Pigeon English: Character Quotations (AQA GCSE English Literature): Revision Note
Exam code: 8702
Pigeon English: Key Character Quotations
Examiners will be looking for evidence of your ability to interpret pivotal moments in the novel and analyse how themes, characters and their actions within the text convey meaning and add dramatic effect. Here we will examine some important quotations from the following key characters:
Harrison “Harri” Opoku
The Pigeon
Miquita
X-Fire
Harrison “Harri” Opoku
“Mamma likes it best when it’s a child who died. That’s when she prays the hardest”
Key word or phrase to memorise: “Mamma likes” and “child… died” | What the quotation means: Harri thinks his Mum is happy when children die because his mother always prays. | Theme: Loss of innocence |
Harri says this as he sees his mother praying as she watches the news of another child dying:
He associates prayer with happiness as church is a joyous place for him
Harri’s idea of church is based much more on his expectations from Ghana, where church is louder, brighter and happier
This shows Harri’s naivety, not understanding the fear and sadness his mother is feeling as he has limited understanding of the feelings adults have:
He also remembers his mother telling him to pray, and would only believe she would tell him to do something positive
This is also a sign of his loss of innocence, as he does not even recognise the tragedy of not just a child dying, but common deaths of children on the news
This may also be a sign of how stretched his mother is as basically a single parent who works day and night:
This leaves her less time to explain her feelings to Harri and talk to him about these tragedies
“If I was in the Dell Farm Crew Vilis couldn’t abuse me any more”
Key word or phrase to memorise: “Vilis couldn’t abuse me” | What the quotation means: Harri does not like how Vilis treats him, so would like to join the Dell Farm Crew as then he would have power and influence. | Theme: Masculinity and violence |
Harri says this just as he is thinking of completing an initiation task for X-Fire and the Dell Farm Crew:
His thoughts immediately turn to justifying joining the gang
Vilis has racially abused Harri before and Harri is angry about it:
The lure of power is evident here, because Harri knows that the fear of consequences will stop Vilis insulting him if he is part of the Dell Farm Crew
Harri is angry, but doesn’t always understand his anger:
It shows how quickly thoughts turn to harming an opponent
It is this same attitude that led to Killa killing the dead boy (albeit to a much greater extent)
The boys in the area are also conditioned to see personal insults as something that need retribution:
Harri isn’t the first who would find the power intoxicating and is an example of how good children turn towards crime when it seems to solve their problems
“You could see the blood. It was darker than you thought”
Key word or phrase to memorise: “blood” and “darker” | What the quotation means: Harri is curious about blood, and not shocked by it, but when close up, is surprised it isn’t how he thought. | Theme: Death |
The line is the first in the novel and is used again at the start of its final paragraph:
Kelman is highlighting the cyclical nature of violence and death in the area and the novel
This could be showing us how these deaths are not special, because they are common and repeated
That Harri says this when seeing the blood at the start and seeing his own at the end shows he hasn’t changed, even when confronted with death throughout the narrative:
Even though he has been faced with blood before, and obsessed with it throughout, it was still darker than he thought, again, showing he hasn’t learned
The lack of real alarm about seeing blood or his own injury shows that these events are not shocking
This also highlights Harri’s innocence, in contrasting ways:
His lack of surprise and the repeated occurrence shows that violence isn’t a shock, and that his innocence has been stolen
Equally, his remaining curiosity shows that, at his core, he has remained the same little boy, interested and intrigued
The Pigeon
“I didn’t know the boy who died, he wasn’t mine. But I do know the shape of a mother’s grief”
Key word or phrase to memorise: “boy… wasn’t mine” | What the quotation means: The pigeon we get as the narrator didn’t know the dead boy, but clearly has known children to have died before. | Theme: Death |
This is a line in the pigeon’s first section of narration
It makes multiple interjections to narrate across the text:
These appear as soliloquies
The tone of its narration is always philosophical and mysterious
We never have it explained to us who or what this pigeon is, although the context slowly makes it clear that its narration is for the reader, not anyone else
As a common bird in the area, pigeons would “see” much of what happens in the area:
Death and violence are clearly part of its experience, judging by how it understands what a mother’s grief looks like
