Pigeon English: Context (AQA GCSE English Literature): Revision Note
Exam code: 8702
Pigeon English historical context
Stephen Kelman wrote Pigeon English in reaction to the 2000 murder of, and in tribute to, ten-year-old schoolboy Damilola Taylor.
The murder of Damilola Taylor
Damilola Taylor was stabbed in the leg while walking home from the library
He was attacked by a pair of brothers, aged 12 and 13, with no apparent motive:
In 2006, six years after the killing, Ricky and Danny Preddie were convicted of manslaughter
The brothers were both part of the Young Peckham Boys gang
Damilola was an immigrant to the UK, moving from Lagos, Nigeria, to London:
The family moved to seek better treatment for his sister’s epilepsy
Days before the murder, Damilola had told his mother that he was being bullied:
Gloria, his mother, met with the headmaster of Damilola’s school only a few hours before his death, but was told that any bullying at the school was a “low-level” problem
The police reported that they faced a “wall of silence” from the local community when investigating the death of Damilola:
Mistrust of the police was rife, due to a mix of factors, many of which stemmed from criticisms arising from the Stephen Lawrence inquiry:
The Lawrence Inquiry reported a catalogue of police incompetence, corruption and institutional racism
There was also a feeling that members of the community did not want to report on others, either due to fear of retribution or loyalty
How this links to Pigeon English | |
|---|---|
Gang violence | Like Harri, Damilola was an immigrant being bullied within his community. As with Pigeon English, this was children killing children, and the tragedy extends beyond the loss of one boy’s life. Kelman examines how the young boys (both perpetrators and victims) are lost to a life that entices them in and then takes their innocence. Damilola lost his life to persistent young offenders, members of a gang, as did Harri. |
Mistrust of the police | There are multiple examples within Pigeon English of the police failing to get the local community to interact with them, and lamenting the difficulty of finding witnesses who would speak with them. This is further exacerbated by an environment where the community does not trust the police to keep them safe, which was an issue with the real-life murder of Damilola Taylor, and the fate of the “dead boy” in Pigeon English. This is highlighted in the novel when the police visit the school to speak in assembly, promising they won’t let anything bad happen if a witness does come forward. |
Parallel fates | Damilola was found in a stairwell, as Harri would be at the end of Pigeon English. Kelman leans on the same imagery, going as far as to mention Harri’s foot soaking in urine, similar to how the smell of urine was reported at the scene of Damilola Taylor’s murder. Both are similarly-aged migrants from Africa, both coming home from innocent activities (school/library), and victims of a stabbing they had no reason to expect stemming from issues with older boys in a local gang. Both lived in a London estate with a high crime rate. CCTV footage of Damilola’s walk home shows him smiling and skipping, while Harri runs home in high spirits after kissing Poppy. |
Pigeon English social context
Kelman grew up on a council estate in Luton, and used his life experience to help add depth to the world of Pigeon English. The London estate that Harri grows up in is based on both Kelman’s upbringing and the community that Damilola Taylor lived in. Both would be described as multicultural and struggling with issues of youth crime and gang violence.
