Anger is a recurring motif in Kincaid's emotions toward both her family and her homeland, Antigua. She reflects on her anger, recognizing that it frequently emerges in trivial interactions. For example, when Devon requests to walk alone with her, she is suspicious of his intentions and resents the idea. She remembers an occasion when Devon asked for the khaki shorts she was wearing, expressing her frustration: "I did not like giving them to him at all. I did not want them back; I wanted not to have had to give them in the first place."

Quarreling is a constant feature in Kincaid's family dynamics. Family members often cease communication with each other, and these silent treatments develop their own significance. At one point, Kincaid refers to her mother as "his mother," referring to Devon's mother, and explains, "she is my mother, too, but I wasn’t talking to her then, and when I am not talking to her, she is someone else’s mother, not mine." After Devon temporarily recovers, she recalls, "He and my mother had huge quarrels and unforgivable things were said, but after the quarrels were over, they would both feel that everything said had not really been meant." In Kincaid's family, anger operates under its own set of rules, where those who have committed or spoken hurtful things can also demonstrate unexpected affection.

The theme of anger is intricately connected to the complexities of motherhood and its potential repercussions. Kincaid points out that her mother's affection for her children possesses the remarkable potential to "transform into a weapon for their destruction." Critics have noted that Kincaid's exploration of mother-daughter dynamics is intertwined with her examination of colonialism, which is essentially a forceful, quasi-parental relationship imposed by one nation upon another. In A Small Place, Kincaid depicted the English colonizers in Antigua in a manner reminiscent of her mother's approach to parenting, stating that "no natural disaster imaginable could equal the harm they did."

While Kincaid is candid in her critical depiction of her mother, she acknowledges that the role of a mother almost inevitably evokes negative emotions at times. She reflects on how her son experiences both love and hatred towards her, and considers this duality to be natural and necessary: "This state of profound contradiction, loving me and hating me, is what will be for the rest of his life if I am a good mother to him. This is the best that it can be. If I should fail him—and I very well might, the prime example I have is not a good one—he will experience something everlastingly bitter and awful: I know this, the taste of this awfulness, this bitterness, is in my mouth every day."

Gardening represents a deep bond between Kincaid and her mother. Kincaid admits that her love for gardening, similar to her brother Devon’s, stems from their mother's influence. "What would my brother say if asked how he became interested in growing things? He saw our mother doing it. What else?"

For Kincaid, gardening symbolizes the act of nurturing. When discussing Freeston, an Antiguan who openly acknowledges having AIDS, the harmony within his family is mirrored by their flourishing houseplants: "he lived with [his mother] in a house with a beautiful garden full of zinnias and cosmos and some impatiens and all sorts of shrubs with glossy and variegated leaves." This metaphor becomes most powerful when Kincaid uses it to describe Devon: "in his life there had been no flowering, his life was the opposite of that, a flowering, his life was like the bud that sets...