"In those days, we Antiguans thought that the people at the Mill Reef Club had such bad manners, like pigs; they were behaving in a bad way, like pigs." (simile) (pg. 20)
Kincaid uses this simile repeatedly to explain the way Antiguans thought about the tourists, colonists, and other white people from North America and Europe who settled on their island. They thought these visitors were simply bad-mannered, the way an animal would be. They did not attach the word "racism" to this behavior on their own, even though much of it stemmed from racism and ingrained biases.
"Do you know why people like me are shy about being capitalists? Well, it's because we, for as long as we have known you, were capital, like bales of cotton and sacks of sugar." (simile) (pg. 26)
In this simile, Kincaid compares Antiguans to capital, like cotton or sugar. This emphasizes the long period of history in which Europeans viewed black and native people as property, enslaving them and treating them as a business the same way they would buy and sell other goods on the market. Because this was done in the name of capitalism, Antiguans have trouble thinking of themselves as capitalists now.
"Even if I really came from people who were living like monkeys in trees, it was better to be that than what happened to me, what I became after I met you." (simile) (pg. 27)
Kincaid uses a simile here that refers to the racist belief that black or native people are savages, coming from primitive people who lived like animals while the white man is responsible for civilization and progress. Kincaid says she would rather her people have continued living like this stereotype than be enslaved and colonized by Europeans the way they were.
"...the beauty of us sitting there like communicants at an altar, taking in, again and again, the fairy tale of how we met you, your right to do the things you did, how beautiful you were, are, and always will be." (simile) (pg. 29)
When Kincaid describes what the old library in Antigua was like, she explains how the entire library was filled with books praising the British and their accomplishments, and Antiguans were indoctrinated with this point of view so they would not resist colonialism. She compares the sight of all the Antiguans in the library reading these books to people at an altar in church. This simile implies that the British were making themselves out to be gods, wanting local Antiguans to worship them.
"...the people in a small place reveal themselves to be like children being shown the secrets of a magic trick." (simile) (pg. 37)
Kincaid explains that people living in a small place do not have a clear concept of time; the division between past, present, and future does not exist, and all blends together marked by the presence of major events that shape them. She says that no one thinks about the future when they take certain actions in the present, and then when the future arrives, they trace the future's happenings backed to their root cause and are shocked to learn where they came from. She compares this to children learning the secrets of a magic trick, which emphasizes Antiguans' innocence and unawareness.
