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)