The “shape” that is referred to could be a description of how someone grieves
It could also hint at the possibly supernatural nature to the pigeon’s presence
That the dead boy isn’t his would suggest that the pigeon has been assigned to Harri, and may foreshadow that this is a signal to Harri dying in the story
Miquita
“It’s his own fault he got killed, he shouldn’t have been fronting. You play with fire you get burned, innit”
Key word or phrase to memorise: “You play with fire, you get burned” | What the quotation means: Miquita has the same attitude as the Dell Farm Crew and believes disrespect deserves dire punishment. | Theme: Masculinity and violence |
This shows that Miquita is under the influence of, or at the very least aligned with, the Dell Farm Crew:
To her, the disrespect that the dead boy showed to Killa and X-Fire was worthy of being murdered
This shows how the issues of fragile masculinity bleed over to the girls that spend time with these boys
It is also a sad acceptance of death and violence for such a trivial matter
This is also a hint to the reader that Killa was the murderer of the dead boy:
As his girlfriend, Miquita is desperate to protect Killa
She is comfortable being complicit, because she is equally desperate to show Killa she is worthy
The quote suggests that people involved in gangs dismiss the impact of violence, as their reputations are more important, and showing weakness can have dire consequences
“I’m well skilful, innit. My auntie taught me, she learned it in the pen”
Key word or phrase to memorise: “Auntie” and “in the pen” | What the quotation means: Miquita learned to straighten her hair from her auntie, who learned it in prison. | Theme: Inequality, discrimination, and societal pressures |
This quote shows how common and accepted it is to have family that end up in prison:
In areas of poverty, crime is more common, and that means people are more likely to live with and know people that have been imprisoned
It would also carry less of a social stigma, as there is almost an expectation of crime
Members of lower socio-economic areas might have more attention paid to them by the police and less freedom to make mistakes
They would also be less likely to afford good legal representation
Miquita must admire her aunt to have learned this from her:
Miquita seems to be drawn to those who commit crimes, explaining her interest in the gang
It also suggests that her aunt is a role model to her, which may be why she is happy being complicit in the gang’s crimes
By openly discussing her aunt being in jail, there is clearly no shame involved:
In some communities, this would be a source of shame, and something to hide and be embarrassed by
“I’ll say when he’s had enough, what are you gonna do, Chlamydia? Stop wriggling, man. I thought you wanted to learn”
Key word or phrase to memorise: “stop wriggling” and “learn” | What the quotation means: Miquita is not interested in Lydia or Harri’s protests as she sexually assaults him. | Theme: Loss of innocence/violence and masculinity |
Miquita expects aggressive sexual behaviour as the norm, and has experience beyond her years:
The forceful nature of her interaction with Harri shows she has not been taught proper boundaries, respect and consent
The likelihood is she is modelling behaviour she has experienced herself, and is likely a victim of abuse
It would be likely she does not realise this herself, as she is just repeating behaviours
For Miquita, she expects that men, and boys, want this kind of thing:
She is dating an older boy, Killa, and is often seen as desperate to please him
The suggestion we can take from this is that this is how she knows to make men happy
By assuming Harri wanted to learn this, this is Miquita’s expectation of what men want
This is also a loss of innocence for Harri, who has his first kiss turn from an innocent moment to a scarring one:
Kelman may be pointing to how innocent events, and an innocent period of life, can be stolen by the brutality of the community
“Whatever. You don’t know sh*t, you’re just a kid”
Key word or phrase to memorise: “just a kid” | What the quotation means: Miquita says this to Harri after discussing the dead boy’s funeral. She thinks she is an adult, even though she is 13 and only two years older than him. | Theme: Loss of innocence |
The quote shows that the teenagers in the area think that they are adults:
To be dealing with crime, violence and death at such a young age, and so consistently, matures Miquita, even if she is not quite the adult she thinks she is
She has little choice but to face up to it as she cannot escape
Harri still has the innocence that she no longer recognises in herself
Miquita has much more experience of the world than either Lydia or Harri because she has grown up on this estate and lived through what that entails
The irony here is that children often like to think that they are more grown-up than they are, but the children in this community have had little choice:
