Ideologies in the Characters of Small Island
The plot of the great book seller Small Island (2004) is formed around four characters: Hortense, Queenie, Gilbert and Bernard. Each character has a different past, identity, ideology, dreams and expectations. But they also have one thing in common: all of them change after the war. Although, everyone experiments the war in a different way, all felt affected by it. At this point, all that they have experience before or what they believe in seems lost, with no sense (Gilroy, 2004). This war is not the only factor that makes them feel bizarre and strange. The England that all believe to know has also changed, it was not the England in which they believe in, in which they had trust once.
In this essay I will compare the ideologies and expectations of all the characters before and after the war, making emphasis in the concept of identity related to other conceots such as’ race’ and ‘social class’.
The characters can be easily divided in many different ways. One of them is their marital relations: Queenie is married with Bernard, and Hortense is married with Gilbert. Another division can be made by analyzing their origins. The first couple is from Jamaica while the second one is English. The third division could be separating them by their colour of skin: Queenie and Bernard are white and Gilbert and Hortense are black. Race is an important topic in the whole book and is expressed in the way of ‘color of skin’ (Cinková, 2010). The colour of skin of the characters makes them ‘better’ or ‘worse’ in the atmosphere of the book. Britain and its ally France was beating against the fascist Germany. How can be possible then that Britain’s attitudes was racist? Why Britain makes differences between the race white and black and at the same time tried to suffocate the fire of fascism?
The reason is simple, Great Britain was not used to the ‘aliens’ or ‘strangers’ before the war. Their imperialistic ideology could not see the pain and suffering that their colonies were
In this essay I will compare the ideologies and expectations of all the characters before and after the war, making emphasis in the concept of identity related to other conceots such as’ race’ and ‘social class’.
The characters can be easily divided in many different ways. One of them is their marital relations: Queenie is married with Bernard, and Hortense is married with Gilbert. Another division can be made by analyzing their origins. The first couple is from Jamaica while the second one is English. The third division could be separating them by their colour of skin: Queenie and Bernard are white and Gilbert and Hortense are black. Race is an important topic in the whole book and is expressed in the way of ‘color of skin’ (Cinková, 2010). The colour of skin of the characters makes them ‘better’ or ‘worse’ in the atmosphere of the book. Britain and its ally France was beating against the fascist Germany. How can be possible then that Britain’s attitudes was racist? Why Britain makes differences between the race white and black and at the same time tried to suffocate the fire of fascism?
The reason is simple, Great Britain was not used to the ‘aliens’ or ‘strangers’ before the war. Their imperialistic ideology could not see the pain and suffering that their colonies were
References: Anderson, B. Imagined Communities, (1983) Cinková, L. West Indian Experience in Britain in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century: Bittersweet Homecoming, (2010) Gilroy, P. After Empire: Melancholia or Convivial Culture? Abingdon: 2004 Mahadevan, U. England of Andrea Levy’s Small Island: Dreams and Realities, (2010)