Snm..all Island Discussion Stuff

Jordan Stackhouse

Discussion Quesitons

1.       We get everyone else’s perspective of Bernard before he even utters a word to the audience. What effect does this have on how we perceive his personality?

2.       These sex scenes in the novel, the different points of view. Really graphic and borderline disturbing….. is there a purpose behind this?

3.       The baby and how Bernard reacts towards it… should he be mad?

4.       The story being almost predictable at this point… but is the story about the plot or the perception of characters? Or something else?

5.       Themes of the novel

a.       Racism

b.      Dreams and Realities

c.       War- what is the war? How the views of the characters shifts with the progression of the story

d.      Love- Growing relationships like Hortense and Gilbert… Uncovered affairs with Queenie and Bernard… Queenie and Hortense unknowingly loving the same guy

Quotes:

421 Bernard’s interaction with his wife’s baby

“I never dreamed England would be like this”. Hortnese 433

The Winston Churchill quote at the end

Bernard’s war story-how it shapes his character. He still sucks as a person but we can tell he has been through some things and may not be all that bad, maybe.

“These people have to leave. I won’t have wogs in my house.” –Bernards initial reaction to black people being in his house and Queenie’s strong reaction 394 lol…

"There are some words htat once spiken will split the world in two..." 407

Small Island (the rest)

Bernard
-Why does he show up so late in the book?  What effect does this have on the reader?
-Thinks of Queenie often while abroad.  Actually cares for her.  Knew all her details.
-Why did it take so long for the British to send his unit back?
-Only been with one girl (Queenie) until Calcutta
-Growing up with Arthur as a father... how does it appear to impact his life?
       -"When the first dazzling red flower appeared, he cried. Openly."(p.331) <--Maybe why Bernard cried openly in front of Queenie years later.
       -cleaned up his father's "crusty white stains on the sheets, on his pants." (p.332) and parents never had sex after Arthur returned... impacted his sex life?
-thought Queenie shut the door and was happy to be rid of him, but Queenie secretly watched out the window, and he never knew. :(
-Do you think that the war made him more racist?  Or was he always that racist?
-Inconsistency:
        -felt bad for having really rough sex with only a girl of about thirteen: "This war hadn't made me a hero.  It had brought me to my knees... 'I'm so sorry'" but after she calls him Johnny, he "just threw the money at the wretched whore, then left." (p.341)  shows his volatile character.
        -upset that Queenie wasn't active during sex ("She let me do it to her, of course, but only because I was her husband and going away to who knew where?  She let me, but she lay there like a limp rag." p.333), but when he has sex with the girl in Calcutta and she moves and moans, he tells her to "Shut up" and "stay still"(p.339-40)  Why?  Wanted limp Queenie instead?  Or wasn't used to having to move his body in conjunction with another?
         -Bernard cares for the black baby but still hates black people. "Listen, Bernard. He needs a home. A good home." "He's got a home." (p.430)  "Get your filthy black hands off my wife!" (p.434)  (see more under "Baby"
-actually thinks he knows better than everyone...does he? or is he simply overpraising himself.
        -Petrol incident (p.292)
        -Didn't bring a blanket although he was told to, because he "couldn't see the need."(p.291)
        -"The Japs are just clockwork toys..."(p.290)
        -working the fire hose (p.320)


Doctors:
-tells Queenie can't get pregnant unless she enjoys sex... yeah, OHkay.
-tells Bernard that he doesn't have Syphilis if no symptoms have been present in two years although untreated syphilis can lay dormant for years...


Chapter 48 (p.362-3)
-Bernard's Dream
-Bernard sees a Japanese man smiling at him in his house.  Thinks he might not be so bad after all.  Then the Japanese man pulls out a sword and he is scared for himself and Queenie.  Queenie sits up and says Hello to the man as if they were friends.  "Hello.  Come in."
-Bernard thinks of the colored people in his home as enemies invading it...he can't allow himself to accept their presence because they're still bad people even if they look pleasant...even if Queenie accepts them


Hortense and Gilbert's new relationship
-Hortense leaves the building without a job and finally understands England
-Gilbert cheers her up and she begins to open up to him
-"...her eyes gazed upon me.  And I believe it was the first time they looked at me without scorn." (p.381)
-"She smiled."(p.381)
-"It was a timid hand I stretched across the table to place over hers. I waited for her to slap it away.  But she did not." (p.384)
-"This is a good room..." (p.417)
-"Are you teasing me, Gilbert Joseph?" (p.382)
-"do you want to sleep in the bed with me?" (p.419)
-"I felt her foot press lightly against my leg.  I moved my leg away.  But soon the little cold foot followed." (p.419)
-"I realised that Gilbert joseph, my husband, was a man of class, a man of character, a man of intelligence."(p.435)
-Gilbert starts to fall in love.
-"Two breaths skipped before I could carry on." (p.381)
-"She laughed and I swear the sky, louring above our heads, opened on a sharp beam of sunlight."(p.381)
-"Her face was so pretty wearing merry, I wanted to kiss it." (p.382)
-"For before me I suddenly saw quite the most wonderful woman....all I wanted to do was kiss her."(p.418)


