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?