Write About the Significance of the Ways the Three Writers You Have Studied Have Used Places in Their Narratives

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In Andrea Levy ‘Small Island’ which is a non linear narrative, she uses various aspects of places/settings which are highly significant to each character. When Hortense arrives in England, at ’21 Nevern Street’ she thinks highly of the house she is going to stay in: ‘this house could once have been house to a doctor or lawyer’. This is significant in contrast to when she sees the room she will live in. ‘Just this? Is this the way the English live?’ to which Gilbert’s annoyance he responds ‘There has been a war. All English live like this’. This room that Gilbert and Hortense will stay in is where they will ‘eat, cook, wash and sleep’. But it is significant that this place is where most of the tension arises with Gilbert and Hortense. This small and confined space makes the reader also question on how Gilbert and Hortense will be able to live with each other as they are two very different characters. It is also significant that in such a confined space that Hortense and Gilbert are so apart. They even sleep in separate beds yet in such a small and confined space we assume that this would be the place for ‘love’ and ‘intimacy’. It is rather the opposite infact. In contrast to Small Island; ‘Enduring Love’ by Ian McEwan which is written in a retrospective narrative has similar aspects to the place they live in. However, it seems to be quite opposite to Gilbert and Hortense’s relationship. The significance of their apartment is that they are quite high up which may convey that they are in a safe place. However, as we soon see this place of ‘safety’ is intruded by Joe’s ‘tormentor’ Jed Parry when he manages to enter their apartment and intrude their place of safety. Furthermore, the Field set in Enduring Love is highly significant. It is the place where Joe and Clarissa have this romantic ‘idyllic’ scene where they open their bottle of a ‘1987 Daumus Gassac’

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