Race/Nationalism:
-"The British out of India?  Only British troops could keep those coolies under control."(p.308)
-"Last name rather queer... He tried writing it down for me once, slowly with great concentration, but it was just a jumble of letters in no apparent order." (p.315)
-"Little chap, but muscly for an Indian.  And happy.  Not miserable like most of them." (p.315)
-"I was glad to hear he was grateful." (p.316)
(sarcasm?)"No, I am lucky to learn the language at school. They call me a little brown Englishman there.  The British have taught me so many useful things....What would we poor Indians have done without you British?  ...all the things the British are giving us in India...tax and cricket..." (p.316)
(sarcasm?)"A gift from the British to an ignorant people....Without your rule of law what are we?" (p.317)
"Are you not protecting us all this time from the filthy Japs with their slitty eyes? ...Your British bulldog understands that there is nothing worse than foreigners invading your land...a dreadful thing to have foreign muddy boots stamping all over your soil." (p.317)
-"An Englishman proud of his country, right or wrong." (p.344)
-"Bloody coolies." (p.323)
-"Then the cheeky blighter put his hand out for me to shake.  I just shut the bloody door on him." (p.355)
-"I don't doubt that, Queenie, but did they have to be coloured?  Couldn't you have got decent lodgers for the house?  Respectable people?" (p.360)
-"Get rid of all these coolies...the lodgers, I mean.  Let them find somewhere more suitable for their type anyway." (p.360)
-"You ever see that, Gilbert, a white man go red?" (p.367)
-"He's the sort of ruffian make me ashamed to come from the same island." (p.369)
-"These coloured people don't have the same standards. I'd seen it out east.  Not used to our ways."(p.388)
-"The war was fought so people might live with their own kind...I've nothing against them in their place.  But their place isn't here." (p.388)
-"What he deserved was to be thrown out on the street.  Him and all the other ungrateful swine."(p.390)
-"But I'd seen all their tricks out in India." (p.390) <-groups all nonwhite people in same category
-"It's everything to do with you.  You and your kind." (p.403) <-said same thing to Pierpoint
-"I looked like a suspect.  What crime?  Oh, any will do." (p.405) <-still happens today
-"Come, everyone know we silly darkie postmen were always getting lost." (p. 415)
-"You wan'know what your white skin make you, man?  It make you white.  That is all, man.  White.  No better, no worse than me--just white." (p.435)


Gender:
-"I thought he'd take it hot like a man after being in the RAF for so long." (p.357)
-"Shouldn't have to hear that from your wife.... Especially in front of coloureds." (p.391)


Politics:
-"Of course, it was the Communists who started it.  Uncle Joe Stalin's friends....Even the chaps who should've known better began agreeing with these rabble-rousers." (p.301)
-"But I soon realised I'd sat in the red corner among the Communists.  I would have known to avoid them if I'd seen their faces." (p.312)


Baby
-"I wasn't ashamed, I just didn't want prying eyes making it sordid." (p.411)  But later chooses to give her baby away because she can't handle those prying eyes.
-Michael Roberts'
-Hortense never knew she got to have Michael's baby after all
-Named it Michael (ew)
-Bernard cared for it: "His dark skin fresh as a polished shoe. Flat nose.  Nostrils, tiny pips. Lips elegant, as if recently drawn." (p.421) "Was soon sucking on my finger.  Clamping his gums around, soggy, wet.  And warm.  He sucked it like it was nectar.  Quite content.  Actually, he was a dear little thing." (p.422)
-Queenie didn't think Bernard wanted to take the baby to the suburbs.
-But Bernard wants to take care of the baby, even though he's black.  "He's got a home." (p.430) "Adopted, that's what we'll say." (p.431)
-"Why, in god's name, would Queenie think to entrust the baby's upbringing to people like you?" (p.434)  Bernard was still completely racist against blacks, yet would defend the black baby because it was Queenie's.



Other Things:
-Do you think Arun and Ashok took Bernard's gun?  Or did he just blame them because he couldn't remember what he did with it and they're natives?
-to Johnny Pierpoint: "It's got everything to do with you and your sort." (p.338)  Class? Race? Politics?
-"England had shrunk.  It was smaller than the place I'd left." (p.350)  <-Gilbert said similar thing about Jamaica
-"'But you don't know them?'  'No, but I know they are from home.'  I did not tell her that some days I was so pleased to see a black face I felt to run and hug the familiar stranger." (p.384)  <-Same thing at Wake.  Black people who don't even know each other say hi when they pass by because they feel a connection in this sea of white faces.  According to my (black) friend, anyway.
"I lost them all in a hurricane." (p.409) <--WHY DID HE SAY THAT?

Small Island 4/25/14

Gilbert, Queenie, and Arthur attend a picture show...or try to.  This takes place in England, but because there are American soldiers there, the theater is separated: whites in front, blacks in back.  Gilbert refuses to sit away from Queenie and Arthur.  A fight starts between the blacks and whites.  American police officers show up and in the middle of the brawl, Arthur is shot.  Final sentence from Gilbert in that chapter: "Arthur Bligh had become another casualty of war -- but come, tell me, someone...which war?" (p.160)

Why do you think Queenie didn't reply to Gilbert's letters? (p.162)

Gilbert looks forward to Jamaica:
"No more shivering with winter cold--my teeth would have no reason to chatter.  Let me forget the dreadful sausage and boiling potatoes.  The barracks and the Naafi. And, no, thank you, I do not want another cup of tea.  Bring me back sun and lazy, hazy heat--curry goat, spice-up chicken, and pepper-pot soup..."(p.162)
But, after his arrival, he realizes the island is small compared to the world, and he wants out.
Can you relate?
He wanted to go to England so badly that he was willing to marry to get there.  "...she let me know that I would have to marry her for the money....  If Hortense had money to buy me then, come, let us face it, my price was not too dear." (p.174)  If you could relate to that small-town-I-want-to-leave feel, would you marry someone to do it?  Even with no love involved on either side of the relationship?


