Characterization of the tourist

Outer characterization

Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place is unusual because the main character is a version of the reader: an American or European tourist addressed as “you”. We don’t know what this tourist looks like, apart from the fact that they are white:

Since you are a tourist, a North American or a European – to be frank, white – and not an Antiguan black returning to Antigua from Europe or North America with cardboard boxes of much needed cheap clothes and food for relatives, you move through customs swiftly. (p. 180, ll. 1-5)

This is important, because it highlights the different experiences of white tourists versus black Antiguans, both in their home countries and abroad. White westerners like the tourist can afford to travel for leisure and are treated well when they arrive in Antigua. Black Antiguans, on the other hand, struggle with poverty, travel to find work and supplies, and are treated with suspicion in their own country. 

The tourist does n...