Small Island pg. 349-End

Ally

Heather

Santo 

Bernard is back!- First chapter Summary. . .

• Queenie is surprised and kind of mad
• Bernard tells her that he has been living Brighton, but doesn’t give an explanation
•  In present day he goes to a doctor and thinks he has syphilis but ends up just having the flu

Bernard’s Plane Dream (362-363)

• Does this affect Bernard’s opinion of blacks, and how?

Race

• Bernard’s opinion of the lodgers
•  He doesn’t like the black lodgers staying at his house
•  “A prostitute and coloureds. What were you thinking of, Queenie” (360)
• Hortense tries to be a teacher (chapter 50)
•  “Really miss, I have just explained everything to you. You do speak English? Have you not understood me? It’s quite simple. There is no point you asking me anything else. Now, please, I have a lot to do. Thank you” (376)
• Bus scene (pg. 383 at the bottom)
• “. . . Good, because you know what? The King has the same problem” (383)

Queenie and the baby. . . ?! (starts at pg. 394)

• Queenie has been wrapping her body with cloth to hide the baby
•  Hortense helps her deliver it
• They do it in a room and don’t let anyone in
•  The baby is black boy
• Bernard gets mad at Gilbert because he thinks the baby is his
• “Its everything to do with you. You and your kind” (403)
•   BUT. . . last paragraph on pg. 412
• She names her son Michael after his father but doesn’t tell anyone the significance
•  Queenie wants to give the baby to Hortense and Michael because they are black and no questions will be asked and no judgment will ensue
•  Bernard wants Queenie to keep the child? Wait what? Irony. . .? is this the same Bernard?
• Queenie: “Are you going to punch other dads’ cause their kids called him names? Are you going to be proud of him? Glad that he’s your son”
• Bernard: “Adopted, that’s what we can say” (431)

Last Chapter: Power of Racesàequality?

•  Queenie: “Bernard turned himself away from us. And I knew why. It was the sight of me on my knees in front of these darkies” (432)
•  Gilbert’s monologue about white vs. black! (435)

Happy Ending?= Hortense and Gilbert take the baby!

Last Line Analysis= the word "cold” as a reoccurring theme. . . What do you think of this?

• “I have found that this is a very cold country"
• The man tipped his hat again. ‘Ah, very cold, Miss’ he muttered as he moved on, ‘very cold.’ (386).
• “He took the baby from me. I adjusted my hat in case it sagged in the damp air and left me looking comical. A curtain at the window moved-just a little but enough for me to know it was not the breeze. But I paid no mind as I pulled my back up and straightened my coat against the cold” (438).