Brooch:
-Thinks of giving it to Hortense.  Shows that he does care about her?  Shows that he wants to be a good husband?  Thinks it will help him get her to like him?  Feels obligated to her?
-Jewel was simply a cluster of flies on a piece of doggy doo-doo. Is this symbolic of anything?  Of his bad luck in England?


Bees.  (p.168)
Was Elwood being overly optimistic after the incident with the mule?  Or was Gilbert simply being pessimistic?(p.171)  But, on the other hand, is Gilbert being overly optimistic about the world?  Or is Elwood too in love with Jamaica to notice the world at all? (p.173)


Queenie meets Hortense (p.188)
Is Queenie acutally rude to Hortense by walking  in univited and "perusing the place as if it was her home?" Or did she have the right to do those things because she owns that house and feels a friendship with Gilbert...
Queenie offers to show Hortense around the shops, and Hortense's thoughts are: "Pity had me soften. 'Thank you,' I said." (p.190)  Did Queenie really just want company, or was she doing Hortense a favor by offering this?  Was Hortense's evaluation of the situation correct?  (Since she is so terrible with social interactions, probably not...)


Queenie's past (p.195)
-What did you think of her character?
"Harry, his twin, shouted, 'Queenie, we can't leave Jim down there, it's all dark.  Jimmy don't like the dark.'  And I told him, 'Don't be daft, he's dead.'"
"I was a cut above the miners'children."
Kids would ask if she had brought my mom's pies, and she would show them, and eat it in front of them, but would refuse to let them have any.  She also hit her brother for sharing with a hungry boy who's father just died.
Told the miner's kids to go away and quit begging, and was annoyed when her mom made her make soup to serve to them.
Didn't seem to care much after her aunt died... didn't mention it, at least.
Married a man who really liked her only to avoid working on the farm again.

Queenie began working at the rest centre and helping people and caring about people.  What changed her?
Started caring about Arthur.


Marriage as Escape:
-Gilbert married Hortense to escape the confinement of Jamaica
-Hortense married Gilbert to escape into white society
-Queenie married Bernard to escape working on her parents' farm.
-Why did Bernard marry Queenie?


Why wouldn't Bernard open the house? (p.217)

Why were the bombed, simply population and not people?


Michael Roberts.
-Why was Queenie acting so self-conscious around him?  Because she was attracted to him?  Or because he was black? (p.240)
-Fling.  Enjoyed sex for the first time.  Then, rude to Arthur in the morning.
-do you think the wallet was really important?  Do you think she simply wanted to see him?


Gender:
-(Speaking about Hortense): "How come this woman who was inches shorter than I could look down at me from so high a height that I felt like a dwarf?" (p.173)  Strong women.
-"What's the point of the lass being at school when there's work to be done around here?" (p.201) Women don't need education.
-"She'd run the shop on her own for years... 'But it's not what Montgomery would have wanted for me.  I was his Duchess."(p.207)  "Did he or did he not open doors for me?  Only a gentleman would do that.  He walked on the outside of me going down the road." (p.211)  Women deserve to be treated like princesses.
-As Bernard cries, "I thought only women felt emotion--all men far too practical for such silliness." (p.212)  Men don't feel emotion/shouldn't show emotion.
-"Didn't I have enough to do to look after him and his father, what with the shopping, the cooking, the cleaning?  And, silly woman that I am, didn't I know that there was a war coming?" (p.217)



Class:
-Gilbert asks Hortense if she can put money in the meter.  With out replying, she remembers, "It was not I who was the fool."  (p.182)  Also claims she will be able to make him chips...but then asks Queenie for help.
-"The impression I received was that she was talking to me as if I was an imbecile.  An educated woman such as I." (p.183)
-"He then had the cheek to ask me if I wanted to go for a walk with him.  Not on your life.  Any boy I was going to walk out with would have to court me in a collar and tie, with a freshly scrubbed neck and a wage packet about him."(p.2013)
-"They'd be happier among their own kind." (p.222)
-"I want to know the name of your superior.  I want to make a complaint.  I'm not happy to have those people living here.  This is a respectable street.  Those kind of people do not belong here.  Let me tell you, there will be a great deal of trouble if they stay because I am not happy about it, not happy about it at all." (p.236)


Race:
-Hortense compares Queenie to Mrs Ryder... not a good comparison from her perspective.  (p.187)

Small Island 4/25/2014

Gilbert- Represents the hatred and animosity that goes along with racial segregation.

• "Everyone fighting a war hates. All must conjure a list of demons. The enemy. Top of most British Tommies' list would be the army that hated them most- the Nazis... But from that first uneasy hospitality at the American base in Virginia to this cocky hatred that was charging across the room to yell in the face of a colored man whose audacity was to sit with a white woman, I was learning to despise the white American GI above all other. They were the army that hated me most!... If the defeat of hatred is the purpose of war, then come, let us face it: I and all other coloured servicemen were fighting this war on another front." (P147)
• "We fighting the persecution of the Jew, yet even in my RAF blue my colored skin can permit anyone to treat me as less than a man." (P 154)
• "Man it was hatred raged in these men's eyes not anger! Tell me, if you build a bonfire from the driest tinder, is it the stray spark you blame when the flames start to lick?" (P 157)
• "What a thing was this to wish for. That a person regarding me should think nothing. What a forlorn desire to seek indifference." (P 260)

