Analysis Of Caribbean Literature And Ideas - 1478 Words

Throughout Introduction to Caribbean Literature and Ideas, the class explored a number of texts, both fictional and non-fictional, that spoke to a number of larger historical issues that have affected the Caribbean as a whole. In every text we read, I saw a recurring concept come about: traveling. The act of travel, or the circulation of people in and out of the Caribbean, seems to be very important, in order to understand many of the issues that Caribbean people face. Whether it is â€Å"the boys† of The Lonely Londoners having to migrate to London to find work, tourist from the U.S. coming to Jamaica for vacation, or Martine escaping a traumatic experience that coerced her to migrate, the commonality among all of these narratives is the act†¦show more content†¦During the late nineteenth century, United States began to transform Central America in order to fit its needs. Frenkel argues that the United States was able to do this by creating two opposing narratives: p ositive narratives of â€Å"exotic beauty† and negative narratives of danger and disease (page 1). Essentially, the United States was able to justify travelling into Central America by showing the region as a diamond in the rough, or a dangerous, uncivilized place that had potential to serve the United States’ needs. Once I learned of this particular narrative, it colored how I viewed the United States and its constituents’ interactions with the Caribbean. Also, I was able to trace my own western world view of other lands as untapped sources of personal enjoyment or gain to a historically prevalent form of thought that situated non-North American places in the context of â€Å"what they could do for me.† This form of thought disregards, or at least minimizes, the opinions and realities of the native populations of these places, in this case the people of the Caribbean. After I was able to think critically about the aforementioned western world view I held, I was then capable of applying that critique to how other people of the United States responded to the Caribbean, particularly the tourist that traveled there for vacation. This became important when watching Black’s