How we cite our quotes: (Part.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The sign hangs there […] and you might see this as a sort of quaintness on the part of these islanders, these people descended from slaves—what a strange, unusual perception of time they have. (1.3)
The library becomes the focal point of A Small Place's view of time. The contradiction between the library's disrepair and the tourist's reaction to it illustrates two very different relationships with time.
Quote #2
I can imagine that if my life had taken a certain turn, there would be the Barclays Bank, and there I would be, both of us in ashes. Do you every try to understand why people like me cannot get over the past? (2.2)
Here we can see an example of the past still affecting the present—Barclay's Bank is making money off of the same people whose ancestors they sold into slavery. Are Antiguans expected to ignore this fact when it's staring them in the face?
Quote #3
I was sitting across from an Englishman, one of those smart people who know how to run things [...] but who now, since the demise of the empire, have nothing to do; they look so sad, sitting on the rubbish heap of history. (2.3)
Although their histories are intertwined, the English and Antiguans have very different relationships with the past. For Brits like this charming fellow, the fact that his country—a former empire—has its best days behind it must feel pretty deflating.