Small Island - Overview - Starting point for teachers on comedy

Oct 20, 2026

Exploration of how the historical novel Small Island can be approached through the genre of comedy, providing an introductory overview for teachers’ thinking and planning. The discussion highlights humour generated by character voices, multiple narrators, and shifting perspectives on shared events. It examines comedic handling of romantic love and intersecting love triangles, plus reverse-structured marriage arcs that begin as contracts and develop toward understanding, with examples of witty dialogue and comedic episodes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

Overview

Love interest

Marriage

Aspects of comedy: Text overview-Small Island What follows is an explanation of some of the ways this text can be considered in relation to the genre of comedy. This document is intended to provide a starting point for teachers in their thinking and planning in that it gives an introductory overview of how the text can be considered through the lens of comedy. We haven’t covered every element of this genre. It is hoped that this will provide a useful starting point and a springboard for thinking about the text in more detail. Overview Small Island is a historical novel, giving a snapshot of life in Britain after the Second World War. Given that some of the novel’s content (particularly the racism and violence) is disturbing, it might be considered an odd choice for inclusion on an Aspects of comedy paper. Unlike classical dramatic comedies, this text also contains death (Arthur Bligh is an innocent casualty in a horrible racial incident) . However, the story never becomes bitter or maudlin, largely because of the voices of the characters who recount the events, and Levy writes her story with warmth and humour. She uses four narrators who are all able to amuse in the ways they tell their stories, the ways they reflect on happenings and their unconscious irony. The humour is sharpened by the ways the same stories are told by different speakers, who offer different perspectives on the same events. The novel is also full of comedic incident and, like dramatic comedy, the novel ends cheerfully, with journeys towards self-knowledge (for Hortense and Queenie), some happiness in love and the birth of a child. Love interest The comedic aspect of romantic love is used by Levy to structure the story, and it is certainly true that the course of true love does not run smooth. There are two main pairs of lovers: the English pair, Queenie and Bernard, and the Jamaicans, Hortense and Gilbert. As in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, their love is complicated by separation and by love not being reciprocated. There is an additional complication in that both are part of love triangles and those love triangles intersect forming a third love triangle. Hortense and Queenie both love Michael Joseph (who has some qualities of a comic villain) though both are ignorant of the other’s knowledge of and love for Michael. Hortense’s love for Michael is formed in the time before her marriage to Gilbert, and Queenie’s while Bernard is away at war. For much of the novel Hortense holds on to her dream about Michael and her marriage to Gilbert is just a convenience, but by the end she learns to love her husband. The love of Hortense and Gilbert is cemented by their agreeing to take Queenie’s (and, unbeknown to her, Michael’s) baby and raise it as their own. The birth of the child and Gilbert and Hortense’s decision to nurture it, give the novel an upbeat resolution. Queenie and Bernard’s marriage has an uneasy conclusion, but an understanding between them emerges and there is compromise. In the world of this novel, that is no small thing. Marriage Whereas in traditional dramatic comedies, and in romantic novels like Emma, there is a celebratory marriage at the end of the text, Small Island works in reverse. The marriages occur at the beginning of the novel as unromantic contracts, and then during the narrative there is a growth towards love (for Hortense and Gilbert), and the development of an honest understanding (for Queenie and Bernard) . Hortense marries Gilbert so that she can move to England to better herself. Gilbert is happy to comply because Hortense can provide him with money needed for the passage, “I will lend you the money, we will be married and you can send for me to come to England when you have a place for me to live.” Their relationship from the start is comical: born of deception on Hortense’s part (she insinuates her way into taking the place of Celia) and seen as a light hearted joke by Gilbert. It is fraught with squabbling and mis

FAQs

How does the document describe Small Island as a comedy text?

It argues that the novel fits comedy through the warmth and humour of character voices, four narrators who reflect with irony, and the retelling of the same events from different perspectives.

What role does romantic love play in the comedic structure of the story?

The text says romantic love is used to shape the narrative, with true-love complications, two main lover pairs, intersecting love triangles, and misunderstandings that are repeatedly reframed.

How does the document explain the novel’s treatment of marriage?

It notes that, unlike traditional comedies that end with celebratory weddings, Small Island presents marriages at the start as unromantic contracts and then shows growth toward love and honest understanding.

Oct 20, 2026

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