Gilbert also represents the interaction between hope and defeat

• "This was a beautiful island. As sweet with promise as the honey that would soon flow from the combs. I stuck my fingers into the soft earth that yielded under them. If I held them there long enough, surely this abundant country could make me grow." (P 168)
• "'Elwood, I tired of fighting.'" (P 173)
• What is your reaction to Elwood's response- "You may look like one of us but not'in' gon' change the fact your daddy is a white man.'" (P173)
• "I was about to bend my knee so I could reach the brooch when hear this,, if flew away. Black flecks suddenly pitting the air. That jewel was no more than a cluster of flies caught by the light, the radiant iridescent green the movement of their squabbling backs. My eyes no longer believed what they saw. For after the host of flies flew they left me with just the small piece of brown dog's shit they had all gathered on. Was this a sign? Maybe." (P 176)
• "And I say, 'I cannot see you on your knees so soon. I did not bring you to England to scrub a floor on your knees. No wife of mine will be on her knees in this country.'" (P 263)
• "I had no intention of eating that precious candy. For it was a salvation to me- not for the sugar but for the act of kindness. The human tenderness with which it was given to me. I had become hungry for the good in people. Beholden to any tender heart." (P 270)

Nationalism & Housing Refugees

• Reference to the feather given to men who did not join the war effort- page 198. 
• How does this portray the 'us vs. them' phenomenon that prevails throughout the book?
• Is the feather a symbol for something?
• Gilbert's observation that he was treated better than black Americans because he was British.
• Elwood telling Gilbert that he should stay and fight for Jamaica rather than leaving to fight for England.

• "So when this ministry man visited to check up on our refugee, all I had to do was tell him, 'Nothing and no one.'" (P 221)
• "But it wasn't an invasion- it was a sadder sight than that. It was a family... They were not the first such family, so Mr. Todd told all the other neighbors. This was the third lot he'd seen and he hoped there would be no more. They'd been bombed out round Rother hithe and someone high up in some ministry had decided they should be rehoused in the empty rooms down our street." (P 223) 
• "Population, that's what I was. Smouldering like a kipper, I was one of the bombed." (P 251)
• What do you think about Queenie's distinction between people and population while she works in the assistance shelter?

Arthur

• How does Arthur's death before his character is fully developed affect the telling of the story?
• The only words he speaks in the book- "I would die if anything happened to you." (P 254)
• Why do you think he chooses not to speak?

Small Island 147-292 LR

The theme of racism continues:

“Everyone fighting a war hates…to this cocky hatred that was charging across the room to yell in the face of a coloured man whose audacity was to sit with a white woman, I was learning to despise the white American GI above all other” (147)

how segregation/racism affect each other---“This is England, I said. This is not America. We do not do this in England. I will sit anywhere I please” (153) [Gilbert]

Arthur Bligh is killed in the fight outside the movie theatre…. “Arthur Bligh had become another casualty of war—but come, tell me, someone…which war?” (160)

The idea of “small island”

Gilbert feels trapped when he returns to Jamaica and realizes the life he left behind in England

“But instead of being joyous at this demob I looked around me quizzical as a jilted lover. So, that was it. Now what? With alarm I became aware that the island of Jamaica was no universe: it ran only a few miles before it fell into the sea. In that moment, standing tall on Kingston harbor, I was shocked by the awful realization that, man, we Jamaicans are all small islanders too!” (163)

            -how does the idea of the small island represent a lack of opportunity? Or a lack of insight/knowledge of the wider world? (job opportunities, technology, racism)

            -how does Gilbert find his way off the small island?

“I am not too proud to tell you I sobbed like a boy lost. I was beaten. There was no choice before me except one. If Hortense had money to buy me then, come let us face it, my price was not too dear” (174)

 (175-176) Is the story of the brooch a metaphor for Gilbert’s experience in London?

Hortense and her perception of England/ the English

“For England was my destiny” (187)

“You’ll soon get used to our language. I told this Englishwoman, ‘I can speak and understand the English language very well, thank you” (189)

“Now, why should this woman worry to be seen in the street with me? After all, I was a teacher and she was only a woman whose living was obtained from the letting of rooms. If anyone should be shy it should be I. And what is a darkie?” (191)

“Not everything, I tell her, not everything the English do is good”  (271) [Gilbert]

[BEFORE]

How is Queenie introduced to the city? What does her background say about her character?

Is there a parallel between Queenie being groomed for marriage and Hortense’s grooming to be more English?

Why is Queenie so compelled to help others during the bombing? How does this affect her relationship with Arthur/ Bernard?

            “and it was my job to find out who they had once been and where they had once lived” (213)

What do we learn about Arthur?

Small Island (150-288)

Small Island Title

• I feel like Levy decides to name the book Small Island to highlight the realization that Jamaica is only a dot in the grand world. This is a hard realization Gilbert faces. 
• "...shocked by the awful realization that, man, we Jamaicans are small islanders too!" (163)
• "The world out there is bigger than any dream you can conjure. this is a small island. Man, we just clinging so we don't fall off." (172)
• I also believe Small Island can also relate to the issues of race and racism Gilbert and Hortense face when they're in England. Coming from an island where they are the majority, the way they are treated does come as a shock. It puts the fact that the whole world isn't like Jamaica into perspective--it's just a Small Island.
• Though Gilbert realizes racism more than Hortense, he still had his struggles accepting it.
• "Segregation, madam, there is no segregation in this country.... This is England, not Alabama" (154)
• "We fighting the persecution of the Jew, yet even in my RAF blue my coloured skin can permit anyone to treat me as less than a man" (154)
• Hortense still doesn't seem to comprehend the concept of race.
• "Now, why should this woman worry to be seen in the street with me? After all, I was a teacher and she was only a woman whose living was obtained from the letting of rooms. If anyone should be shy it should be I." (191)

