• In my last post, I sort of discussed the idea of how Life and Debt seems to portray two contrasting Jamaicas.  The “first Jamaica” is the one that tourists see when they visit.  This Jamaica is filled with luxury resorts, tourist attractions, and souvenir shops.  To visitors, Jamaica seems like a beautiful, carefree place where the sun always shines and people are happy.  These tourists spend a week or so soaking up the sun on the beach, visiting local attractions, and enjoying the beauty of nature.  But this only gives a small glimpse of what Jamaica is really like.  Outside the pristine, beautiful resort areas lies the “other Jamaica.”  In this part of Jamaica, life is completely different from a vacation.  People live in poverty.  Farmers struggle to sell their goods at the market.  Families struggle to just get by.  This is a sharp contrast to the happy, carefree Jamaica that vacationers see.  Tourists would not want to visit these parts of the “other Jamaica.”  The people who experience this side of Jamaica are the people who live there, as well as the occasional group of missionaries perhaps.

• This directly ties with the concept of real and imagined spaces.  The vacation areas of Jamaica seem real to the people who visit, but in reality, these areas are places that most Jamaicans only dream about.  The resorts are not the “real” Jamaica.  No, the real Jamaica is the Jamaica that struggles with poverty and problems caused by globalization.  The tourist spots- those are just a dream world enjoyed by the wealthy and privileged.