The theme of the unwanted guest s dominant in both Jamaica Kincaid’s essay, “A Small Place,” and Pablo Neruda’s poem, “United Fruit Co.” While Pablo Neruda’s poem explores the effects of colonialism on South America, Jamaica Kincaid’s essay concentrates on the Caribbean. Besides the geographical disparities, these works present a sarcastic accusation of the colonialism legacy and the Western authorities’ unending exploitation of the Global South. This paper argues that the theme of the unwanted guest in “A Small Place” and “United Fruit Co.” is a metaphor for the oppressive impacts of imperialism and colonialism on the colonized individuals.
In “United Fruit Co.,” Neruda displays the US as an unwanted guest in South America. He achieves this by using imagery to portray the effects of American capitalism on South America. The poem shows how a US-based company, the United Fruit Company, exploited and ill-treated the South American people and resources for its selfish interests. Neruda states, “…the blood of the children/Froze into marble, /The Screams/Were a frozen statue (lines 16-19).” From these lines, it is clear that the US was a spiteful force that inflicted death and misery on South Americans. In this poem, the unwanted guest, the US, represents the imperialist power that seeks to dominate and exploit South America.
Jamaica Kincaid’s “A Small Place” essay also presents a comparable argument. However, it focuses on the consequences of colonialism on Antigua, an island in the Caribbean. The writer uses the symbol of an unwanted guest to illustrate how British powers have had a long-lasting and destructive impact on Antiguans, their economy, and culture. Kincaid writes, “The English came and they stated a little while and they went away, and when they went away, they left everything they didn’t want (Kincaid 10).” This passage shows that the British colonialists perceived Antigua as a one-use commodity, seizing whatever they needed and leaving behind whatever they found useless. British colonialism in “A Small Place” is the unwanted guest, presenting the imperialist power that overwhelmed Antigua and other Caribbean territories.
Both Kincaid’s “A Small Place” and Neruda’s “United Fruit Co” represent colonialism’s devastating impacts on respective colonies. The ‘unwanted guest’ is used metaphorically to propose that colonialism is a hostile and detrimental force that subverts and interrupts people’s lives in various colonies. Furthermore, it means that the colonized individuals lack power over their resources and lives; instead, they are subject to the demands and urges of colonialists. For instance, in “United Fruit Co.,” the unwanted guest is portrayed as a greedy force that eats on South Americans’ sweat and blood. In the same way, “A Small Place” portrays the unwanted guest as a materialistic force that damages Antigua’s economy and culture.
The theme of an unwanted guest in these art pieces, apart from symbolically representing the colonialist legacies, represents Western colonialists’ apparent exploitation of the Southern region. Regardless of the termination of formal colonialism, most Global South nations still experience exploitation by transnational businesses and Western powers. The colonialist’s legacy in today’s neocolonialism, where the Southern countries are still perceived as a source of free labor and resources for Western nations. These two works serve as an alarm of the ongoing oppression experienced by the Global South individuals.
This essay has discussed the unwanted guest in “A Small Place” and “United Fruit Co.” and critiques the oppressive effects of colonialism on the Global South. Kincaid’s “A Small Place” and Neruda’s “United Fruit Co.,” pinpoint the oppression that colonized people face, even following the end of imperialism. Moreover, the works act as an alarm to the persistent oppression faced by colonized people and serve as a reminder of the need to deal with the ongoing impacts of imperialism ad colonialism.
Work Cited
Neruda, Pablo. “United Fruit Company.” Canto General (1950): 179.
Kincaid, Jamaica. A small place. Macmillan, 1988.
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