The immigrant experience in Britain in the 2000s
Increased immigration to Britain started in the 1990s and continued into the 2000s
Communities in London saw more residents from African and Caribbean countries, as well as places like Eastern Europe
The majority came chasing the promise of a better life in a new country, sacrificing their way of life to live in a country with more stability, especially economically
Urban areas, with more affordable housing, saw changing demographics that brought a wave of multiculturalism
Immigration grew to become Britain’s most hotly debated political issue:
It was cited as a key issue for only 3% of the public in 1997
Before the 2016 EU referendum that number had jumped to 48%
In 2010, Prime Minister Gordon Brown courted controversy after an interaction about immigration:
After a complained about immigration — she described people as “flocking” into the country — Brown described her as a “bigoted woman”
In the general election the same year, Nigel Farage’s UKIP party received almost a million votes
Farage blamed immigration for problems with schools, the NHS, and affordable housing
Immigrants in Britain have struggled with a sense of belonging for decades:
The Windrush Scandal exposed this feeling to the nation, showing how those who had come to Britain (legally from the Caribbean) did not feel accepted
Since 2010, steps were taken to make lives harder for anyone who couldn’t prove their migration status:
Since then, the language used by those in politics and the media to describe migrants has changed
Pejorative terms like “flooding” and “tide” were used frequently to describe the movement of people into the UK
How this links to Pigeon English | |
|---|---|
Migration and a “better” life | Harri’s family moves to the UK to pursue a better life, leaving Harri’s father and baby sister back home. Their relative poverty means that they could not afford to move the whole family, nor would Harri’s mother be able to care for a baby with the amount she needs to work to provide for her children. |
Mistreatment and poverty | We see Harri and his mother both dealing with prejudice, especially Mamma, the “fuzzy-wuzzy… off the boat”, which shows both racism and anti-immigrant sentiment. Immigrants to Britain, whether documented or not, were often forced to live in areas with high levels of poverty. The Dell Farm Estate is impoverished, crime-ridden and violent, with many struggling drug addicts and alcoholics. |
Multiculturalism | Harri learns a lot from the multiculturalism of the area, but he learns positive lessons in spite of what he has been told. The negative stories he has been told, and his contrasting reactions, underline Harri’s trusting and innocent character. Kelman grew up on an estate and draws on his experiences to paint a picture of the different nationalities and the prejudices that follow each. |
Youth violence and gang culture
By the 2000s, the UK was struggling with increased violence, gang culture and knife crime in lower socio-economic areas
Inner-city London saw increasingly visible violence as gang disputes were settled in public
Young people, especially immigrants and those in impoverished areas, were pressured into gang life, or enticed by gangs’ social status, money and protection
Young men, and especially young Black men, are put under this pressure at a time where social status and their self-image is most insecure, as teens
Austerity programmes launched by the Conservative government cut funding to public services, wages to public sector jobs, the police, and social welfare programs:
These cuts had a deeper impact on impoverished areas, where these services were needed most
Employees (often working parents) were forced to work longer hours for lower pay
Youth programs were halted, as was funding to parks and areas for sport
How this links to Pigeon English | |
|---|---|
Gang culture | The Dell Farm Crew controls the area. Their violence at school means they can “own” and charge entry for certain areas. They try to entice Harri into the gang, and we see that they push Jordan into gang activities with the promise of protection. |
Weapons | Jordan shows off his knife, Killa flashes his screwdriver whenever angry and X-Fire goes to grab his knife near the end of the novel. Harri considers taking a kitchen knife when he goes out. The boys even “practise” scars on themselves and mimic stabbing. Weapons are everywhere in the community; they are part of everyday life for the young people of the Dell Farm Estate. |
Violence out of boredom | There appears to be little to gain for the Dell Farm Crew to vandalise the church, but they do it anyway. The playground is burned, and it is so ordinary that the community just watches, powerless. There are never any activities for Harri outside of school, and, with public services cut, young people are left to fend for themselves. |
Pigeon English literary context
As anti-immigrant sentiment became a prominent media talking point in the UK, those looking to counter this hostility focused on growing social problems facing young people and the discrimination, injustice and racism facing immigrants, minorities, and those in lower socio-economic areas. This provided a platform for stories that dealt with the related social structures and realities, as well as a platform for voices that could tell those stories with more first-hand experience.
Pigeon English can be considered a bildungsroman as it deals with Harri during a time of growth and change, as well as the experiences of other young people in their adolescence, a period of life where people come of age.
