The Question of Context
In understanding a work of literature, many literary criticism theories would insist that context is necessary. Small Island by Andrea Levy is a piece of postcolonial literature reflecting on post-war Britain. Thus, history and culture and postcolonial literary theories play significant roles in the readers’ comprehension. By grasping the unique historical and cultural setting of Small Island and what its goals are as a minor literature, its significance concerning identity comes to light.
While victorious following the chaotic World War II, Britain (and specifically London) was physically maimed. Bombings during the war created intense infrastructural damage. Scholar Mike Phillips in “Windrush—The Passengers” explains that housing in general and adequate housing became a cause for concern. However, there was a surplus in the amount of work to be done, especially manual labor, to repair war’s damages, which attracted immigrants. The war had brought immigrants from British colonies to join the Royal Air Force. The Windrush, a British ship, picked up former servicemen in the Caribbean. It stopped in Jamaica (where Small Island’s immigrants came from) where those wishing to rejoin the RAF, and some others, hopped aboard. On June 22, 1948, these passengers exited the ship in Tilbury, Britain (Phillips).
The essence of this major migration is the fact that immigrants had conflicts with the native British (Phillips). Amidst the physical setting of a ravaged Britain, racial and gender discriminations were present, eating away at its interior. Historian Sheila Patterson, in Immigration and Race Relations in Britain 1960-1967 stated that “no overall provision for reception, dispersal, placing or general integration was made by British authorities [for West Indian immigrants]” (2). Furthermore, most immigrants were not culturally ready to enter the complex industrial society of London (4). While West Indians anticipated full acceptance by the Mother Country, this illusion soon dissipated due to racism. The white British had previously-held views of associating dark skin with primitive abilities and inferiority (6). Even obtaining accommodations proved difficult for these immigrants (Phillips).
Not only is race an equality issue in post-war Britain, but so is gender. In “Gender and Working Class Identity in Britain During the 1950s,” scholar Stephen Brooke acknowledges the correlation between gender and working class identity. The image of the male “breadwinner” summoned the image of the dependent female. If work defined male purpose, then maternity defined female purpose. Within the domestic sphere, maternity (rather than paid outside work) characterized these women’s lives. Brooke articulates: “The exigencies of war demanded the idealization of traditional stereotypes, such as mother and wife” (776). Despite women’s work during the war, the Beveridge Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services promoted the pre-war breadwinner and housewife dichotomy. However, the need for labor in Britain blurred women’s roles as either mother or worker (776). Society did not readily accept that a woman could do both. This dependent image created an issue of gender inequality in post-war Britain for females.
Alongside cultural elements of the novel’s setting, also important to understand are elements of postcolonial literature or a “minor literature”. In “Kafka: toward a Minor Literature: The Components of Expression,” Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari examine some of the elements of minor literature. Specifically important to Small Island are the qualities of communal writing and writing as a political device. Small Island features an immigrant community and its views. It also shows the political conflicts and a concluding message of the equal necessity of all people. This final scene articulates the illogical notion of racism when Queenie asks Gilbert and Hortense to adopt her black baby, which also feeds into the political issue of miscegenation.
Homi Bhabha’s theory of mimicry is also important in reading this novel, based around non-white immigrants interacting with white people. Bhabha explains that “colonial mimicry is the desire for a reformed, recognizable Other, as a subject of difference that is almost the same, but not quite” (86). Throughout the novel, the desire to “act” and “appear” white is what pervades much of the immigrants’ struggles. Hortense struggles to articulate food items’ names at a store and she also cannot cook potatoes in the British way Gilbert has come to appreciate. She tries to act white, but never achieves whiteness.
It is in this slippage of mimicry that the questions of immigrant identity and voice prevail, which have been sources of conversation in our postcolonial literature class. Additionally, the theories presented of minor literature and mimicry have been core class discussions. The texts read in class also assist in understanding Small Island. Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners speaks to many issues that Small Island addresses, such as adjusting to city life, mimicking white behavior and speaking proper English. These two works and David Dabydeen’s The Intended feature the atmosphere of an immigrant community and its dynamics. Finally, Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses confront the issue of purity and whiteness, which is a conflict in Small Island’s conclusion.
Essentially, all of these postcolonial works add to one another and the immigrant experience. Combined with knowledge of theories such as mimicry and historical and cultural information during post-war Britain, understanding the dynamics and significance of Small Island is easier. Small Island works to question what it means to be British, or anything for that matter. For Andrea Levy’s characters in this work, as is evidenced in history as well, this idea is not so easily answered in black-and-white terms.
Works Cited
Bhabha, Homi K. “Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse” in The Location of
Culture. London: Routledge, 1994. 85-92. Print.
Brooke, Stephen. “Gender and Working Class Identity in Britain During the 1950s.” Journal of Social
History. 34.4 (2001): 773-96. Web. 20 Oct. 2010.
Deleuze, Gilles and Felix Guattari. “Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature: The Components of Expression.”
New Literary History. 16.3 (Spring 1985): 591-608. Print.
Kandiyoti, Deniz. “Identity and its Discontents: Woman and the Nation.” Millennium: Journal of
International Studies. 20.3 (1991).
Levy, Andrea. Small Island. New York: Picador, 2004. Print.
