-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?
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