'the Chapters Narrated by Bernard Are the Least Interesting in Small Island' How Far Do You Agree with This View

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Bernard, along with Queenie, Hortense and Gilbert, he is one of the main narrators of Small Island. He is married to Queenie. It could be said that Bernard's narrations are the least interesting. This could be due to his relationships with others. For example he is cruel towards Hortense and calls her 'the human'. He is also racist and prejudice against some of the characters, 'dim witted darkie girl' (Hortense). Levy could have chosen to represent the people of the time, in which the novel was written ((before the war 1944) and after the war 1948). In 1993 18-year old Stephen Laurence was murdered in a racist attack, by a group of white youths. However it is interesting, Bernard is (as such) the white male lead character, so you would expect him to open the novel. However Hortense, putting aside Queenie's prologue, opens the novel. The reader would not expect Hortense to open the novel because she is a black female. On the other hand, as the reader, we might not be able to form an opinion on him because he does not narrate a chapter until later on in the novel. The fact that he does not narrate until later in the novel, could show that his view is not that important and that the other three characters are more important than his. Due to the reader seeing the events from the other characters point of view, we can form more of an opinion on them. However we could form an opinion of him on how he contradicts himself. Bernard says 'surely every man out here had earned his say'. His narration does not come until later in the novel and he does not open the novel. It could be said that Bernard is more of a symbol, rather than a character/narrator. He could be seen as the eyes looking over all the events. Alternatively you could see it that you cannot just look at the one perspective and judge it. You have to look at all four narrations. The four perspectives give
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