A Small Place

   After reading "A Small Place"by Jamaica Kincaid, I realize something that I didn't give much thought prior to the reading. When you are a tourist you don't really realize the actual economic and social standards the local are facing, only what you are allowed to see. While you are enjoying your vacation, the locals are struggling to even survive. You are oblivious to your surroundings, and the only things you know is limited by the resort or hotel you are staying in. What attracts a tourist to the place of vacation is the same factor that makes life so much difficult for the locals. For instance, Kincaid points out that the dry and sunny weather of Antigua is what brings tourist to the island but also those dry conditions bring droughts as well. Tourist also find fascinating the simple lifestyle the local lived by, without realizing that its not a choice but the only option. After reading the essay, I started thinking of things differently in respective to tourism. It also help me realize that its the same things for many other country or island who's main source of income is tourism. The places where the tourist stay are kept in the best condition, giving the tourist the idea that its the same throughout the whole country. It's an illusion created by the corrupt government to make the country look stable when in reality its in a horrible state. If the purpose of the essay was to open the reader mine to a different perspective related to tourism then Jamaica Kincaid was definitely successful in doing so.