In her work “Naming is Owning,” the author, Jamaica Kincaid, vilifies the possessive mentality that has captured human minds for centuries. While decrying this class of conquerors, Kincaid links human conquest to our dominant relationship to nature. She then acknowledges her participation in the lesson by recognizing herself as the owner of a garden. On a deeper level, he struggles with this identity. How does he negotiate between his intrinsic desire for ownership and the necessary respect for what he owns? What does this negotiation mean? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay He begins his critique of this class of conquest with an example of a human right to the environment, allowing us to understand conquest in the context of gardening. Kincaid selects a passage from The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. Rich in diction, it describes a life of comfort through the environment. The “little feast” (114), the “splendid afternoon” (114), and the “floods of summer light” (114) communicate a sense of entitlement to the beauty and graces of nature. Kincaid expands on this later by describing the passage as something that “could only have been written by a person who comes from a place where the richness of the world is like skin, a natural part of the body…” (116). The passage continues to describe the extreme privilege of its writer. The “beech trees [that] cast a shadow as thick as that of a velvet curtain” (115), and the forest that seemed to be “furnished…with cushioned seats, with brightly colored carpets, [and] with books and papers that lie on the grass” (115) reflect not only an unusual level of comfort, but also a sense of ownership over the forest. Henry James' passage does not describe nature through its beauty, but rather evaluates it strictly through its material value. Furthermore, Kincaid's choice to include the above-mentioned quotes from another source seems to imply that his position on the conquest is objective. By making his position appear objective and universal, Kincaid increases his ethics towards us. The passage also serves as the source paradigm of the problem he is addressing. The passage from Portrait of a Lady convinces us that we as a society must tend to take possession of the environment around us. Kincaid then argues that, to cement our possession of this environment, we use the mechanism of naming as construction. He introduces us to the cocoxochitl, an Aztec flower recognized for its intrinsic value. In this case the Aztecs did not name it to assert some sort of ownership over it, rather “it appears to have been prized and cultivated for its own sake and for its medicinal value” (118). The name itself refers to the flower's ability to treat urinary tract disorders. This relationship is pure and respectful, supporting a mutual existence with the environment rather than oppressive. The author then juxtaposes this with the European practice of naming, a more possessive and territorial tool. After the Europeans conquered the Aztecs, they renamed the cocoxochitl after the dahlia. This effectively served as “a murder, an erasure” (122) of the history and value the flower once had. This new name, dahlia, became an acknowledgment of the conquerors who took the land. The name comes from Andrew Dahl, a botanist who hybridized the plant. The dahlia simply becomes “one of the details, a small detail, of something great and grim: the conquest” (118). The flower became another object of possession for its owners. This example juxtaposes the naming customs of two civilizations forclarify the possessive nature of this construct. The author continues to vilify the possessive nature of humanity as we return to conquest in the context of gardening. Kincaid remembers a flower he saw in the mountains of his hometown. He describes them in bright, colorful words – like “tall stalks of red flame” (119). Yet, these flowers reminded her of a fainter variant she had seen in North American gardens. She "can't stand" (119) that more boring, "smaller" version (119). This anecdote reinforces Kincaid's anti-conquest stance and reinforces his apparent view that indigenous flowers should not be exported to other places in an attempt to "just go out and take someone else's beauty for [himself]" (119) . Gardening has become an extension of the human domain. Now gardening has become a manifestation of humanity's toxic desire for conquest and power. Kincaid takes us back to the memory of a botanical garden owned by the English in his native country, Antigua. The conquerors of his Antigua used the garden to grow foreign plants without taking the slightest interest in the plants native to his country. He claims that they are the reason for his ignorance of Antiguan botany. The British Botanic Garden was but one manifestation of their breadth and scope as an imperial titan. More importantly, these gardens “reinforced for [the author] how powerful the people who had conquered it were” (120). This shows that the conquest had served its purpose for its conquerors; they had consolidated themselves as an authority capable of building up and crushing their subjects at will. This is the conqueror-conquered dynamic that Kincaid laments, and it manifests itself most often through human interaction with nature, most specifically in our gardens. These scathing criticisms seem almost hypocritical given that she owns a garden herself. Fittingly, Kincaid reflects an element of disgust in her hobby as she describes herself gardening. Describing herself as “covered with earth, smelling of manure [and] speckled with white dust” (121), she acknowledges that “in the place [where she comes from], [she] would be a picture of shame” (121). . The images she creates convey how others from her home might treat her with disdain for her achievement through gardening in a style so similar to that of imperial Britain. However, he then moves on to address his own perspective on his practices. He shows his personal approval of her gardening achievement by describing "her body [as] a cauldron of odors, pleasing to her" (121). His approval of his own gardening seems strange and even hypocritical. Here he begins his transition to this group, despite his condemnation of other historical conquerors. When the author finally reflects on her experience with gardening, her tone and diction reflect a wonder and awe that seem to diminish her power as a conqueror. The image of her, "sitting in front of a window overlooking [her] garden" (122) reflects a type of fascination that is not only very different from a typical conqueror's desire for power, but also reflects the type of innocence and purity that defined the Aztec mutual relationship with nature. She likes that when you "put things (plants) together you never really know how it's going to work until they do something, like flower" (122). Kincaid reflects an organic curiosity for the beauty of nature and relinquishes control over the plants in her garden. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Despite the reality that “[she has] joined the conqueror class” (123), Kincaid.