The truth behind the “Small Island”: A postcolonial reading of Andrea Levy’s Small Island (2004)

Authors

  • M. Sonia Priyadharshni Department of English, Christ College Tiruvallur, Tamilnadu, India

Keywords:

culture, displacement, home, identity, mother country, opportunities, Small Island

Abstract

The ideology behind the colonization is explored in The Truth behind the Title: ‘Small Island’. This paper aims to bring out the conflicts in the novel by addressing the significance of the title of the novel; it also thrives into analysing which really is a Small Island as post colonialism is closely linked to other concepts such as Ethnicity, Race, Nationalism, Home and Displacement. Colonization with its ideology and domination as adopted by the British could not stop subduing the colonized people. It all started with the aim of trade but later turned into oppression in the name of civilization; this colonization became the backbone of all the conflicts and leads to argue which is Small Island. Jamaicans viewed their land as small because they were made to believe that it is uncivilized and undeveloped economically even though it is bigger than England geographically.

Author Biography

M. Sonia Priyadharshni, Department of English, Christ College Tiruvallur, Tamilnadu, India

M. Sonia Priyadharshni is an assistant professor in the Department of English, Christ College of Arts and Science, Tamilnadu. She has an M. A. in English from Loyola College, Chennai, and PG Diploma in English Language Teaching from Annamalai University, Chidambaram. Her professional interests include ELT, Women’s writing, Queer studies and Cultural studies.

Dimensions

Andrea, L. (2004). Small Island. London: Headline Review. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.co.uk/Small-Island-Andrea-Levy/dp/0755307496

Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. (1995). The Post-Colonial Studies Reader. London: Routledge. Retrieved from http://www.jakedavidson.com/PCI9.pdf

Homi, B. (2011). Culture’s In-Between. In: S. Hall and P. du Gay, eds. Questions of Cultural Identity. London: Sage Books. Retrieved from http://sk.sagepub.com/books/questions-of-cultural-identity

James, C. L. R. (1969). The West Indian Intellectual: Introduction to Thomas J. J. Froudacity. London: New Beacon Books.

Philips, C. (2003, January 4). Confessions of a True Believer. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.carylphilips.com/confessions-of-a-true-believer.html

Segbedzi, E. A. (2020). Beyond Creativity: The New Historicist’s Lens. Hybrid Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies, 2(2), 28-35. Retrieved from https://royalliteglobal.com/hybrid-literary/article/view/51

Published

2020-06-15

How to Cite

Priyadharshni, M. S. (2020). The truth behind the “Small Island”: A postcolonial reading of Andrea Levy’s Small Island (2004). Journal of Postcolonial Writing and World Literatures, 1(2), 4-10. Retrieved from https://royalliteglobal.com/world-literatures/article/view/197

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 2 (2020)

Section

Articles
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