Monday, November 16, 2015

Native does not like the tourist

http://www.goodreads.com/
author/show/39237.Jamaica_Kincaid
“That the native does not like the tourist is not hard to explain. For every native of every place is a potential tourist, and every tourist is a native of somewhere. Every native everywhere lives a life of overwhelming and crushing banality and boredom and desperation and depression, and every deed, good and bad, is an attempt to forget this. Every native would like to find a way out, every native would like a rest, every native would like a tour. But some natives—most natives in the world—cannot go anywhere. They are too poor. They are too poor to go anywhere. They are too poor to escape the reality of their lives; and they are too poor to live properly in the place they live, which is the very place you, the tourist, want to go—so when the natives see you, the tourist, they envy you, they envy your ability to leave your own banality and boredom, they envy your ability to turn their own banality and boredom into a source of pleasure for yourself." (Jamaica KincaidA Small Place)

As Jamaica Kincaid express in this quote, people in life can be native or a tourist at some point in their life. So, she explain that the native doesn't like to be rush for the tourist. So, native will like to be resting, and because of the tourist they have to work and be more kind that they are in a normal day. But, native are jealous for the tourist because they want to become a tourist. We can say that the feel envy or angriness for them. Native will always want to take some vacations to forget bad things or to leave responsibilities by a side. But, as she say, native are too poor to become a tourist. However, I think that they must love their homes and the places that they visit in their land, and see more than the boredom or banality so that home become a source of pleasure. Its very rare that tourist view your home as a paradise, and native view tourist's places as a paradise. Its a very fun fact. 
People that travel should be grateful. They are natives and tourist at the same time. I will like to visit other places in the world, because here in Puerto Rico or in Florida, I don't feel like a tourist. In Florida, I have my family so I can feel like I was in home. However, I like to travel. I like to be with them. However, I feel grateful, because I have been in both position, so I can view and felt the reality of them. 

3 comments:

  1. I agree with you on the interpretation of this quote. This can also help us see how we as native or tourist interact with other people.

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  2. I agree with you. We should learn from this and think that we can be in both situations.

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  3. I share your thoughts with your interpretation of the quoate, I wrote something similar.

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