Queenie Quotes

• “Oh, there were plenty men like me, wandering this small island, their heads cluttered with the sights they had once looked on. If you would listen then we would talk ­ widen your eyes with stories of the war and the Mother Country… Come, ask a question you have always wanted to know. The King ­ oh, a fine man, and Shakespeare too. Paved with gold, no ­ but, yes, diamonds appear on the ground in the rain (173).” – Gilbert
• “’She can’t understand what I’m saying….They’re not civilised. They only understand drums’” –
• “A shadow come to life” – Queenie pg.5-This has connotations of black people being almost ‘half’ alive and not being as goodas white people.
• “’She can’t understand what I’m saying….They’re not civilised. They only understand

This has connotations of them being savages, uncivilised and uneducated.
• “His lips were brown, not pink like they should be” – Queenie pg.6-Black people are abnormal and therefore inferior to white people. Alternatively it could show the naivety of people living Britain.
• “big nigger man” – Queenie pg.6-This casual racism is more shocking as it is a child using it, showing how racism was deeply rooted in English society so much so that children would use it.
• “It was warm and slightly sweaty like anyone else’s” – Queenie pg.6- Again Levy shows us the British assumption that as black people look different they must ‘work’ differently

• “‘if this Hitler man wins this war he will bring back slavery….We will work for no pay’‘I…. .work for no pay now,’” – Celia pg.71-This shows that although they were told that life would be worse if Hitler were in power and they would be slaves again. However Levy shows us that although not labelled as slaves black people were still treated as such.
• “Those men who left for the war with spirited cheer returned looking around them as bemused as convicts. In their ill-fitting suits or uniforms that would soon no longer be theirs”-The word “convicts implies that black people were being punished for a wrong doing and yet they had fought for “The Mother Country”, this provides the reader with a sense of injustice. Also the words “ill-fitting” imply that the “suits” weren’t made for them and black people were given anything to wear. The final sentence suggests that they will no longer “belong” to Britain, they had done their duty and then they should go