The Lonely Londoners by Samuel Selvon - Book Report/Review Example

Outsiders Introduction By 1956 with the conceding of independence to India (1947), the collapse of African colonization and the near autonomy of theCommonwealth nations, the British Empire was no more. Everybody lived under threat of instant annihilation from nuclear war. (pilot-theatre) Post-war London was a city that was in transition; political, social, economical every sphere of life was in a state of flux. The old order of the British Empire was crumbling yet the new order of political freedom and economic, social stability was still not established. Immigrants were pouring in and class divisions were being overhauled. The ‘The Lonely Londoners’ by Samuel Selvon and ‘Look back in Anger’ by John Osborne were first published in 1956, they discuss the post-war disillusion and displacement faced by different sections of the society in the 1950’s. Characters of both the novel and play feel alienated and consider themselves as outsiders living on the fringes of society. London (1956) Several thousand West Indians were recruited in the British army during the World War II and many more were put to work in war factories. After the war these men had difficulty in adjusting to their old life and immigrated to England in search of better jobs and opportunities. As British citizens they could easily migrate to London and by the fifties there was a substantial immigrant population in the city. (Hinterholzer, 2007) The London of the 1950’s was a city that was still finding its character of today’s cosmopolitan city. It was a city of prejudices, racism, classism and fear. Fear of a nuclear war, fear of poverty, xenophobia, sexism and ignorance. Although education was gaining importance and the world was rapidly evolving with new discoveries and inventions everyday, development was uneven. Some sections of society like the black immigrant population were totally left out of the progress of modernism. They were only partially educated with little skills and were denied the opportunities to better themselves on the basis of their colour. Racism was rampant and politically acceptable. A large section of the white British population in 1956 was also alienated from the society and denied any significant role in it. Although educated they did not have access to the right colleges and they had no prestige, they were denied good jobs and relegated to the fringes of society, not considered good enough to mix with ‘proper people’. In today’s slang one would call them white trash. Real power and opportunity to succeed was the inheritance of the upper class children, those who were born right, educated right and politically right. This situation generated a feeling of resentment and alienation among the newly educate lower middle class. Look back in Anger The main character of John Osborne’s play Look back in Anger is Jimmy Porter, a lower class white British male who considers himself as the victim of societal indifference and class prejudice. He is angry at everybody and everything in life, blaming the whole world for his problems but never doing anything solid to improve his situation. He is especially jealous of his wife Allison’s relatives who belong to the upper middle class. He feels that society does not do enough for him and the working class, only rewarding the privileged such as Allison’s brother Nigel who is successful in life. He feels an outsider because he has been unable to succeed in life (get rich). He runs a sweet stall and lives in a cheap bedsit; furthermore his abrasive and quarrelsome nature has ensured that he does not have many friends. When Helen questions Jimmy on his anger Allison says "Oh, dont try and take his suffering away from him-hed be lost without it."(Osborne, 1982) It can be concluded that Jimmy is using his anger and feeling of alienation to hide his laziness and lack of success in life. He represents the disillusions of the “generation of young men who had attempted to leave behind their working-class origins, using higher education as the means by which to do so.” (Wylie, 2001) There was a whole section of society who were now educated but jobless, they considered the above manual labour but were unable to get jobs because they did not have any backing either financial or familial. This created a whole generation of ‘angry young men’ not only in England but world over. The second character is Allison, Jimmy’s wife. She is a passive character who is shown as silently putting up with the mental and physical abuse laid on her by Jimmy. The only reason she married Jimmy was because he pursued her and she went along with the flow. Instead of true love she is attracted to his rebellion against her upper class family. Now she is the victim of his verbal and sometimes physical abuse and feels like an outsider in her own marriage. This displacement is even more obvious by her apologising to Helen for intruding on Jimmy and Helen. Although Helen is the other woman and Allison would have been justified in raging against her instead she is apologetic; furthermore she has obviously been unable to fit in with her family so she has once more returned to Jimmy furthering the theme of alienation and displacement in society. Secondary characters like Cliff, Helen, and the Colonel also further the theme of alienation in the play. Cliff is Jimmy’s best friend and the most likeable character of the play. He is sympathetic towards Allison but does not do anything positive to support her. He is the odd one out, an outsider living with a married couple. He eventually decides that he must leave the flat and set up on his own. Helen is introduced as Allison’s friend who encourages her to leave the abusive Jimmy. But she ends up becoming Jimmy’s mistress and thus the other woman, the outsider intruding upon a friend’s marriage. Colonel Redfern is Allison’s father; he is articulate about his sense of displacement. He agrees with Jimmy that he has become an “old plant” and is unable to adjust in the new world order, in other words he is an outsider. Lonely Londoners Instead of the alienation of a single character the Lonely Londoners is about the alienation and exile of the black community. The Lonely Londoners focuses specifically on black immigrants in London; these