Reading Notes: Islands

Take advantage of reading day, put these two Harle's reading notes in order.

There is a habit of borrowing books: I like to borrow two books, one is a masterpiece and the other is unheard of. So, Smali? Island (say island first, don't call the title! ) I put it in my schoolbag with Walden. The effect is the opposite. The first Walden I saw was abandoned by me, but I caught this island I had never heard of.

Bullshit! Tell me about this island!

The story took place in London in 1948. Of course, there must be a story before 1948, and the author will basically use this time to describe and portray the characters. The most important thing is to lead out the plot, and plot conception is the most indispensable thing in the novel.

The timeline is completely different, but there are four main characters, namely Hortense and Gilbert from Jamaica, and Queenie and Bernard from England. Say it, not afraid of being laughed at. It is also my first time to read this novel with many protagonists. At first, I was a little confused. The author uses four people as the first person to describe it.

Hortense is a colored girl in Jamaica. Her father's overseas politics is the product of her housework and servant work, much like an old maid in China. She was raised in her uncle's house and worked as a maid in the name of a young lady. The biggest ideal is to be a teacher in the "motherland" of Britain. "In my kitchen in England, barbecue is served with two kinds of vegetables, and even fish and chips are bubbling on the stove …", and her mind is full of longing for the life she yearns for.

The unfriendly growth environment made her smart and determined, and gradually developed her vanity. She even faked marriage with Gilbert in order to immigrate to England. Gilbert is the boyfriend of her best friend on Jamaica Island.

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Gilbert is also an ordinary islander, who volunteered to join the jihad in the "home country" and served gloriously in the Royal Air Force. However, he is also a representative of progressive youth, who is interested in leaving Jamaica to study law in the "mainland" British Isles and enter the upper class.

Full of joy, I wanted to throw myself into the embrace of my motherland, but I was hit again and again by my motherland, until I realized that the insurmountable gap between myself and London, Jamaican and British, black and white was slowly crouching at the bottom of society, and finally I didn't give up.

But he is still kind. He keeps trying to get rid of bad habits, learn to speak and survive in this society. He is a very positive person.

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Queenie is the eldest daughter of a butcher in the country. There are pigs, cattle and sheep hanging at home all day, but she can't stand the environment of the slaughterhouse and doesn't even eat a little older meat. After a few years of peace, I began to take care of my younger brothers and help at home. Then, like my mother, "my hands are like tiger pliers, my arms are as thick as bears, and my ass is getting bigger every year." Even the old people on the grass can think that she can have many children. "

Obviously, Queenie doesn't want to live this life, but it's not up to her. Just like her name, it was strongly chosen by her mother. The Queen, like our great officials Li Facai and Wang Jianfu, is vulgar, or ordinary, and has good wishes.

In order to escape this life, she chose to marry Bernard, who pursued her in London, although Queenie could not see any advantages in Bernard.

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Bernard is a complete failure, an ordinary clerk, timid, thin and obscene. Even taking the initiative to join the army is afraid that you will be forced to join the army too late. In India, I was ridiculed by my comrades that I had no sexual experience, so I couldn't help seducing a local little girl who got the flu and mistakenly thought it was syphilis. He was too timid to go to see a doctor and go home to see his father and wife. He hid for two years before going home.

Bernard can be said to be very painful. He is just an ordinary man, but he also has a kind and upright side. He can get along well with his English neighbors and talk about everything. But when it comes to race, blacks and whites are extremely tough, paranoid and unreasonable.

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The novel tells such a story with a great span from the first perspective of four people and their own viewpoints and positions. Everyone has shortcomings and advantages. What everyone does seems reasonable, but so do contradictions.

The combination of Queenie and Bernard is like a tragedy, but it seems to be the best choice. When two people who are not very generous come together, the problem will get out of hand. Hortense looked down on Gilbert from the beginning, and his image changed with the passage of time, which is more like a beautiful story.

When Jamaicans came to Britain, they felt that the British empire was vast in territory and vast in population, which was what the mainland should look like, instead of walking straight on their own island and falling into the sea. As we all know, Britain is also a small island. It is too proud to be beaten by the Germans, and it still has out-and-out prejudice against outsiders. Therefore, compared with Jamaicans, the British are real islanders.

The essence of racial discrimination should be cultural conflict. The culture accepted by the British is that all black people are bad people and inferior people, and they are not worthy to get along with themselves day and night. Jamaicans are educated that Britain is their home country, and they should go to the home country and contribute their strength to the home country. Even London landlords can post "Irish, colored people and dogs are not welcome" at the door. The Irish and the British are problems left over from history, and irreconcilable contradictions are acceptable, just as we can't accept the Japanese (but we also accept Pakistan's old iron, haha, just kidding. But Jamaicans are helping the British fight and defend their country. Is this also a reason to discriminate against them?

The author also adopted Gilbert's suggestion and finally asked Bernard, "We have been through so many hardships together, and you still want to tell me that I am worthless, but you are different. Am I an eternal servant and are you an eternal master? " "Do you know what your problem is? It is your white skin that makes you feel better than me and gives you the right to show off to black people. But what did white skin give you? It will only make you white, that's all. Dude, white man, no better than me, no worse than me. " Every sentence is very infectious.

This novel has no happy ending, but it also gives us hope. As a result, like half a century later, racial discrimination is becoming less and less, and this problem has been gradually solved, which should be the result of the joint efforts of all mankind.