A Discourse Game Analysis Of Rhetorical Fantasy In A Small Place

Jamaica Kincaid has established herself as a most prominent Caribbean American writer. With her piquant style of writing, Kincaid starts gradually an award-winning literary life. In A Small Place, Kincaid starts with the depiction of the white tourists in Antigua, and then gradually demonstrates the selfishness of the colonialists and the corruption of the local government. Kincaid unveils the rhetorical fantasy created by these people and thus criticizes the colonial mechanisms and neocolonialism. She bares the sordid reality under the seemingly "prosperous" tourism, examines the historical and current sufferings of the Antiguans, and tries her best to awaken more people.Focusing on A Small Place, this thesis endeavors to explore Kincaid’s proficient discourse skills through the lenses of discourse game by analyzing Kincaid’s unveiling and counterattacking of the rhetorical fantasy created by the colonialists. It consists of five chapters. Chapter One is an introduction to Kincaid, her book A Small Place, the theoretical framework, literature review, structure and originality. Chapter Two explores the rhetorical fantasy created by the colonialists in A Small Place from three perspectives. "Independence" fantasy, "fortune" fantasy and "civilization" fantasy are respectively demonstrated. Chapter Three examines Kincaid’s unveiling and counterattacking of the colonialists’rhetorical fantasy. As an immigrant from Antigua, Kincaid makes keen observations on situations in Antigua and tries every effort to reveal the truth. Chapter Four suggests the expected gains of the discourse game between the colonizer and the colonized from three aspects:the western people, the colonized and the others. Chapter Five analyzes the proficient rhetorical skills and discourse game in the last part of A Small Place to further explore Kincaid’s goal of writing. Kincaid painstakingly expresses what she has observed with her proficient writing skills and endeavors to call for real fairness.