자메이카 킨케이드의 『어느 작은 섬』에 나타난 (탈)식민담론 읽기

Abstract

Jamaica Kincaid's A Small Place has very unique style and form. The text is a combination of prose and poetry. Its style has a lot of irony, metaphors, and symbolism based on post-colonial history and neocolonial conditions. Its form is classified as autobiography, travel literature, fiction, and essay. In A Small Place, Kincaid expresses discontent and anger against the white tourist, symbolized as a neocolonialist. However, in fact, she interrogates the past colonial history and the present neocolonial conditions. Despite using simple and easy words, A Small Place can be difficult to analyze. The text has multi-layered meanings－based on irony, metaphor, and symbolism, which are combined with post-colonial discourse or neocolonial conditions in Antigua's history and present life. Therefore, we should read for both superficial and internal meaning to better understand the text. In this essay I will investigate Caribbean post-colonial conditions, focusing on the library in Antigua. The library is a very important symbol for post-colonial conditions－because it has multi-layered meanings and connections with post-colonial rulers such as the Condrington family, Barclay brothers, Mill Reef Club people, a Czechoslovakian doctor, a Northern Irish headmistress, and Syrian merchants. Through this investigation, I will show a post-colonial vision as a conclusion. That is an easy and ideal human relationship that breaks the power structure. Through masters not demanding obedience from slaves, and slaves refusing to obey their masters, they can be “just human beings.”