Zachary Woodrum
WRTG 111 3:30-5pm
03/22/2021
Response paper for “A small place”- Jamaica Kincaid
This is a very interesting book, Kincaid's approach to the sense of regionalism with this book is astonishing. The way she is able to transfer you into how she feels about her hometown in antigua. She writes about certain moments then expanding on the insights of the moments. The way she is able to pick out certain moments is great. She refers to “The Earthquake” being what everyone sort of labeled it as who lives around the area. Being familiar with your home gives a wide perspective on how you voice things and remember things. She will start to write about an experience as being an antiguan and then reference back to herself as being one of those people. The way she is able to form an experience with her own native kind is marvelous. Pointing out specific roles that play into one's on well being,
Kincaid shows us how the world is so big with a lot of different stereotypes of people. Being a Tourist i say would be the main argument here. She is writing this story in the shoes of a tourist. Someone who isn't familiar with a new environment and how we stick out so clearly to people who are from the general region. Not necessarily a bad thing. But it takes some adapting and getting used to the new scene. The best thing to do is go with the flow and try not to seem so obvious.
I enjoy how within Kincaid's piece she really pulls you into everything that will happen next. Very good at understanding the audience and how well we are at envisioning certain moments. Like when she is writing about being at the beach and how we can see ourselves walking on it. Meeting new people but only for a limited time as they are people just like us. Something she uses quite often is “I wonder” which is great because it leads the reader to wonder and speculate on what is being read at the time.
Her strong sense of giving the reader something to ponder upon is what makes kincaid such a great writer. Also word play and punctuation is on point. Word after word pulls you further and further into the book.
I also really liked how she was able to make you feel like a tourist in Antigua. Although the things she said may not have been the things I would have actually done if I were visiting Antigua, they were close enough to the real thing and explained well enough that I felt like I was choosing those specific thing and felt as if I were there.
ReplyDeleteZach, I am glad to see the book had an impact on you. Which sentences would you say were most effective. In your responses it is good to pull in specific page numbers and analyze specific parts using our keywords and techniques. This will enable you to practice these powerful techniques in your own writing. She does use a great level of detail to make her argument. Which one's had the most impact for you?
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