Analysis of the hat in “On Seeing England for the First Time” by Muhammad Raza

 Analysis of the hat in “On Seeing England for the First Time”

In her short work, “On Seeing England for the First Time”, Jamaica Kincaid employs the use of symbolism through the brown felt hat to illustrate how imperialism and colonialism have the potential to mislead and harm oppressed individuals. In the story, the author’s father wears a brown felt hat every day. It is the first thing that he puts on in the morning, and it is the last thing that he takes off at night. While the hat may seem like a benign style choice, it is actually a metaphor for the harm that English colonialism has brought upon the family of Kincaid, as well as so many other families in the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Firstly, the reason why Kincaid’s father wears the brown felt hat is that he has supposedly seen an Englishman wear it and has begun to believe that it is a symbol of proper Englishness and sophistication. This subtle reason as to why he wears the brown felt hat already demonstrates the large amount of influence that England has already exercised and put upon its colonized nations: no matter what the temperature is, or what the conditions are of Kincaid’s father’s work, he always chooses to wear the brown felt hat because it is symbolic of England, and he has been influenced into believing that it therefore must be important. Furthermore, Kincaid stresses how the brown felt hat was unfit for the hot working conditions in Antigua, how it completely came apart after a short period of time, and how her father immediately orders new hats from England after the previous one comes apart. Again, this attachment and awe of the hat, despite its deleterious effects, symbolically represents how citizens of oppressed nations are tricked into seeing their oppressors and colonizers as larger-than-life beings, despite the harm that they cause them. And while this brown felt hat may just have caused Kincaid’s father to sweat more while working, the reality is that true colonization and oppression that it symbolizes harms its victims (both mentally and physically) much more than what can sometimes be apparent or imaginable.