Development

A common theme throughout the novel, primarily the second and third sections, is the need for development in Antigua. The narrator begins with condemnation of the hospital and school and then expands her repertoire. She mentions that Antigua has no sewage disposal system, and therefore, wastes are released into the ocean surrounding Antigua. The main commercial enterprise of Antigua appears to be tourism, which makes the natives miserable because they envy tourists' ability to escape their lives, even if it is only temporary.

The library is destroyed in The Earthquake of 1974, and fourteen years later when the novel is written, the library still has not been restored. The library is now housed in the upstairs part of a run-down building, atop a dry goods store. Meanwhile, since the new space is not large enough to contain all the books the library formerly contained, many of the books have...