Point of View

Throughout Small Island, Levy utilizes the first-person point of view in order to build and maintain a powerful sense of narrative intimacy. Readers receive not only dialogue and external description, but characters’ direct thoughts. In this way, Levy allows the reader to more fully occupy the perspective of a variety of characters. Importantly, Levy applies this narrative intimacy to four dissimilar figures in her novel: Queenie Bligh, Bernard Bligh, Hortense Roberts, and Gilbert Joseph. She forces her reader to take seriously the unique perspective not only of Jamaican immigrants attempting to find success in a racist England, but of a disgruntled white Englishman who seeks to bolster that racism. As author, Levy spurns overt moral judgment. She instead extends a sense of deep empathy towards character who are unethical, cruel, and even bigoted. Levy does not defend immoral actions in Small Island; instead, she reckons...