Small Island: Identity/Roots

Question 1

‘Me __________’

Answer 1

‘Me springadee’

• Hortense uses nickname for the baby that her mother used to call her
• Highlights existence of hybrid identities
• Birth of the baby represents multicultural England
• Represents new beginning where races can mix and integrate

Question 2

‘There was a ______ of a ______ life for I’

Answer 2

‘There was a chance of a golden life for I’

• Hortenses overinflated sense of superiority/inflated sense of self
• Shadism towards own race
• Disassociated sense of identity

Question 3

‘Her skin was so dark’

‘The _________ of _____ _______’

Answer 3

‘Her skin was so dark’ (Celias complexion))

‘The colour of warm honey’ (Hortense’s complexion)

• Shadism towards own race
• Hortense directly compares her skin to Celias (highlights her sense of superiority)

Question 4

‘No ________ person should ever ____ the _____________ of a _____’

Answer 4

‘No living person should ever see the underside of a tree’ (Hortense pp.55)

• A persons true nature/roots should be concealed

Question 5

‘_______ women whose ___________ __________ them like an ________’

Answer 5

‘White women whose superiority encircled them like an aureole’ (Hortense pp.69)

• Aureole = halo, angelic associations with fair skin

Question 6

‘______ chocolate ____’

Answer 6

‘Bitter chocolate hue’

• Complexion of mother + grandmother
• Negative/unpleasant associations of dark skin compared to lighter tones

Answer 7

‘you should learn to speak properly as the King of England does’

• ‘proper’ mannerisms/speech associated with England

Answer 8

• Hortense refers to: Wandsworth’s daffodils, Ode-keates, Romeo and Juliet
• intertextuality
• Overreach of British culture/language

Question 9

‘You a __________. You _____ a ___________. You ____ a _____________’

Answer 9

‘You a Jamaican. You born a Jamaican. You die a Jamaican.’ (Elwood)

• Perpetual ties to home country
• Cannot escape cultural identity even in death

Question 10

‘This is a ________ ________’

Answer 10

‘This is a small island’ (Gilbert)

• Existence of Jamaica not sufficient enough for him
• Lack of opportunity/advancement

Question 11

‘_________ of rice’
‘___________ days when the __________ _____ ran out’

Answer 11

‘shortage of rice’
‘miserable days when the condensed milk ran out’
(Hortense)

• Conditions of Jamaica post-WW2
• Deprivation of resources
• Push factors in Hortense’s immigration