Summary Of On Seeing England For The First Time By Jamaica Kincaid
In the satirical article, “On Seeing England for the First Time” (1991), Jamaica Kincaid, a proud Antiguan-American writer, condemns England’s unacceptable acts of erasure upon a nation’s culture. She remarks that England has unrightfully censured the death of the Caribbean culture and the people's long-held nationalism for Antigua; and yet although Antigua had freed itself from England's chokehold, the nation has already been constructed in such a way that it had become economically dependent on the English. Kincaid illustrates this impassioned resentment towards England by her usage of ironic imagery and sarcastic repetition within her childhood anecdotes of conformity. She criticizes England’s unjust authority in order to present the condemning …show more content…
Demonstratively, her memories of when she was still a young and impressionable schoolgirl reverts back to the time where she was first awestricken by the offbeat mystique of the map of England then later appalled by the inevitable truth that it was still the same country that tried to strip away her cultural identity. The map of England, as she describes it, looks similar to that of a lump of meat with “squiggly veins of red” to accentuate its unappealing features and essentially correspond that back to the English people’s blindness to see its own vain behavior (10-11). Virtually, it is similar to asking: how can a nation too obsessed with its worldly appearance be competent enough to operate itself-- much less another country? Additionally, in an almost nonchalant manner, the author pokes fun of the “leg of mutton,” also known as England, to further depict her lack of respect for the nation (8). Her lack of respect is once again demonstrated when she starts to set up the scenery of the map. In comparison, the background of the map details itself as an effortless beauty with its “bed of sky blue” while England is given disgusting hues of yellow, pink and green (4,5,9). By illustrating England’s immense regions with
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Jamaica Kincaid's Blackness Essay
479 Words | 2 PagesIn the short story “Blackness” by Jamaica Kincaid, the narrator’s consciousness develops through a process of realization that she does not have to choose between the culture imposed on her and her authentic heritage. First, the narrator explains the metaphor “blackness” for the colonization her country that fills her own being and eventually becomes one with it. Unaware of her own nature, in isolation she is “all purpose and industry… as if [she] were the single survivor of a species” (472). Describing the annihilation of her culture, the narrator shows how “blackness” replaced her own culture with the ideology of the colonizers.
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Jamaica Kincaid Use Repetition In On Seeing England For The First Time
476 Words | 2 PagesThe passage “On Seeing England for the First Time” by Jamaica Kincaid uses repetition and figurative language to convey her resentment toward England. Jamaica Kincaid uses repetition in her passage to show how her attitudes toward England as it slowly erased the Antigua’s culture. Kincaid uses the words “Made in England” to express how the English had dominated their culture and their way of life; the Antigua people had been asphyxiated by the English and their culture so aggressively and for so long that they began feeling inferior for not being English which made them try even harder to strive and be just like them because they considered that their main goal, to be able to be part of the magnificence that was the english culture. She goes on to explain how she had to change personal aspects to be more acceptable by her society
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In History Jamaica Kincaid Analysis
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Jamaica Kincaid Symbolism
956 Words | 4 PagesJamaica Kincaid depicts an instructional survival guiding theme in “Girl,” about a mother giving essential advice to the daughter about very critical life issues. The advice consists of how to do many domestic acts such as Antiguan dishes, being a respectable young lady and many small suggestions to not have a ruined reputation amongst the society the young girl is living in. Throughout the short story uses symbolism to emphasize the theme entirely so the girl learns to behave and be pure in front of others who watch her every move. Moreover, the mother in this short story advises her daughter by telling her how to make certain foods. In many instances the mother does not hesitate to tell the daughter how and where to grow the vegetables needed for the dishes in which the daughter must learn to make.
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On Seeing England For The First Time Rhetorical Analysis
590 Words | 3 PagesIn Jamaica Kincaid’s essay “On Seeing England for the First Time”, she clearly voices her animosity towards the one place her whole life surrounded as a child in hopes of persuading her audience into understanding that there is a fine line between dreams and realities. As an adult, Kincaid finally is able to travel to England to witness firsthand what all the hype was about and why her childhood and education happened to be based around the fantasy customs of this country. Noticing that every detail of her life revolved around England, from the way she ate her food to the naming of her family members, Kincaid found her hatred growing more and more. Coming from a British colony, the obsession with England drove Kincaid crazy to the point that she finally traveled there one day. She says, “The space between the idea of something and its reality is always wide and deep and dark” (37).
Britishness, And Otherness: An Argument Analysis
1822 Words | 8 PagesHer article, Britishness, and Otherness: An Argument, uses ethnohistory, nationalism and cultural methodologies to express how those in the British Empire rattle and are protective of their identity. In her article, she discusses how British identity waves since identity exists in a ven diagram and not in the black and white roles of the past. Religion, gender, race, ethnicity and many other identities exist in various combination depending on the individual. She asks why little attention has been focused on how or why the British population defines themselves against both real and imaginary enemies. That identity seems most important when being threatened.
Gender Roles In Jamaicaaica Kincaid's Girl, By Jamaica Kincaid
1130 Words | 5 PagesA wise woman once said, "The more a daughter knows about her mother 's life, the stronger the daughter" (http://www.wiseoldsayings.com/mother-and-daughter-quotes/). As any girl raised by their mother can attest, the relationship between a mother and her daughter is a learning experience. As young girls, you look up to you mother as your greatest role model and follow in their steps closely. In Jamaica Kincaid 's short story "Girl", a mother uses one single sentence in order to give her daughter motherly advice. Her advice is intended to help her daughter, but also to scold her at the same time.
Jamaica Kincaid The Lessons
527 Words | 3 PagesNo matter how people learn lessons, they will stay with the person forever, and help them through life. In the short stories “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara and “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, there is lesson that a character will learn about life. Although, in “The Lesson”, the teaching was more profound and had a deeper meaning behind it, while “Girl” was a parent forcing instructions on a child in order for the child to learn how a woman is to live. This being said, the teaching is more profound in “The Lesson” than the one given in “Girl.” “Girl” is a short story that teaches that there are many lessons we learn throughout life from parents, or in this case, a single parent.
Why The Remains Of The Day Ishiguro
917 Words | 4 PagesThe novel has been creating a series of allegoric associations that gather up a form of a “mythical version of England that is peddled in the nostalgia industry” (Ishiguro in Toronto, 73), a form Ishiguro evidently operates to demystify through the narrative. Such a series comprises Stevens’ father’s professional dignity and repressiveness, which has influenced Stevens own professionalism and dignity as a butler, to world events pointed in the narrative, in which a major role is played by Great Britain which is often boastful and finally damaging. Boer War is one of the major global events in which Stevens’s elder brother had died. He himself portray the war in words that are somewhat unfavorable to the self-image of political
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