The Lonely Londoners.
Samuel Selvon
1956
126 Pages
Title : The title could be interpreted in two ways. 1. They are lonely and because they live in London they are Londoners. 2. They are foreigners in London and thus are considered a group of Londoners on their own. They don’t belong there and therefore they are “the lonely”
Theme: The theme could be described as alienation. A mixture between discrimination and loneliness
Motto: There is none
The book is really told from an all-knowing narrator but focuses on the thoughts and actions of Moses. There are several dialogues in the story but mostly it’s just a told story
Setting: The story takes place in London and the scenery changes with the feelings of Moses. In the winter everything is gray and sober and in the summer every thing is warm and soft and colorful.
Time: The story takes place in the fifties. The time span is about 4 to 5 years from when Galahad first came to Britain and to where Moses thinks about writing that book. The story I not chronological at all the story jumps from one time to the next
Linguistic use: Awful. Most of the pages don’t have any grammatical rules applied to them. No dot’s comma’s no capital letters or anything . The writer uses a lot of native West Indian words like “vex” instead of angry or “liming” instead of hanging out.
Characters:
All characters are flat. They don’t change throughout the story and their only purpose is to show what Britain was like for blacks
Moses: A guy from Trinidad who is always helping others and never him self. He feels home sick but never goes home
Henry Oliver (Galahad): Also a guy from Trinidad who for some strange reason feels hot I winter and cold in the summer. He is a decent guy who just has a big mouth.
Tolroy: Just a Jamaican fellow who had his entire family on his lap.
Ma: Barely there she works in a restaurant.
Tanty: She is your general “big mama” type person. She cooks an takes care or the family.
Agnes: Tolroy’s sister and “wife” of Lewis
Lewis: Was convinced his wife was cheating on him so he beat her till she left him.
Captain: A hustler to the core. He cons men and women into trusting him because of his boyish good looks and then lives off of them. When they see this he leaves and does the same to others. He loves women.
Daniel: He likes treating women very well and can never see a women cry. He is rich for a black man .
Bartholomew (Bart): The cheapest guy of the bunch also ashamed of being black.
Big City: He’s a jolly dreamer always thinking of things as winning the lottery.
Five past twelve: He’s your general slob at a party. Always getting drunk, being rude to your guests and making a scene
Harris: He is a Brit wannabe. Wearing bowler hats and having a umbrella with him and the times hanging out of his pocket so that you can clearly see the name. He hangs around with the high class of London and doesn’t like it when the boys crash his party’s
Summary: Moses is on his way to the train station to meet up with Henry Oliver (Galahad). Moses is always getting stuck with these kind of jobs. Moses is very soft hearted and therefore people always find a way to have him do stuff for them. Especially for those who have recently arrived in London.
White people (The Brits) Complain that there are already too many Black people in Britain. When on at the station Moses feels home sick just by seeing so many black people all together. He sees Tolroy an Jamaican fellow. He sent for his mother but to his surprise his entire family came with her. Tolroy gets upset and he and his mother argue. Meanwhile a reporter interviews Tolroy’s aunt “Tanty”. The next day the newspaper reads; “ Now Jamaican Families coming to Britain” With Ma and Tanty came Tolroys sister ;Agnes and her husband; Lewis.
When everybody has left the train Moses sees a guy who approaches him and turns out to be Galahad. Galahad is a strange person for in the dead of winter he is only wearing a summer suit and doesn’t feel the cold. Also he had barely any money with him no luggage and no cigarettes or rum. Eight and a half months later he would have a child in London. Moses tells Galahad about where he lives and about Britain. They eat at Moses’ apartment and talk of the people back home (the village idiot who always pretends to be driving a car ). Moses gets homesick (again) The next morning they go out looking for work. Moses tests Galahad by tempting him to claim dole (Onderstant) and just be paid by the government but Galahad wants to work. Galahad is one of those guys who thinks ha can do every thing on his own. Moses advises him to just go back home (like he advises everyone). They compare England to the U.S ; In the U.S you know where you stand there are notices all over the place saying “no colored” or “no blacks” but in England they politely tell you to haul ass.
Galahad finds out what’s up with Moses ; He scares new comers off because he wants to go back himself. When Galahad is off alone to find himself a job he feels just how lonely you can be in London. Luckily for him Moses comes back to help him set up a job and a room. When Moses was fresh from Trinidad he had a place that was cheap and there was a hot meal available every day . There he met a Nigerian man named Captain. Cap got sent to London to study but when he got here he spent his money on women and cigarettes. His father stopped sending him money after a while and Cap learned to hustle very well. He was always wearing the same clothes but they were always clean and neat. He stayed in rooms for two or three weeks at a time saying his father would sent him his allowance but when the money didn’t come he got kicked out every time. He gets money by picking up chicks and sucking them dry. He once got stuck with an Australian chick who even after she found out he was lying o her stayed with him and he continued to suck her dry. She then went crying by Daniel. Daniel can’t refuse a crying woman so he always borrowed her money. Cap even hustled Moses for a coat but returned it when Moses mentioned the police. Cap paused hustling when he hustled himself into sleeping with a transvestite. Then he got married to a French girl whom he hustled too. He got Daniel to take care of her. (who likes treating women well). He always comes by Moses when Moses has a girl. Day after day Cap lives on defying all logic and reason. Then there is Bartholomew (Bart). Bart is so cheap if he had the money he would still not eat in public just so that no one would ask him for a meal. Bart was slightly lighter skinned that the rest of the guys. Because of this he never admitted to being black but said he was Latin American. He would only be nice to you when you made it absolutely clear to him you had no intention of borrowing money. He is afraid of getting into trouble so he moves around a lot. He isn’t lucky with the ladies so when he got a girl he held on tight. They were even going to get married. This all changed when he met her father who kicked him out of the house. After that bit of British hospitality he is a little more like the rest.
Het boekverslag gaat verder na deze boodschap.
Verder lezen
REACTIES
1 seconde geleden
K.
K.
Your summary disgusts me. 'Linguistic use:
Awful. Most of the pages don’t have any grammatical rules applied to them. No dot’s comma’s no capital letters or anything . The writer uses a lot of native West Indian words like “vex” instead of angry or “liming” instead of hanging out.' He was the first author of the modernist/postmodernist era to narrate and portray dialogue in dialect. This gave voice to the minority. Learn your literary history before spouting your opinions otherwise they're useless.
7 jaar geleden
AntwoordenP.
P.
dots and commas, please
5 jaar geleden