Bildungsroman
The story is told from the first-person view of the narrator and protagonist, Harri
The novel features some typical elements of a bildungsroman, showing a journey of growth for the protagonist:
The bildungsroman genre originated in Germany and directly translates to a “novel of education”
It generally portrays the protagonist’s psychological and moral growth
The conventional structure of a bildungsroman involves the following:
Loss: The protagonist experiences a profound emotional loss at the beginning of the narrative
Journey: Motivated by their personal tragedy, the protagonist embarks on a journey, either physical or metaphorical, to gain a better understanding of the world
Conflict and personal growth: The protagonist’s journey entails mistakes and often clashes with societal norms, though as the narrative progresses, the protagonist gradually embraces the values of society
Maturity: By the conclusion of the novel, the protagonist undergoes significant personal development, exhibiting a positive transformation which denotes maturity
While classic aspects of a bildungsroman are present in Pigeon English, the novel does also subvert the form
How this links to Pigeon English | |
|---|---|
Subverting the bildungsroman form | The audience can see Harri’s growth, and his growing awareness of the society and community he is in, but it is his naivety and innocence that leads to his cruel fate. This suggests that, unlike a typical bildungsroman, he never undergoes true transformation to reach maturity. Moreover, the loss that kickstarts the story does drive Harri’s journey, but it is also a loss he attaches himself to, rather than suffers. |
Typical adolescent problems | Amid a larger story, we do see Harri face common coming-of-age landmarks. Harri finishes his first school year in the UK, meets his first girlfriend, shares his first kiss, and faces the changing priorities of a teenager. |
Clashing with stereotypes | Harri is easily influenced, but the reader sees how his kindness always beats prejudice. Kelman shows us how he challenges internally the notion of islamophobic rhetoric, racism towards Altaf, and even the expectations of a young Black boy standing up to gang culture. |
Social realism
By setting Pigeon English in London, and basing his story around the real-life murder of Damilola Taylor, Kelman writes a social realist novel. The depiction of a fictionalised estate within the real setting of London, which he bases on his own council estate growing up and that of Taylor, allows Kelman to offer commentary on a world most readers know something of, even if they have no first-hand experience themselves.
A social realist story aims to offer commentary on the issues and concerns of the working class, with analysis of social injustice that affects the people involved and people in real life:
They are naturalistic works, set in real places, with a realistic tone and broad message
The characters are used to represent parts of society, social classes, cultures, races or nationalities
The story will often explore character relationships and clashes, and how the context of their situations affects their behaviour as characters
The stories are usually written to shine a light on issues that are causing social division or social unrest
This style of writing grew after and was influenced by revolution in the 18th century:
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a famous example of a social realist text
How this links to Pigeon English | |
|---|---|
Real-life context | Kelman sets his story in a world as similar to that of Damilola Taylor as he could create as an outsider, but also uses his own experience growing up on a council estate in a lower socio-economic area. |
Social commentary | The story is a comment on how immigrants are treated in the UK, the environment young boys are growing up in, violent crime, and how those outside of it try to box away the hardships of those in poverty, so they can pretend it does not exist. Kelman intended to shine a light on all of this for a wider audience. |
The deeper story of each character | Every character within Pigeon English is trying to survive the world they are in, and we see this take many forms. Harri is one, but we see Mamma navigating life in the UK, Miquita dealing with poverty and her treatment as a young woman, Jordan falling between the cracks after expulsion from school and joining the Dell Farm Crew, and how the gang perpetuate violence against others. |
Sources
Kelman, S. (2011). Pigeon English. Bloomsbury
Police faced “wall of silence”, 12 April 2012, The Standard (opens in a new tab)
Damilola Taylor: What lessons have been learnt 20 years on?, Katharine Carpenter, 27 November 2020, BBC News (opens in a new tab)
Bridges, L. (1999). The Lawrence Inquiry. Incompetence, Corruption, and Institutional Racism. (opens in a new tab)Journal of Law and Society (opens in a new tab), (opens in a new tab)26 (opens in a new tab)(3), 298–322 (opens in a new tab)
Carpenter describes Damilola's death, 25 Jan 2006, Guardian (opens in a new tab)
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