The Illusion of a Better Life in England

• "That jewel was no more than a cluster of flies caught by the light, the radiant iridescent green the movement of their squabbling backs. My eyes no longer believed what they saw. For after the host flies flew that left me with just the piece of brown dog's shit they had all gathered on" (176)
• Both Gilbert and Hortense thought they would find a better life in England with more opportunities but they are greatly disappointed
• Hortense thought she was going to a large house, but instead just gets a room and life is much more bleak than she expected.
• "I never dreamed England would be like this. So cheerless" (186)
• "And let me tell you, the Mother Country--this thought-I-knew-you place--was bewildering these Jamaican boys" (175)
• "And every one of use was fat as a Bible with the faith that we would get a nice place to live in England" (177)
• Even Gilbert's thought of Queenie as his friend is ruined once he starts living there
• "cha, me thought you say she your friend. So why the woman act like bakkra?" (184) (bakkra: slave master/oppressor)
• "This woman start vex me so I think her husband a sensible man to lose him way between here and India" (185)

Small Island (150-288)

• other war going on between races, but no one can get over themselves and their own prejudices and fight the war that's actually happening
• "We fighting the persecution of the Jew, yet, even in my RAF blue my coloured skin can permit anyone to treat me as less than a man" (154).
• "Arthur Bligh had become another casualty of war - but come, tell me, someone...which war? (160)
• Why is the story the media conveys to the people significant? It's so different from what actually happened...
• The swarm of black people being attacked/ attacking in this chapter makes me think of the later scene with the bees/mule; after it, Gilbert feels like he doesn't belong
• Does Gilbert's narration in the first chapter seem different from his others? Why might that be the case?
• "I became aware that the island of Jamaica was no universe: it ran only a few miles before it fell into the sea... we Jamaicans are all small islanders too" (163)
• What finally makes him realize that? How is he finally able to get outside of his head for a moment?
• "I stuck my fingers into the soft earth that yielded under them. If I held them there long enough, surely this abundant country could make me grow" (168) VS "The ground was now parched and dry - too hard for me not to push my fingers down into the earth" (174)
• What is the significance of this imagery?
• Seeing Hortense go through her first few days in England and learning lessons the hard way is tough after seeing what Gilbert went through; the reader knows England will break her (175) like it did Gilbert, but she is really optimistic about it
• shopping in Ch 33 and learning the 'rules' that Gilbert learned in the movie theater earlier
• it was funny how Queenie and Hortense just can't understand each other (187-9)
• no one really tries to understand anyone else, they just stay in their own heads the entire time
• Ch.31: Hortense puts so much work into the apartment but Gilbert doesn't notice "He cannot even see how I tidy up this wretched little room...but it was he that look over on me to sigh long and hard" (267)
• Gilbert has had a horrible day but Hortense would never ask about it
• Hortense criticizes Gilbert and feels offended that he doesn't notice
• everyone is broken down by the world at some point
• I feel like everyone has a picture that goes with them that sort of illustrates their view on their life
• Michael Roberts: hummingbird in England
• Gilbert: mule being attacked by a swarm of bees
• Queenie: skeleton of house
• can Queenie? sometimes she knows what other people are feeling (218), and she is always trying to give her stuff away so bomb victims can be comfortable 
• "'You'll be safe as houses,' Auntie Dorothy had been very fond of saying. Anything solid she thought to be safe" (227)
• Queenie is broken down when she realizes that houses aren't safe; Dorothy told her that her house would be safe and solid, but it can be broken so quickly
• The bombs ruin Bernard too, Dorothy thought he would be solid as well but he goes crazy worrying about the bombs and Queenie
• Queenie being in love with Michael is crazy! But I love her.
• Is she happy when Bernard comes back? 
• What does her background say about her? Why is it important that we learned what we did about her?
• "I had no intention of eating that precious candy. For it was a salvation to me - not for the sugar but for the act of kindness..." (270)
• if that's all it takes... why don't they do more things like it?

Small Island 1- 150

Background:

-       Andrea Levy’s parents were Jamaican immigrants to England who sailed over in 1948, the same year the story takes place.

-       Feels very strongly about her identity as black female author and tries to write from this perspective

-       Small Island was published in 2004 and it is her most well known novel

-       Small Island refers to the island of Jamaica where people had to flee during this time because of the economic hardship, and how difficult it is for them to adjust to English life.  

Main Characters:

-       Gilbert: Nice, good humored, fought in the war, lives in a run down old tenant, is tired of constantly being asked “Is this the way the English live?”

-       Queenie: Independent and Ambitious, comes from a lot of money so she is a little disconnected

-       Hortense: Jamaican immigrant, views herself as somewhat elite, wants to be a teacher, does not quite understand the destruction of the war

Main Themes/ Trends:

-       What do we think of the bizarre relationship between Hortense and Gilbert?  Is their wedding night scene indicative of everything else that has gone on between them up until this point?

o   “He kissed me once more but this time the man poked his wet slippery tongue into my mouth… I backed away from him panting with the effort of catching my breath.” (pg 86)

-       The characters are constantly reminded of the damage of WWII and it is clearly mentally draining.  How much do you think this affects their thoughts/ actions?

o   “Yes, just this!  What do you expect?  Everyone lives like this!  There has been a war” (pg 17)

-       Hortense and Gilbert dealing with racism.  What do you think Levy is trying to say about racism in post war England?  What do you make of the fact that Gilbert was able to serve during the war but now faces discrimination back home?  Irony?  Historical Trajedy?

