Displacement and belonging in Small Island
- Created by: jamesthewames
- Created on: 16-03-22 13:58
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- Displacement and belonging in Small Island
- Hortense
- Hortense feels out of place in Jamaica and longs to teach in England.
- Hortense believes that she can teach in England through sheer luck.
- She gets rejected from teacher training college and realises the racism in England.
- "All three were giggling when I emerged from the dark of the closet." - chp. 50, pg. 455
- Hortense clumsily walks into a closet after getting rejected from teacher training college. This incident may be karma for Hortense, who believed that she would have no trouble teaching in England. Comedy comes from her misplaced sense of superiority.
- "All three were giggling when I emerged from the dark of the closet." - chp. 50, pg. 455
- She gets rejected from teacher training college and realises the racism in England.
- "[...] for it was there that light-skinned girls in pristine uniforms gathered to drink from the fountain of an English curriculum." - chp. 6, pg. 86
- Hortense believes that she can teach in England through sheer luck.
- Hortense feels out of place in Jamaica and longs to teach in England.
- Queenie
- Queenie is disgusted by her family's butchering business.
- She marries Bernard hoping to escape her troubled home life.
- Queenie feels trapped as a submissive housewife.
- Queenie invites lodgers into Earl's court.
- She believes that by defending the refugees, people will become more tolerant of them.
- Queenie realises that intolerance will continue no matter what.
- She believes that by defending the refugees, people will become more tolerant of them.
- "With the concentration of searching for a light switch in the dark, he'd fumble about until eventually, located, he'd stick it in." - chp. 25, pg. 259
- Queenie feels unfulfilled in her love life with Bernard. This comical comparison implies that Bernard is not performing as well as he used to.
- Queenie invites lodgers into Earl's court.
- Queenie feels trapped as a submissive housewife.
- She marries Bernard hoping to escape her troubled home life.
- Queenie is disgusted by her family's butchering business.
- Gilbert
- Gilbert dreams of a career as a lawyer in England.
- He applies for several jobs, hoping to belong to British society.
- Gilbert experiences racism and realises that British society may never accept him.
- "[...] I not ****** your wife yet." - chp. 30, pg. 317
- Gilbert experiences racism at a post office yet he can still come up with witty remarks. Suggests Gilbert's fighting spirit and charm; he manages to smile through rough times.
- "[...] I not ****** your wife yet." - chp. 30, pg. 317
- Gilbert experiences racism and realises that British society may never accept him.
- "I was a giant living on land no bigger than the soles of my shoe." - chp. 18, pg. 209
- He applies for several jobs, hoping to belong to British society.
- Gilbert dreams of a career as a lawyer in England.
- Bernard
- Bernard returns from war with his career and marriage in pieces.
- Bernard rejects the lodgers, hoping to return to a comfortable pre-war state.
- Bernard realises that he cannot remove the immigrants and decides to move to the suburbs.
- "Everyone had a place. England for the English and the West Indies for these coloured people." - chp. 52, pg. 469
- Bernard rejects the lodgers, hoping to return to a comfortable pre-war state.
- Bernard returns from war with his career and marriage in pieces.
- Hortense
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