The Mother Country: A Dream for the Immigrants in Andrea Levy’s 'Small Island'

Abstract

The post-World War II era oversaw a series of changing events in England. Pertaining to the mass immigration trend, Andrea Levy’s parents decided to leave for England. Andrea Levy’s parents arrived from Jamaica to Britain in 1948 on the ‘Empire Windrush’. The Windrush marks the upcoming great changes which England would face for its lifetime. It began with an urgent demand and ended with an identity crisis and cultural conflict. The first wave of immigrants including Levy’s family moved with the ray of hope and with the desire to taste what is commonly perceived as the ‘Better Opportunity’. Andrea levy has always been fascinated by the story of her parents’ immigration to Britain. She wanted to know what that experience was like, not only the Jamaicans wanting to make a new life in Britain, but also for the people who already lived in Britain and who would have to accommodate the new arrivals. Her aim was to see the experience from both sides, and this became the inspiration for her fourth novel, Small Island. Levy has been interested in the effect that the West Indian immigrants had on their white English neighbors. Andrea Levy is able to present the real picture of how and with what kind of dreams the Windrush started from Jamaica to England. This paper attempts to discover and analyze what made the Jamaicans trust England and also aims to analyze the history of, fall of the Empire and the shattered dreams of peace and prosperity of its colonies.