-       In terms of the actual writing, why do you think Levy breaks up all of these chapters into smaller subsections? 

Small Island 1-150

Book Opens with the arrival of Hortense in England
-Glimpse at Gilbert Joseph's life and habits

• It appears that Gilbert rents a single room in a House owned by Queenie Bligh (the landlady)
• Gilbert appears to be proud or at least content with his circumstances
•        Failed to pick Hortense up from the dock, messy bed, small room, waste pot was filled with                waste.
• Leads to Hortense repeatedly Chastising Gilbert mainly due to her current circumstances failing to meet her seemingly lofty expectations. "Is this how the English live?"...accuses Gilbert of "living like an animal"
• Gilbert responds by telling her she is lucky to be here
• Later, in an interaction between Hortense and Gilbert on their wedding night Hortense urges Gilbert to not forget about her and to not get distracted by English girls (85)

Shift of narrator/point of view

• How does the change in narrator effect our reading and understanding of the book?

Hortense

Chapter begins with the revelation of Hortense's  lighter skin complexion...she has a chance to live the "golden life and advance farther than her peers.

 

-relationship between Hortense and Michael, her adopted brother who gets sent of to boarding school and comes back as a Man. "I knew that I loved him"

Ironic moment with the Ryders shows a sense of American ignorance and superiority

"Someone must help these poor negro children, education is all they have"

•    although Hortense reveals that the school only accepted the brightest and wealthiest children in Jamaica. 

Sexual Encounter between Gilbert and Hortense on their wedding night (85-87)

• Gilbert is very respectful and offers to give Hortense the bed and he sleeps on the floor

Does the authentic language used by Andrea Levy when depicting the Jamaican characters effect/influence our opinions of the Characters? of the Era?

Small Island Section One

Small Island by Andrea Levy

Andrea Levy

                -British Author, born in London to Jamaican parents

                -many of her novels deal with this conflict of identity in immigrant families

                -sought to contribute to the new community of black, British authors

Chapters

      Prologue - Queenie

              -How does the British Empire Exhibition offer Queenie insight into other cultures?

                “Practically the whole world there to be looked at” (page 3)

               -What was wrong with the opinions she was gaining of the different colonies?

     One – Hortense

                -What are Hortense’s feelings towards Celia Langley?

                -“This is when her voice became high-class and her nose point into the air” (page 9)

                -How does Hortense deal with the cultural differences?

                -How do others react to Hortense’s arrival in England? (page 12, 13)

                -“Perusing me in a fashion as if I was not there to see her stares.” (15)

     Two – Gilbert

               -How does the transition into Gilbert’s perspective shape the development of the plot?

               -“Is your white glove.  You touch an angel with white glove it come up black.” (23)

                -How does Gilbert’s Jamaican heritage affect his life in England?

                -“Wow! Friendly.  Every Jamaican man know that word breathed by Jamaican woman is a trap that can snap around you.” (23)

                -“’…one thing about England you don’t know yet because you just come off a boat.  You are lucky’” (27)

     Three through Eight – Hortense, Before

                 -what do you make of the transition of the book to “Before,” why the ambiguity?

                 -How does the life described by Hortense in this chapter contrast with life in England?

-“We new girls were to be cultivated into teachers and only after three years of study would we be ready for release into the schools of Jamaica.” (52)

-What does Hortense learn about the English culture in her program?

-How does war affect Jamaica? Does it serve to unify or ruin a country? How does this relate to what we saw earlier in the novel, in England?

-“Those men who left for the war with spirited cheer returned looking around them as bemused as convicts.” (70)

-“She [Celia] will live there.  She will do that.  England, England, England was all she ever talked of.  She wore me out with it.  But I knew that when the day came she would think nothing of leaving her friend alone at that wretched parish school as she sailed the ocean in the arms of her big-talk man.” (76) How does this reflect Hortense’s own feelings about going to England?

                Nine – Queenie, 1948

                                How does Queenie’s perspective on the war differ from that of Hortense?

                Eleven through Fifteen – Gilbert, Before

                        -How do Gilbert’s experiences in the military shape his development?

-“This was war. There was hardship I was prepared for – bullet, bomb and casual death – but not for the torture of missing cow-foot stew…” (105)

-Talking about his father at Christian church, “Laughing too hearty at jokes that were barely funny.  Patting backs just before they turned round from him.  Fawning to these white people who stood haughty and aloof in his presence.” (109)

                -How does this show Gilbert’s opinions on assimilating vs. not assimilating?

-“Maybe he wanted to feel the hair of a coloured man. Or rub the skin of a darkie to see if rubbing it could make it turn white.  Or maybe he wanted to touch me for luck.” (137)

Small Island 4/23/2014

Questions:

What is the purpose of beginning the prologue in Queenie's childhood? What necessary background does this provide for the novel?

How does the difference between narration style and dialogue establish the characters of Hortense and Gilbert?

What significance do the Ryders have in the story? How is their development and the realization of Mrs. Ryder's affair with Michael Roberts important to the plot?

What is your reaction to Hortense's betrayal of Celia?

What do you make of the apparent mystery of Mr. Bligh?