Whereas some teens wish to be seen as older (however much their parents want them to remain young and protected) those same protections are not so readily available to the children here
This also shows us that the older children in the area are not quick to protect the younger ones, which continues the cycle
“She’s a good girl, innit. And she knows when to keep her mouth shut, not like Chanelle“
Key word or phrase to memorise: “she knows” and ”mouth shut” | What the quotation means: Miquita explains to Killa why Lydia wouldn’t want to smoke, but then defends the action. By not doing the wrong thing, Lydia is harder to trust. | Theme: Masculinity and violence |
Miquita is looking to defend Lydia, and reassure Killa that she isn’t going to get him in trouble:
It is likely that Miquita loses friends often; we see her lose friends twice in this five-month story
In dating Killa, who keeps possessive control of her, Miquita probably feels her friends need Killa’s approval
It is possible that her lack of friends makes Miquita upset, so she is quick to defend Lydia to protect her from having to lose another
This is also another indication of how children get caught up in the violence of gangs around them:
There is a threat here, in that if Lydia didn’t know to keep quiet, she would be in confrontation with the gang
Chanelle was cast aside and attacked by Miquita because of the threat of her speaking out about Killa’s crime, and Lydia would be in the same position
If you do not behave how the gang wants, you will be punished
There is also the suggestion that by not smoking, Lydia must be a good girl:
Little things like this are expected, even of a 13-year-old
Marcus “X-Fire” Johnson
“You get any s***, you come to me, yeah?”
Key word or phrase to memorise: “come to me” | What the quotation means: X-Fire is offering protection to Harri. | Theme: Masculinity and violence |
This is an example of how gangs entice young men to join them
X-Fire is showing Harri that his life will be easier alongside him:
This is X-Fire trying to softly recruit Harri
By doing this, he also plants the idea in Harri’s mind that X-Fire, and by extension the Dell Farm Crew, are good guys
X-Fire is grooming Harri here:
He is hiding the reality and negativity of gang life
He also pretends that everything is Harri’s choice
Gangs need new members, both for power and physical numbers when getting into altercations, and because they lose members regularly to arrest and death
This offer reflects one of the rare chances young boys in the area have for some upward mobility:
There is not a clear example of how to get out and make something of yourself, and it is certainly far from easy
In contrast, being welcomed into the gang is easy and offers a glimpse at money, safety and friendship
“I say when it’s over”
Key word or phrase to memorise: “I say” | What the quotation means: X-Fire is talking down to Killa, who is spiralling out of control after finding the dead boy’s wallet on Harri. | Theme: Masculinity and violence |
This quotation reflects the other side of the protection X-Fire offers:
While in the previous quote he is offering support and showing he can keep Harri safe, when Killa goes against him, X-Fire reminds him he is in charge
When in a gang, the leader tells you what to do
The level of finality to his words also hints at what he is about to do:
Moments after this, X-Fire takes out his knife and is ready to stab Harri and Dean, until he is interrupted
Compared to Killa’s panic, X-Fire is calm and cold
While you may be one of his gang and under his protection, this shows that you are also under X-Fire’s control and have to keep him happy:
It is symbolic of the cycle of violence, as the members are stuck in the group now and cannot escape
Threat keeps people in line
Had Killa stood up to X-Fire, he may have been stabbed himself
“The first time I shanked someone was the worst, man. All his guts fell out. It was well sick”
Key word or phrase to memorise: “his guts fell out” | What the quotation means: X-Fire is teaching the younger boys how to stab someone and explains his first time. | Theme: Loss of innocence |
This quote shows us X-Fire losing his innocence:
The first time was the worst, not something he enjoyed at all
He has done it more since and got used to it
The quotation also highlights how normal violence is to X-Fire now
The way he is talking about it also shows his immaturity:
It is a clear exaggeration to claim someone’s guts would fall out of them after being stabbed
This could be him talking it up to shock the younger boys, speaking outlandishly:
This hyperbole also a sign of immaturity, of X-Fire wanting to impress the group
It is also proof that violence is around these young children all the time:
X-Fire is openly talking about this and demonstrating it at school
Clearly, he is not wary of being seen, nor does this seem to be a particularly outrageous thing to be doing in public
Sources
Kelman, S. (2011). Pigeon English. Bloomsbury
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