George Gmelch and Sharon Bohn Gmelch examine the continuities and discontinuities in the village life in St. Lucy, which is Barbados’ northern and most rural parish. In many respects, this is an ethnographic and social study. The authors discover that the citizens are not as isolated and estranged from the world as many stereotypes would have it. In many respects, there are positive as well as negative features to this reality. On the one hand, globalization helps keep the island economically afloat, but at the same time the forces of the free market hurt the island in a cultural and economic sense as well.