Important Quotes:

Page 37- "Mrs. Ryder, in her movie-star accent, remarked, 'Someone must help these poor negro children. Education is all they have.' Many people wondered if Mr. and Mrs. Ryder were aware that their school took only the wealthiest, fairest and highest-class children from the district. Or whether these polite, clean and well-spoken pupils nevertheless still looked poor to them."

Page 38 (ironic foreshadowing)- "So it was to no one's surprise that gossip about the Ryders followed close behind: in shops, under the shade of trees, on street corners, at food tables, busy bodies discussed when they last saw Mr. Ryder where Mr. Ryder should not have been. When a pretty young woman produced a fair-skinned baby with a completely bald head, the men who sat at their dominoes sucked their teeth and whispered that Mr. Ryder was spreading more than just his love of learning."

Themes:

Use of people's first names to show cordiality-

• Michael Roberts with Mrs. Ryder- 
• "He flew so fast towards her I feared he was going to embrace her. He called her Stella- a familiar name that even Mr. Ryder would not use in my company." (Page 44)
• "And all the time I wondered, How did Michael know her given name was Stella?... On what hour of what day did this married woman tell Michael to call her Stella? Stella, he spoke softly to her. Stella, he calmed her with. Stella, he caressed." (Page 45)
• Queenie with her angry friend- "But Blanche, or Mrs. Smith as she now wanted me to call her, put her house up for sale." (Page 98)

Racial tension/stereotyping

• "Miss Newman, who believed colored girls had a better understanding of these sorts of things, being less civilized and closer to nature, would write in my margins that I was astute." (Page 56)
• "I could understand why it was of the greatest importance to her that slavery should not return. Her skin was so dark." (Page 59)
• "He'd have told that horrible sister of his that more coloreds had just turned up... bemoaning how respectable this street was before they came. They'd have got all those words out- decent, proper- polished them up and made them shine, before blaming Mrs. Queenie Bligh for singlehandedly ruining the country." (Page 94)
• "No, not master-race theory- Jim Crow!" (Page 128)

Small Island

Does the 1948 setting still pertain to today's immigration?

England isn't portrayed as nicely from a non-English perspective, is this more accurate?

Queenie's name certainly seems symbolic, but of what? England entirely? The royal family?

How big of a part do gender roles play in the novel and is it more significant or equally significant as the racial roles?

Does the device of multiple main characters add to the story? Or purposefully allow for some ambiguity?

Small Island Jordan Stackhouse

Jordan Stackhouse

Small Island

1.       What are the effects of the changes in perspective? Begins with Queenie as a girl and the encounter with the Black gentlemen (is there significance in how the author chose to start the story?) The quick shift to Hortense’s view

2.       England from a non-English perspective and how it relates to other novels we have read so far in class.

3.       Author’s decision to jump backwards and forwards in time. (introduction of characters indirect) We seem to get pieces of information handed to us at different times and are left to put it all together

4.       The dialect: does it take away from the book from loss of understanding or add to the novel, making it more realistic

5.       “My Antonia”-esque in the way that Michael and Hortense relate to one another (Gender roles)

6.       Perspectives of the different races being quite different when told by people of opposite race. Pg. 38 when Hortense describes Mrs. Ryder, Queenie’s perspective of the Black man

7.       Michael and Mrs. Ryder’s secret relationship and Mr. Ryder’s Death (46)

8.       Was that a dream on page 53? What do we make of this?

9.       Gilbert’s initial offer was for Celia, their connection was strong, but he quickly traded her for Hortense…

Quotes:

·         “As we hung right at the top-the twinkling electric lights below mingling with the stars-Father said something I will never forget. He said, ‘See here Queenie. Look around. You’ve got the whole world at your feet, lass.’

·         “He left me alone to stare on just this.”

·         Bottom of Page 33

·         “But this big-ideas man had no money. He had spent all his money, he confided to me, on bees.”

·         Page 83 third paragraph Expectation of England vs. Reality that we previously discovered

·         Page 86 Sexual encounter with her new husband

Small Island

1.  Page 19, “Me can believe what me ear is hearing. You a man. She just come off the boat – You mus’ show who boss. And straight way so no bad habit start. A wife must do as her husband say. You ask a judge. You ask a policeman. They will tell you. Everyt’ing in that trunk belong to you. What is hers is yours and if she no like it a little licking will make her obey.”
2.  Page 33, “Mr Philip told me that it was not godly for girls to lift themselves into branches as a monkey would. Or come home wet from the stream, our bellies full of star apples, raspberries and mangoes, my skirt clinging to my legs with Michael running behind me dangling a wriggling fish from his hand. I was not supposed to hunt for scorpions, tipping them from their hiding-place, tormenting them with a stick. Or dress the goat in a bonnet and attempt to ride her like a horse.”
3. Page 37,”It is for the poor people that we have been sent to do this” “Someone must help these poor negro children. Education is all they have.”

• There were 3 things that stood out in the reading so far: firstly there is a lot of gender stereotyping present (gender schema). This is seen in the quote on page 33 where Mr. Philip prescribes a certain role to Hortense.
•  Secondly, the book also shows the disconnect between members of ‘first world countries’ and ‘third world countries’. This can be seen with the Ryders.
•  Thirdly, there is a strong presence of the patriarchal structure in the book, which is indicative of the time period. This is seen not only on the quote from page 19 but also in Michaels return when Mr. Philips stamps his authority and raises his voice.

4.       I really appreciate how Levy uses the appropriate language for the characters because it adds to the story’s authenticity. Also, I noticed that Levy points out some of the racist ideas/aspects that were around. She displayed this in a way that was not completely overblown or overly dramatic which was cool.

