A Different Tourism Perspective

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Jamaica Kincaid in her book A Small Place she talks about the whole experience of traveling. She goes a little more in depth in this story not only focusing on the tourist but the habitants of the place visited, in this case the natives. Kincaid describes some of these feelings in the following quote: “That the native does not like the tourist isnot hard to explain. For every native of every place is a potential tourist,and every tourist is a native of somewhere. Every native everywhere lives alife of overwhelming and crushing banality and boredom and desperation anddepression, and every deed, good and bad, is an attempt to forget this. Everynative would like to find a way out, every native would like a rest, everynative would like a tour. But some natives—most natives in the world—cannot go anywhere.They are too poor. They are too poor to go anywhere. They are too poor to escape the reality of their lives; and they are too poor to live properly inthe place they live, which is the very place you, the tourist, want to go—so when the natives see you, the tourist, they envy you, they envy your ability toleave your own banality and boredom, they envy your ability to turn their ownbanality and boredom into a source of pleasure for yourself.” One can understand from this excerpt of the book that natives, especially those that come from a poor background aren’t exactly fond of their lands wonders for the attractions of others. They in contrast to the tourist can escape them and experience something new for once. This feeling may result in envy and resentfulness towards the tourists. They can’t get to fully understand how their usual scenario others can find the pleasure and excitement. This is the thought Kincaid wants the reader to grasp. How one place can have distinct meanings for its inhabitants, a source of pleasure or a place of pity and sameness.