Conference: Tourist vs. Traveler

The theme of the conference that we had last week was about the comparison and contrast of the books Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald and A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid. The thing that caught my attention the most was the concepts of traveler vs. tourist. A tourist is a person who is traveling or visiting a place for pleasure. While a traveler is a person who goes from one place to another, as a trip, a journey. In my opinion, a traveler is a person who wants to know more about the history and culture of the place that is visiting.

In the book the Holy Cow Macdonald narrates the experiences that she had in India as a tourist and how as the time passes she became a traveler. Otherwise, in A Small Place, the author addresses the reader as a tourist while encounters different parts of Antigua.

We can note that at the beginning Macdonald had a negative perspective of India but at the end she had made a start along the path to personal transformation and inner peace. An example seen in the book is when she takes first the calming of Vipassana. She mentioned:    “ Vipassana centers are all over India but I choose one that I hope will be the quietest in this chaotic country.” (79). Through this quote we can see that Macdonald observes the people very closely and try to understand their faith, belief and religion. She also ravels to Kashmir and closely observes the Muslims and their ability to surrender and sacrifice, visits the Vatican of Sikhs – the Golden Temple and spends some days in the Buddhist Monastery. Therefore we can say that she experiences different faith from different angles; meaning that she ends to be a traveler that learn more about the culture and the historical aspects of others. 

In conclusion, Kincaid expresses her opinion about the life of Antigua. She tries that the reader looks beyond the beauty of Antigua and explore the reality and truth behind it. In the book, the tourists for the author are people that might observe things without understanding its significance. Otherwise, in Holy Cow, we can appreciate, in my opinion, two different perspectives. The two perspectives are: the author as a tourist and the author as a traveler. As a tourist, for Macdonald, all seems ugly and negatively in India. But then, when she came back, she became transformed as a human being. India challenges Macdonald’s health, her self-esteem, and her disdain for spiritually and sends her back to Australia a richer, more spiritual and insightful woman. Therefore, through both books we can see the different perspectives that the authors have about tourist vs. traveler.