Book Review - a Small Place by Ms. Jamaica Kincaid

My Home

Home, a place where I was born and where I grew up, always bring upon great memories throughout my stay as an international student in the United States. Home, is also a place that I love with all my heart and soul. Well, everybody loves their home, their very own home. I love my home, people from Texas love Texas, and even the author of A Small Place, Ms. Jamaica Kincaid loves her home, Antigua.

According to her book, A Small Place, Antigua is a small island, a ten-by-twelve-mile island, but is nevertheless a beautiful place where tourists visit at a frequent basis, for the beaches and the beautiful climate. However, the white sands and the sunshine are not the only image she wants to depict in the book.

Corruptness and colonialism aftermath, along with many other problems have faced the people of Antigua. After Antigua was freed from the British, the local government has failed to propel Antigua into prosperity, and instead, has made Antigua a worse place than what it was when it was ruled by the British. Corruption is now everywhere in Antigua. "Some ministers in government have opened their own businesses; the main customer for these businesses is the government itself; the government then declares that only that company.

In contrast to the always-the-same Antiguan government, Malaysia has had the same political party in power for 46 years, with no exception. Every five years, the people go to the poll, and every five years, they put the same cross next to the same party. Why did people do that? Why did they choose the same government even though at times the government is inefficient in an undisputed way? The answer is simple. People in Malaysia fear the risk of another riot, just like how the people in Antigua fear the wraith of the army. So, they choose the same party over and over again, even if the Prime Minister's son own several million-dollars companies, even if the New Economics Policy caused their sons or daughters the chance of higher education, even if the government announced Malaysia an Islamic country when half if not more of the population is non-Muslim. Again, absolute power corrupts absolutely; only it is slower in this case.

Antigua has beautiful beaches with white sands and crystal clear water. Malaysia too has numerous beautiful islands with unpolluted coast. Perhaps there are problems in the nations, perhaps there are problems in the societies, but it can all be resolved. It might be a bit late to reconstruct for the future. Well, it is better late than never.

Moreover, Malaysia has an ambitious government that is ever determined to bring Malaysia at par with modern countries. In order to achieve that goal, the government has put in enormous effort in industrialization. Throughout the years, the government has succeeded in gaining attention of several big companies. Intel, Seagate and Sony