Jane King stated in her essay entitled “A Small Place Writes Back” that “A Small Place begins with Jamaica Kincaid placing herself in a unique position in able to understand the tourist and the Antiguan and despise both without identifying with anyone” (895). Another critic, Suzanne Gauch, adds to this statement by stating that “A Small Place disappoints…readers when it undermines its narrator's authority by suggesting that she is hardly representative of average Antiguans” (912). In his short story A Small Place, Kincaid often attacks and criticizes the average tourist with what appears to be evidence of racism towards Europeans and white Americans, but perhaps even more forcefully he belittles his Antiguan homeland; however, contrary to what King states in his essay, Kincaid's belittling of Antiguans is a satirical effort to expose the racism of primarily white tourists. According to King, Kincaid is uncertain about her place in Antigua. In his essay he asks: “What is Kincaid's point of view, Antiguan or tourist?” (894) She is neither an Antiguan, because she left at a young age and returned to find her home in ruins, nor a tourist because they are “incredibly unattractive, fat, with flesh like cake” (Kincaid 13) . Since it's neither, the question remains: How would Kincaid be treated at the airport? She states in her own account that “because you are a tourist, a North American or a European – to be frank, white – and not a black Antiguan returning to Antigua from Europe or North America with cardboard boxes containing cheap clothes and food much needed for relatives, pass customs quickly, pass customs easily. Your bags are not searched” (4-5). In this passage, Kincaid places the black Antiguans far away… in the center of the card… the plight of the Antiguans. At times he seems to insult Antigua, but he belies any doubts about his true loyalty by alluding to the country's hidden beauty. At other times it appears that Kincaid agrees with the treatment of Antiguan natives, but only does so in an attempt to highlight the racism so ingrained in Antiguan culture. So the answer to the question “is Kincaid an Antiguan or a tourist” is simply both. Works Cited Gauch, Suzanne. “A Small Place: Some Perspectives on the Ordinary.” Callaloo: A Journal of African-American and African Arts and Letters, (25:3), Summer 2002, 910-19. Kincaid, Jamaica. A small place. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1988. Print.King, Jane. “A small place responds.” Callaloo: A Journal of African-American and African Arts and Letters, (25:3), summer 2002, 885-909.