The Consequence of Colonialism: Jamaica Kincaid

When reading through history books, the age of exploration is manifested as an immense accomplishment for Europeans. However, the impact of colonialism is swept under the rugs when it is just as essential to the past of the world we live in. Despite the fact of its unpopularity, colonialism has the potential to shape society as a whole and induce each individual’s expectation. Jamaica Kincaid noticed people’s blind eye to the effects colonialism had on her country, Antigua, when it was conquered by England. Her short story, “On Seeing England for the First Time” shows how her ideology of England was brought up to be and what it concluded to be. By using multiliteracy in her piece, it creates a powerful first point of view to draw the reader in and echoes the views of the cultural scheme. As she challenges the concept of the insignificance of England, multiliteracy is shown when mentioning the subtle effects it took on Antigua’s fashion, language, food and culture as a whole.

The idea of exploring multiliteracy is in a sense battling the idea of colonialism. Jamaica Kincaid’s writing has a very personal tone to it, by showing her irritation in the expectations England did not hold. She states, “I had told her many times before that I knew England and didn’t want to love it anyway.” (372) to evoke how pressuring the idea of loving England is. Although it is obvious in her eyes that nothing is special and believes her peers unknowingly agree, society has a different view to her personal opinion. England is known as a powerful, beautiful country that other countries should imitate. When an individual or community disagree with this, it can’t be helped but to be viewed as invalid. Another factor to keep in mind is the idea that Kincaid was taught the importance of England and visited with positive expectations for the country. The reason why her opinion changed was because she had the courage to question it while her peers were indoctrinated to play along to the outcomes of imperialism.

When a country is conquered, not only is the land controlled but the culture as a whole as well. Jamaica Kincaid continues to show multiliteracy even in the slightest ways within her work. For instance, fashion can be deemed as more attractive because it pertains to a westernized culture. During Jamaica Kincaid’s childhood, it can be witnessed how she was swayed to perceive certain item wear as more attractive because it was made in England. In the writing, she states, “… my father must have seen and admired a picture of an Englishman wearing such a hat in England, and this picture that he saw must have been so compelling that it caused him to wear the wrong hat for a hot climate most of his long life.” (366). The perfume being based on floral scents is also another aspect that was made to be seen as a high class feature because it was what the English did. Both these factors stress on how imperialism affected an individual’s fashion in a country. Although England is so distinct from Antigua, the influence of westernized fashion was put on as an alluring concept that should be imitated. Introducing the idea of clothing and beauty may be a small detail, however, it is a distinguishable way to mention an aspect in culture that people have been made immune to observing.

It can be inferenced that the idea of England overwhelmed Jamaica Kincaid throughout her childhood. As she says, “No one I knew liked eating so much food so early in the day; it made us feel sleepy, tired. But this breakfast business was Made in England like almost everything that surrounded us…” (366), it exposes how the people of Antigua were unconsciously changing their daily routine of food in order to imitate the English. From a psychologist point of view, William Eckhardt and Christopher Young conducted a study on the correlation of imperialism with independence and conformity in 1975. The result came to be “These correlational results reinforced the results obtained from analysis of variance, conforming the hypothesis that autonomy characterizes the personality of people in richer nations while dependence characterizes the personality of people in poorer nations.” which explains what Jamaica Kincaid was experiencing in Antigua growing up. One thing to note is the words “Made in England” are a use of repetition that the writer wants the reader to really grasp. When using repetition, it is Kincaid’s way of overwhelming the reader to comprehend her feelings on it. Her surroundings were correlated to those three words even though she lived in a country that was incompatible with England.

As many may have different opinions about this piece, one thing that can confidently be said is Kincaid was antagonistic when talking about England. The quote, “At that moment, I was thinking, who are these people who forced me to think of them all the time, who forced me to think that the world I knew was incomplete, or without substance, and did not measure up because it was not England; that I was incomplete; or without substance, and did not measure up because I was not English.” (374), is a striking one in showing her standpoint on England and its people. That being stated, the reason multiliteracy is unrelentingly being used is because of the power it can possess.  Multiliteracy brings the story, and its issues, to life and pushes the reader to open up to an unpopular idea. With the notion of mentioning how culturally affected Antigua was, it can illustrate Kincaid’s idea of cultural domination to the reader.Her strong-headedness can seem intimidating and allow readers to debate the accuracy of her judgements. In all fairness, this narrative may be biased and not show the benefits England had on Antigua because of the exasperated tone used. However, Jamaica Kincaid once said, “I don’t feel I’m angry. I feel as though I’m describing something true.” in an interview with Lauren K. Alleyne. For a multiliterate piece to work, one must be honest with their work and this is what “On Seeing England for the First Time” is made to be.