colonizing people. I think that these factors are in play in relation to the influence of the United States and Puerto Rico. I mean on the one hand, there is human nature and its unwieldy tendency for both good and evil. On the other, figuring how to get over the anger and move into empowerment that would include decision making: What can be done now? Kincaid's decision was to move to the US (rather than Britain)and make her way in that world by becoming a writer. Her anger is useful in its creative aspect and it teaches many people about the consequences of oppression.