Small Island (1-150)

Jamaica

Main Characters:
Queenie Bligh (old white lady in England who's husband is missing)
Hortense Joseph (married to Gilbert in order to go to England, light skinned/honey)
Celia Langley (ex-best friend of Hortense, black)
Gilbert Joseph (married to Hortense for money, black)

Supporting Characters:
Bernard Bligh (missing husband of Queenie, white)
Arthur Bligh (father-and-law of Queenie, white)
Miss Jewel (Grandmother of Hortense, black)
the Andersons (People Hortense stays with while working at Half Way Tree Parish School, black?)
Michael Roberts (son of Hortense's dad's cousin, white)
Miss Ma & Mr. Philip Roberts (parents of Michael and cousin of Hortense's Dad, white)
Miss Morgan (principal of school, white)
Alberta (mom of Hortense, black)
Lovell Roberts (dad of Hortense, white)

Did you know who was black and who was white immediately?
-how do you think this affected the plot?


What do you think of the characters?  Especially Hortense.  She seems to be the main character or at least one of the main characters of the book, but she doesn't come off as a particularly likable person.  Everyone who is extremely kind to her, she treats badly or thinks negatively toward.  (Celia: p.78, 80, 64  the Andersons: p.72, 73  The old woman who had helped her before she went off to England: p.88)  Why is this?

Hortense seems to be obsessed with being white.  She is proud of her important, white father, Lovell Roberts. (p.31, 51)  She is proud of her light complexion, indirectly saying that the darked-skin people are below her and won't go as far as she (p.32, p.56, p.59, p.72)  She marries Gilbert in order to live like the white people live and she constantly asks if this is how the English live (p.18)  Why?


Wedding Night (85-87)
-Gilbert tries to have sex with Hortense
-Hortense has never seen a penis before
-Hortense is scared and thinks penises are ugly
-Gilbert is nice to her and lets her sleep on the bed while he sleeps on the floor


What do you think of the multiple narrators?  How does this enhance the plot?

Do you think Bernard Bligh is still alive?  What about Michael?

English racism vs. American racism (Ch.14; p.124 & Ch.16; p.144))
-America is painted as much worse
-true?
-Andrea Levy was born in England...is this just what they're taught?  Or was England really more tolerable?


Gilbert apparently looks like Michael, but Gilbert is light black (p.108) and Michael is white (p.42)... ?

Why does Gilbert want to return to England so badly when he complains while he is there(p.117, 138)?

Nottingham vs. Notting Ham (p.133)
-how do you pronounce the difference?

Floating Opera pgs 170- 252

The Floating Opera Pages 170- 252

Chapter 19-

-          “Absolutely nothing has intrinsic value.  Now that the idea was articulated in my head, it seemed to me ridiculous that I hadn’t seen it years ago. 

-          “Nothing is valuable itself”

-          While this chapter is very short, it encompasses all of his personality traits and we see his ego out in full force

Chapter 20-

-          Why is this chapter written the way it is?  Which one of the introductions do you like better?

o   I personally like the second, I like the references he makes and he shows emotion regarding his father’s death.

-          Why does he describe the case to us?  Do we care? 

-          What does the title mean?  I can’t figure out the significance of Calliope Music?

Chapter 21-

-          In this chapter we see a new emotional side of Todd that we had not yet seen until this point

-          Why does he bring back the memory of his dad killing chickens?

-          “His debt to me was the last, but hardly the least debt my father escaped.” 

-          What do you make of the interaction between Todd and Colonel Morton?  It seems strange that during this economic depression there would be any exchange of five thousand dollars.

-          Why does he give this gift?

Chapter 22-

-          Nothing that interesting happened in this chapter except the exchange on page 203 where Todd questions why Jeannine wants an ice cream cone. He eventually gives in to her.

Chapter 23-

-          Jane returns to the story

-          “When Harrison and I got married we were as prudish as they come about extracurricular,… I swore I could never look at another man.”

o   They describe that as “dishonest”

-          On page 212 Jane and Harrison have a causal kiss

-          Page 213- “I suddenly wavered in my resolution to die- was shaken, in fact, by reluctance.  The reason was simply that- my suicide would be interpreted by the Macks as evidence that their move had crushed me.”

o   That’s just weird

Chapter 25-

-          We finally see what he wanted to do with his inquiry.

o   Nothing has intrinsic value

o   The reason for which people attribute value to things are always ultimately irrational

o   There is, therefore, no ultimate reason for valuing anything

o   Living is action.  There is no final reason for action.

o   There is no final reason for living.

-          The entire book has essentially been a lead up to him making this conclusion.  Now that he has, does any of it surprise us?

Chapter 26-

-          This is the point in the story where he and captain Osborne decide to go to the boat show

Chapter 27-

-          I found this chapter for which the whole book is a lead up to very different than what I expected.  What do you think?

-          This seemed very anti climatic to me.

Chapter 28-

-          He starts out the chapter on page 246 by saying “If you do not understand at once the end of my floating opera story must be undramatic, then again I’m cursed with imperfect communication.”

o   I sure didn’t get it so I’m with Todd

-          He changes the last part of his inquiry to:

o   There is no final reason for living (or for suicide)

Chapter 29

-          Essentially the last thought he leaves us with is, “If I was ever to explain to myself why Dad committed suicide, I must explain to him why I did not.”

o   What do you think of that statement?  I am personally mind blown.