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