Patterson, Sheila A. Immigration and Race Relations in Britain 1960-1967. New York: Oxford Univ. Press,
1969. Print.
Phillips, Mike. “Windrush—The Passengers.” BBC. 2009. Web. 20 Oct. 2010.
While victorious following the chaotic World War II, Britain (and specifically London) was physically maimed. Bombings during the war created intense infrastructural damage. Scholar Mike Phillips in “Windrush—The Passengers” explains that housing in general and adequate housing became a cause for concern. However, there was a surplus in the amount of work to be done, especially manual labor, to repair war’s damages, which attracted immigrants. The war had brought immigrants from British colonies to join the Royal Air Force. The Windrush, a British ship, picked up former servicemen in the Caribbean. It stopped in Jamaica (where Small Island’s immigrants came from) where those wishing to rejoin the RAF, and some others, hopped aboard. On June 22, 1948, these passengers exited the ship in Tilbury, Britain (Phillips).
The essence of this major migration is the fact that immigrants had conflicts with the native British (Phillips). Amidst the physical setting of a ravaged Britain, racial and gender discriminations were present, eating away at its interior. Historian Sheila Patterson, in Immigration and Race Relations in Britain 1960-1967 stated that “no overall provision for reception, dispersal, placing or general integration was made by British authorities [for West Indian immigrants]” (2). Furthermore, most immigrants were not culturally ready to enter the complex industrial society of London (4). While West Indians anticipated full acceptance by the Mother Country, this illusion soon dissipated due to racism. The white British had previously-held views of associating dark skin with primitive abilities and inferiority (6). Even obtaining accommodations proved difficult for these immigrants (Phillips).
Not only is race an equality issue in post-war Britain, but so is gender. In “Gender and Working Class Identity in Britain During the 1950s,” scholar Stephen Brooke acknowledges the correlation between gender and working class identity. The image of the male “breadwinner” summoned the image of the dependent female. If work defined male purpose, then maternity defined female purpose. Within the domestic sphere, maternity (rather than paid outside work) characterized these women’s lives. Brooke articulates: “The exigencies of war demanded the idealization of traditional stereotypes, such as mother and wife” (776). Despite women’s work during the war, the Beveridge Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services promoted the pre-war breadwinner and housewife dichotomy. However, the need for labor in Britain blurred women’s roles as either mother or worker (776). Society did not readily accept that a woman could do both. This dependent image created an issue of gender inequality in post-war Britain for females.
Alongside cultural elements of the novel’s setting, also important to understand are elements of postcolonial literature or a “minor literature”. In “Kafka: toward a Minor Literature: The Components of Expression,” Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari examine some of the elements of minor literature. Specifically important to Small Island are the qualities of communal writing and writing as a political device. Small Island features an immigrant community and its views. It also shows the political conflicts and a concluding message of the equal necessity of all people. This final scene articulates the illogical notion of racism when Queenie asks Gilbert and Hortense to adopt her black baby, which also feeds into the political issue of miscegenation.
Homi Bhabha’s theory of mimicry is also important in reading this novel, based around non-white immigrants interacting with white people. Bhabha explains that “colonial mimicry is the desire for a reformed, recognizable Other, as a subject of difference that is almost the same, but not quite” (86). Throughout the novel, the desire to “act” and “appear” white is what pervades much of the immigrants’ struggles. Hortense struggles to articulate food items’ names at a store and she also cannot cook potatoes in the British way Gilbert has come to appreciate. She tries to act white, but never achieves whiteness.
It is in this slippage of mimicry that the questions of immigrant identity and voice prevail, which have been sources of conversation in our postcolonial literature class. Additionally, the theories presented of minor literature and mimicry have been core class discussions. The texts read in class also assist in understanding Small Island. Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners speaks to many issues that Small Island addresses, such as adjusting to city life, mimicking white behavior and speaking proper English. These two works and David Dabydeen’s The Intended feature the atmosphere of an immigrant community and its dynamics. Finally, Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses confront the issue of purity and whiteness, which is a conflict in Small Island’s conclusion.
Essentially, all of these postcolonial works add to one another and the immigrant experience. Combined with knowledge of theories such as mimicry and historical and cultural information during post-war Britain, understanding the dynamics and significance of Small Island is easier. Small Island works to question what it means to be British, or anything for that matter. For Andrea Levy’s characters in this work, as is evidenced in history as well, this idea is not so easily answered in black-and-white terms.
Works Cited
Bhabha, Homi K. “Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse” in The Location of
Culture. London: Routledge, 1994. 85-92. Print.
Brooke, Stephen. “Gender and Working Class Identity in Britain During the 1950s.” Journal of Social
History. 34.4 (2001): 773-96. Web. 20 Oct. 2010.
Deleuze, Gilles and Felix Guattari. “Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature: The Components of Expression.”
New Literary History. 16.3 (Spring 1985): 591-608. Print.
Kandiyoti, Deniz. “Identity and its Discontents: Woman and the Nation.” Millennium: Journal of
International Studies. 20.3 (1991).
Levy, Andrea. Small Island. New York: Picador, 2004. Print.
Patterson, Sheila A. Immigration and Race Relations in Britain 1960-1967. New York: Oxford Univ. Press,
1969. Print.
Phillips, Mike. “Windrush—The Passengers.” BBC. 2009. Web. 20 Oct. 2010.
