The book starts of with Queenie thinking about how much her life has changed since WWII. The book revolves around the lives of four people, Gilbert, a royal force soldier from Jamaica Hortense, wife of Gilbert Queenie, a white landlady and her husband Bernard. Written by Myriam Vergeti, Michaela Schwarzenauer, Languila rebecca and other people who wish to remain anonymous

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This includes the character of Hortense and Gilbert being expected to settle for less than they really deserve while in London. And readers can observe Queenie’s ignorance towards the inequality of the races as she unknowingly partakes in the prejudice and racism sometimes. Readers see Hortense and Gilbert struggle with living in a majority white society who are not welcoming of them. This is a theme that is present in both the ‘before’ and ‘after’ sections of the novel. But through triumphs and failures, they come to realize that, ‘not everything the English do are good’ and they learn to mesh their Jamaican selves with the English culture that works for them. This is a theme specifically seen with Hortense and Gilbert as they first try to adapt to the proper English way of life. The threshold to the house acts as a barrier between the internal and external spaces of the novel. Specifically, you can see Hortense and Gilbert try to make their home on the west end of London in Queenie’s house but struggle to fit into the society around it.

There are clear distinctions in the interactions between black and white individuals in a space like Queenie’s house versus on the street and in public buildings. There are many spaces within the novel but the key to them are which spaces are public and which ones are private. Written by people who wish to remain anonymous These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.

Small Island by Andrea Levy