Gender In George Lamming's 'The Emigrants'

Like many novels and mini-series of the past, present and future, gender is always a subject that is to be explored. To begin, in The Emigrants written by George Lamming, we see the recurring theme that gender is represented through the view of the superior or more important gender, and of the lesser but somewhat still important gender. The men in The Emigrants, are highly valued, viewed as the ones fighting the war, who should be looking for training an education, to provide for their wives, and for themselves. The women are seen as lesser, sometimes as objects but also valued, as they provide support to the men. They are represented with a contrasting view. In the beginning of the novel, we see that the men are highly respected; “the soldiers

It was a very correct silence, dignified, without restraint.” (Lamming, 11) which suggests that without the respected men, nothing would have seemed “impressively still” or with a “correct silence”. Compare this to Small Island, the BBC mini series, where the men are similarly valued. The men in Small Island are the fighters, and the heroes, enlisting themselves in the fight, therefore decorated with the same amount of respect as the men from The Emigrants. They are also expected to provide for their families, and their wives, an almost selfless act (thus giving them more respect), which also helps in demonstrating how the women are seen and

To start, education in The Emigrants is represented as a vital part of surviving in England. Without it, it is said that men and women would not survive, because of no means of income; “‘Cause if there ain’t no work I can’t see how you can pay for house even if there is house.” (Lamming, 76). This line demonstrates the apparent struggle that the men and women from the West Indies will face when arriving to England, because they clearly understand that without a job there is no way that they can pay for food and housing. This brings to attention the fact that there is no way of getting a job without proper training and education, “[…] I sure that the factory they talking ‘bout there ain’t got no unskilled men.” meaning that even the factories that are offering jobs, are expecting to hire skilled men, men with proper training and education. The difficulty of receiving education and training in England is also portrayed through the Higgins storyline in The Emigrants. Higgins went through the journey to England in hopes of then heading off to culinary school to become a chef. His journey to England was significant to him, because he believed it to be a better place, somewhere where he could get a “better break”. But with the realization that education in England is very hard to attain, struggled to survive. These points then show that in The Emigrants