English Literature essay

'Small Island' by Andrea Levy

Does the title, ‘Small Island’, suggest more than settings?

    

          The title, ‘Small Island’, is quite ironic it fact that the Jamaicans believe the other West Indies islands are ‘small islands’, and then later on Gilbert says England is a ‘small island.’ However, to the English and Americans, Jamaica is such a ‘small island’, that to many of them it has little significance, with many of them not even knowing about its existence or where it is, “Where is Jamaica?” “Well, dunno. Africa, ain’t it?” (Page 142) and “Jam-where?...Jam –what?” (Page 142). I think this shows that the title, ‘Small Island’, does suggest more than just settings, because it also shows naivety and ignorance, on the part of the British and Americans, suggesting that they have ‘small minds’ and are so self-focused, that they don’t even know where some of the troops, which are fighting for the same country as them, come from.

           However ‘Small Island’ could also be used to describe the Jamaicans disappointment when they get to England, because England is described to them as the ideal place, the ‘Mother country’, but when in fact they get there it is of great disappointment to many of them. “The filthy tramp that eventually greets you is she.” (Page 139). The title ‘Small Island’ could reflect this because what they believe to be a spacious, friendly, welcoming place, turns out to be a cramped, grubby, spiteful place, crushing all their hopes and dreams.

           From the beginning of the book it is made obvious that Hortense has more than just ‘family feelings’ for her cousin, Michael Roberts, and that she does in fact have very strong sexual feelings for him. “From the moment my eyes first beheld his handsome, dapper, newly made man – I knew that I loved him.” (Page 47)  These feelings for Michael Roberts are used through out the novel, showing Hortense’s jealously when she finds out Michael is having a relationship with Mrs Ryder, and by the fact that when she first finds out Gilbert is in the RAF, just like Michael was, the first thing she does is ask if he knows the where-abouts of Michael. So it could be said that Hortense herself wants a relationship with Michael, and wants to start a family with him. The title, ‘Small Island’, can then be linked back to this because, Hortense’s landlady, Queenie, ends up meeting with Michael Roberts and getting pregnant with his baby. Queenie that decides she can’t raise the child herself, so she begs Hortense and Gilbert to take the baby and raise him as their own, “You know I’m begging.” (Page 522) The irony of this is that, without even knowing so, Hortense has for filled one of her dreams; she is now the mother of Michael Roberts’s baby. This links to the title because it shows that England is such a ‘small island’ that these three characters; Hortense, Michael and Queenie, have been linked together in such an immense way, even though they come from different parts of the globe.

            Another issue that can be represented by the title is racism. The fact Queenie doesn’t feel she’d be able to look after her own baby, because he’s black, no because she has a problem with it, but because she knows society would have a problem with it, shows that society in them times, was very closed minded. “And what do we tell him when he asks? That we left him out in the sun too long and he turned black?” (Page 520) This could be because England was mentally a ‘small island’, in the fact they didn’t think about the feelings of others and thought the world ‘revolved around them.’ This isn’t the only sign of racism in the novel, Bernard is racist towards Gilbert and Hortense, when he insists they have to move out of his house, even though they have been living there some time. Hortense encounters racism when she is refused a teaching job in England, because she hasn’t received the ‘right training’, but it is obvious to the reader this is not the real reason, and the real reason is actually to do with the colour of her skin. Then the worst racial encounter is made my Gilbert, when he is told to move to the back of the cinema because the American GI’s don’t want to sit near him. “Our other customers don’t like to sit next to coloureds.” (Page 185) Gilbert then announces that there is no ‘Jim Crow’ in England and, unlike in America (where he also witnessed racism towards him), England should be appreciative that Gilbert is helping fight the war for them. This makes England seem like a small island because its shameful that a country would treat people in this way, and for that reason I think this makes England a small island, not physically, but mentally.