My Name Is Leon Flashcards
‘Like the hulk’ ‘He’s a warrior’
TUFTY, ADMIRATION, ROLE MODEL.
Leon’s description of Tufty after he first sees him. The simile expresses a tone of admiration; Leon looks up to his strength.
‘The sun […] is a healer.’
TUFTY, HAPPINESS, OPTIMISM. One of the key messages running through the novel is that everyone goes through bad periods of their life. Here, Tufty is giving the message that everything looks and feels better when it’s sunny; we need a positive outlook. Tufty is an archetypal sage, teaching and guiding Leon. This links with the Bildungsroman genre of the novel, as Leon learns and grows as he comes of age- also reflected in the setting of the allotments, symbolizing growing up.
We are the consequence of history. We are the warriors you made.’ ‘We have dignity and worth
TUFTY, LEON, PROTEST, VIOLENCE, RACISM. Tufty uses language as a form of political protest, writing ‘Ode to Castro’ as a protest poem about the mistreatment of black people following Windrush. The collective pronoun ‘we’ shows how he wants people to be unified, and the solemn and dignified form of an ‘Ode’ evokes ideas of pride. This poem is influential to Leon, who recites lines from it at several points in the book. The power of this poem is highlighted when Leon recites it to the policeman when he’s caught in the riot, reminding the policeman of his humanity and stopping the policeman’s potentially violent reaction.
It’s a protest. Except we don’t bomb people in their beds like you Irish people.
TUFTY, DEVLIN, VIOLENCE, PROTEST. When Tufty and Devlin are fighting in the allotments in Chapter 36, Tufty stereotypes Irish people as terrorists, showing how Devlin is marginalised because of xenophobic attitudes. Here, we see a more negative side of Tufty; despite Leon’s admiration for him, he is flawed. The motif of protest runs throughout the novel- car bombings and hunger strikes, rally groups and armies, poetry and peaceful protest, uprisings and riots. De Waal seems to be exploring different ways that people can protest
‘Always my fault. Always will be my fault. Forever and ever. Amen.
DEVLIN, GUILT. When drunk, Devlin recalls the death of his child, which he blames himself for. The anaphora of ‘always’ and repetition of ‘ever’ emphasizes how his guilt haunts him, and seems permanent. The ‘amen’ at the end suggests that Devlin recites his guilt like a prayer, and evokes pathos from the reader.
‘Photographs of boys, lots of them; dozens.’
DEVLIN. The photographs of boys in Devlin’s shed arouses suspicion in Tufty and the reader at the start of the novel. However, at the end when it’s revealed these are photographs of children he taught in Mexico, and his son, the reader realizes they’ve misjudged Devlin.
Everyone steals from me.’
LEON, STEALING. The motif of stealing runs through the novel, as Leon gathers more things for his ‘collection’. However, during his outburst to Tufty and Devlin in the shed, we realise why Leon steals; he feels like everything he loves has been stolen from him (Jake, his childhood toys), and that he therefore needs to steal to survive
The end of the pen is like a little metal knife’ which Leon imagines stabbing ‘through the soft bit of [Earring’s] eye’ and writing ‘I **ing hate you. Black power. From Leon.’
LEON, VIOLENCE. The violent simile, imagery, and profanity is shocking to the reader, emphasizing Leon’s frustration and anger at the social worker for not listening to him. The reader is reminded of the proverb ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’, but here it’s taken literally as Leon imagines the physical damage a pen could do. The innocent ‘From Leon’ at the end of this is almost funny in its incongruity to the rest of the sentence, and suggests that perhaps Leon doesn’t understand the full implications of what he’s imagining.
Maureen’s hair ‘glows like a halo’ and she has a ‘golden biscuit tin.’
HAPPINESS, MAUREEN, LEON, ADULTS. The semantic field of light is associated with Maureen, symbolizing how she is a positive influence in Leon’s life and makes him happy. The simile of Maureen being angel-like emphasizes her role as an archetypal caregiver, and how she is a foil to the negligent Carol- she makes Leon feel safe and happy. Maureen is associated with food, and she feeds the previously malnourished Leon as a way of trying to make him feel safe, fed, and comforted.
‘[The allotments are] better than a park because everyone has their own bit of land to look after and they can do what they like with it.’
HAPPINESS, LEON. The setting of the allotments represents happiness for Leon- he likes being responsible and looking after things, and at the allotments he can help nurture the plants and make them grow as a replacement for looking after Jake. The allotments are full of diverse and multicultural people, bonded by a common purpose. Rookery Road Allotments also symbolizes Leon’s growing desire for independence, freedom, and a permanent home where he belongs.
Spit comes out of his mouth like a wild dog.’ […] ‘Leave him! Leave him! He can’t breath!’
VIOLENCE, PROTEST, CASTRO. In Chapter 27, the reader witnesses first hand the brutality of the police. When questioning Tufty and Castro about another man called Rainbow, they claim that Castro is resisting arrest, and drag him away. The language used to describe this is graphic and visual, making the reader feel fear for his safety, and foreshadowing his later death in the cells. The frantic repetition and exclamatory nature of Tufty’s speech is also emotive, and alludes to Eric Garner, who was choked to death by police after repeating ‘I can’t breathe’ 11 times in 2014. This reminds the reader that systemic racism and unnecessary police brutality still exist.