have arrived from West Indies and Africa. The central character of the book is Moses Aloetta who has already been in London for over ten years. He is a kind hearted man who shows the new immigrants the ropes of adjusting to city life. He shows Galahad around the city introducing him to its pleasures and prejudices. The atmosphere at the Labour Exchange, where the immigrants apply for work is an example of racist antagonism the immigrants are subjected. The record cards at the Labour Exchange are marked to indicate “you from Jamaica and you black” (Selvon, 1982) Black here is the colour of loneliness and alienation. (Petithomme, 1993) At every turn the immigrants are reminded of their colour like the terror of a child when she sees Galahad, “Mummy look at the black man!” (Selvon, 1982)The child is terrified for no reason but because of the colour of Galahad’s skin. Black people were regarded as wild and savage, they were treated as dumb beasts. They were given only the most menial of jobs and paid fewer wages than a white labourer for the same work. As Moses and his friends existed on societys fringes, not many were aware of their reality, and those who did (workplace foremen or employment office clerks) pretended they were invisible.(Habila,2007) Lawrence A. Philips (2006) quotes Pile and Thrift in London Narratives “The black man’s visibility has a double effect: his skin allows him to be seen and marked as different (from whites), but it also separates him (from whites) in a way that makes him unknowable (to whites)” Each character faces the loneliness of adjusting in an alien city; Galahad and Harris try to dress and behave like Englishmen in an attempt to integrate themselves in the mainstream but are totally unsuccessful. Bart tries unsuccessfully to pass off as a South American. Although white women date the black men, it is for the excitement of dating a savage as is amply proven by the white woman who takes Moses and calls him a ‘black bastard’ in the heat of passion. There is no acceptance on either side of the affairs being anything other than momentary sexual gratification. Neither side attempts to understand the other. To the immigrants the white chick is a novelty and to the women it is just sexual experimentation. The Lonely Londoners exemplifies how London is divided into different sections where each is section is living in their own little bubble, everybody is an outsider : "It have people living in London who dont know what happening in the room next to them, far more the street, or how other people living. London is a place like that. It divide up in little worlds, and you stay in the world you belong to and you dont know anything about what happening to the other ones except what you read in the papers.” (Selvon, 1982) Comparison Both the novels deal with the issues of alienation and disillusion. That is all that is common between the two. The Lonely Londoners deals with the alienation of coloured immigrants who are not accepted by the white population of London. The characters of Lonely Londoners by and large accept their status in life and only wish to survive. Whereas Look back in Anger focuses on Jimmy and his feeling of alienation from society, furthermore Jimmy is a permanently dissatisfied and complaining character who blames everybody for his troubles. Where Moses and his friends work hard and try to find pleasures in simple things, like a music party or just hanging out with friends on Sundays, Jimmy is never appreciative of his friends or wife. Moses is an outsider because of the colour of his skin but Jimmy is an outsider because of his coloured view of life. Although it is true that class prejudices were still prevalent in the fifties it was an era of great opportunities; those who persevered did succeed in life if not phenomenally at least they managed to live with dignity. For example Jimmy’s friend Cliff is also his partner, but he is neither unhappy nor an outsider as he has learnt to be content in his life. Colonel Redfern also acknowledges his uselessness in the new age but he accepts the change without rancour and thus retains his dignity. Jimmy on the other hand is full of rancour and hatred but is too lazy to change his life. He simply takes out his ire on the unfortunate Allison, who is the stereotype of the weak downtrodden female. Moses and his friends have little to survive on but are at least connected to each other. They are all brothers and help each other in their battle against the racism they face everyday. They are outsiders for the whites and struggle everyday to make ends meet. Jimmy Porter lacks the emotional capacity to connect with his wife and even when his lover Helen decides to leave him he shows no emotion. This demonstrates how Jimmy is alienated even amongst his own which is not the case for Moses and his friends. Jimmy’s alienation is more complete than the immigrants who at least have friends within their own community. Conclusion The Lonely Londoners is a tale of immigrants and their woes. It is a novel that describes the alienation of a whole section of human beings caused by the racist policies and prejudices of the white man. This novel is a glimpse into the life of a community that is sidelined yet still retains it dignity by striving to be good friends with each other and taking care of their own. They are not perfect and have their own vices but the characters are humane and complex thus giving the novel depth and sentiment. Look back in Anger deals with the alienation of the characters according to their status in life. Jimmy is an outsider because he is a lower class educated but unsuccessful man. Allison is a well born but displaced female who is more attracted to Jimmy’s rebellion than the man himself. Colonel Redfern is upper class but displaced army man with no more wars to fight who has nevertheless resigned himself to his lifestyle. Both books are dealing with alienation but in very different terms and the subjects of the novels come from totally different races in fact they are not even of the same continent. As different as black and white! Bibliography 1. Habila, Helon (2007) Out of the Shadows, The Guardian, Saturday 17 March 2007 2. Hinterholzer, Stefan Acculturation in Sam Selvons "The Lonely Londoners" Accessed on: 24 October 2009 Read More