Small Place the Meaning of Essay

Total Length: 618 words ( 2 double-spaced pages)

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As a symbolic extension of the physical meaning of the word "small," the word can refer to something that is insignificant or of little importance, and this has many applications in the book. Antigua is seen as a "small place" by many in that it is of no real importance to the British or even to the other tourists that flock to the island. To these people, it is simply a quaint and picturesque place to visit, but if it disappeared the next day it wouldn't really affect them. Jamaica and the other poor, native inhabitants of the island are equally forgotten or ignored, and made to feel quite small in their lives, and all of these are possible meanings of the title -- the island and/or its people are the "small place" upon which the book focuses. Alternatively, as the book comments on the beauty and the greatness that is inherent to the island and its way of life if only it could be left in the hands of those that truly love it, the title could be seen as the target of a plea being made by the author: if the world would just leave the people of Antigua this small place, without trampling on it

The use of the word "A" is also interesting.
It is the indefinite article (as opposed to the definite article "the"), meaning the referred to "place" of the title is more indistinct or non-specific. This could imply that there are other places just like Antigua, treated in the same manner by colonial powers in the recent past. "A" is also singular, however, just as the title contains the word "place" and not "places," meaning that while perhaps the story and the island are exemplary of a whole class of places, there is a particular island being discussed here......

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