A Small Place

                                                                                     - Jamaica Kincaid (b. 1949- )

In this essay, the writer has severely criticized the rampant corruption in Antigua.

A tourist who goes to enjoy the natural beauty of Antigua may wonder about the name of its international airport. It is named as V. C. Bird International Airport after the country’s Prime Minister.

          A tourist is not obstructed at the Antiguan customs because he doesn’t have large bags full of clothes and food. But an Antiguan can not move through the airport customs easily because of the heavy bags, full of different items for his relatives, he carries back home from other countries.

          When the tourist comes out of the airport, a taxi driver may try to cheat him. While going to a hotel, the tourist may wonder that many brand new Japanese vehicles are running along the very bad roads.

          The driver is a careless person. He drives at a very high speed in a careless way along the dangerous hilly road. Though the cars are new and made in Japan, they produce awful sound like an old car. It is because the car owner uses impure gasoline in the engine. An Antiguan driver has never heard about or seen non-leaded gasoline. Though the drivers drive very expensive cars, their houses are far beneath the status of the cars. They get loans for buying  the car easily, but they do not get loan for a house. It is because two main car dealerships in Antigua are owned by two of the ministers of the government.

          The school buildings are so dilapidated that a tourist may think, at first, that they are public toilets. The hospital is also in a very bad condition and is staffed with incompetent doctors. Nobody trusts in them. The Minister for Health himself goes to New York for his health check up.

          There is no library in Antigua. The one which was damaged long ago by earthquake has not been repaired. The sign for it has been hanging for more than a decade. In Antigua, there is no sense of time. The people think that twelve years, twelve minutes and twelve days are all the same. Britain became rich because its people always valued time.

          The American Embassy is taller than any government office in Antigua. Some new capitalists are richer than the government itself. A merchant family has earned a huge fortune within the last twenty years. When they first came to Antigua, they were very poor. Now they lend money to the government. The government rents their buildings for huge sums of money. A member of the family is the Antiguan Ambassador to Syria. There is also a mansion of a notorious drug smuggler. He has many cars and buildings. Evita, a very notorious woman who has a very high power in the government, has a very big house and a lot of shops and property.  She has misused her youth and beauty for money and power.

          When the tourist reaches the hotel, he may want some refreshment. He can take bath and look out through the window of the room. The water looks navy-blue far out. Nearer it is sky blue. On the shore, the water is pale, silvery and clear. There is no proper system of sewage management. All the water from the bathrooms flows into the sea. So, it is polluted.

          Antiguans think that a tourist is an ugly human being. They do not like tourists because they are jealous of their ability to roam around freely. The Antiguans are poor, so they can’t go anywhere. They can’t escape from their everyday reality.