Pigeon English: Key Quotations (AQA GCSE English Literature): Revision Note

Pigeon English: Key Theme Quotations

Here, we will analyse key quotes grouped according to the following themes:

• Immigration and identity

• Inequality and discrimination

• Loss of innocence

• Masculinity and violence

• Death

Being able to draw on key quotes that support the exploration of different themes within the text will enable you to answer any question that comes up in your exam to a high level, showing that you can back up your ideas with evidence from the text. 

Immigration and identity

In Pigeon English, Kelman explores the immigrant experience, and how identities can be affected in different places and by merging cultures across nations and peoples.

What the quotation means

• Auntie Sonia has burnt her fingerprints off so it will be harder for immigration officials to identify her if she is detained

• She is in the UK illegally, but does not want to go back to where she was before

Analysis 

• This shows the lengths that people will go to in order to move:

  • It reflects how difficult it is for immigrants to settle in new places, and their constant anxiety about being deported

• Kelman is showing the sacrifice Sonia has made to be here:

  • It may be being suggested that Sonia has sacrificed a part of herself and her identity to remain in the UK

• The word “belong” is important, and can be examined two ways:

  • Kelman could be suggesting that the nature of home is impermanent, and migration allows us to move, yet Sonia is now a citizen of nowhere and has no home or belonging

  • Whether we ever “own” our land and where we are from, and whether England belongs to the English

What the quotation means

• Nish and his wife (a Pakistani couple from the area) are detained by the police

• We find out that their visas have either run out or found to be illegal

Analysis

• This quotation depicts the unfair treatment of immigrants in the UK:

  • It could be argued that they are being treated like violent criminals for just living their lives

• The word “chains” suggests they are trapped, and this is a symbol not only of the control of the state, but how they are always chained to their fear and place in society:

  • “Chains” also gives a feeling of a comparison to animals, further dehumanising them

  • This could be Kelman suggesting that immigrants are dehumanised with their status and how they are treated and spoken of

• That they are walked out in front of a crowd also shows how this treatment is used to spread fear in the community:

  • They are “illegals” rather than people, and this is the treatment others can expect

Inequality, discrimination and societal pressures

Throughout the novel, we see how the community is under the pressures of poverty and racism. Across the different social groups, genders, and ages, we see how discrimination feeds into daily lives, and how the characters face, overcome, perpetuate and are held back by their treatment and surroundings.

What the quotation means

• Members of the community watch the playground burn, unhappy but unmoved

• Nobody attempts to stop it, just continuing to watch the destruction of the children’s playground

Analysis

• The fire symbolises violence and crime, while the playground represents the community and its children

• The people watching see these things being destroyed but either cannot or will not stop it:

  • They are resigned to the cycle of violence they are stuck in, more likely to become part of it as they are powerlessly swept up into it

  • Kelman may be suggesting that people in these communities have seen their actions fail before, and now just feel they have to watch as their children are engulfed in the flames of crime and poverty

• Kelman could also be talking about how people in these communities see the violence, but can only watch as governments do nothing to help:

  • Marginalised communities are often treated like a lost cause and demonised instead

  • Equally, this may be the author showing the evidence is there, and how locals see it, but we as outsiders ignore it and let them burn

• By saying the fire “would always win”, the uphill fight has become one that people now just feel is lost, even as they are forced to watch 

What the quotation means

• Harri is discussing how another local boy, Vilis, treats him because he is black and from Africa

• This is Harri vocalising a racist incident, but innocently, as he doesn’t even understand it as racism

Analysis

• This may be Kelman showing how easily children internalise racism and then propagate it themselves:

  • The “fact” is clearly false to the point of being comedic, but Vilis has learned this, accepted it and then spread it on

  • This could suggest that children learn racism from the influences around them, usually parents or older children

• It is also a way that Kelman could be depicting the stupidity of racism:

  • Something like this is almost a parody of something puppeted by racists

  • It also shows that children can lack the knowledge to question what they are told, so accept things like this as fact

• Harri is naive to racism, having moved from Ghana, so tries to make a logical conclusion that the comment must have some basis in fact:

  • This also shows how racism can be internalised by young victims, as Harri seems to conclude that he must be a problem

What the quotation means

• The growing trees in the local area are enclosed in cages

Analysis

• This quotation could be seen to symbolise how young people in the area are trapped in a cage of poverty and violence:

  • Their growth is being limited by their environment

• This could also be a comment on how young people will fail to grow because of death, just Harri is forever young because he is murdered

• Kelman could also be suggesting that those from low-income areas are caged and kept away from other people:

  • Their potential for growth is capped by the cages of society, kept there to “protect” the wider population

  • It could be a point to say that we cage ourselves in with protection of wealth, or just plain ignorance, so we can not be touched by their struggles

• Potentially, this may be a suggestion that nature is being suppressed, and environments where the natural is suppressed forces unnatural behaviour

Loss of innocence 

Throughout the novel, we see a loss of innocence from children who are forced to face up to harsh realities, and are pushed into very adult situations. This is most evident in Harri, who shows his immaturity, but also begins to have his views changed. Equally, this is a coming of age story for many of the characters, most especially Harri and his sister Lydia, who experience teenage drama, sexualised language and experiences, and changing emotions. 

What the quotation means

• In June, Agnes gets a fever and Harri worries that she may die

• Harri relates this to the dead boy, and realises that anyone can die

Analysis

• This is Harri being confronted with his own mortality:

  • This could be foreshadowing from Kelman, building up to Harri’s eventual death and it all dawning on Harri, as well as the reader

• Harri’s fixation on the blood, which repeats throughout the text, highlights how he cannot keep the image out of his mind:

  • This shows how, even if Harri doesn’t realise it, the image has scarred him

  • The author could be showing us that the blood is always present in Harri’s thoughts, highlighting how he is unable to escape the danger

• For a boy of Harri’s age, he is quite naive to be coming to this realisation now:

  • It is also a sign of his innocence being lost as he comes to understand death and mortality

• Kelman might be hinting on how we start to see more danger in the world when we have others, especially the younger and more vulnerable, to care for:

  • It is only when Harri sees Agnes sick that this strikes him

What the quotation means

• As X-Fire demonstrates stabbing someone, with Harri as his prop, Harri smells the lingering scent of his breath

• Harri notices the two different, distinct smells: one that is childish, one that is adult 

Analysis

• This is a clear demonstration by Kelman of how this intimidating, often aggressive character is caught between the world of childhood and adulthood:

  • Chocolate milk is still considered a child’s treat, while we know cigarettes can only be sold to adults

  • This shows that even though X-Fire still enjoys things for children, he is also living in a world where he is expected to act like a man

  • Kelman uses the senses to evoke two contrasting smells and two contrasting worlds

• This also shows that children have been cast in roles beyond their years:

  • X-Fire is making decisions as a child, but ones that have adult consequences:

    • It could be suggested that Kelman is trying to show that this is out of X-Fire’s control, that he still wants to be a child, even as he walks through the adult world

Masculinity and violence

Pigeon English is a novel that deals directly with masculinity and violence. Kelman uses his story to explore the impact of toxic masculinity on young men, and to show how violence thriving in a community affects everyone within it. 

What the quotation means

• After hearing about Agnes being sick, Harri is worried. He dreams of falling into the Dead Sea

• When he wakes up, it reminds him of sharks having to keep swimming through dangerous waters

Analysis

• The imagery is clear from Kelman here, that Harri himself is swimming in shark-infested waters:

  • The boys in the area have to be like sharks, always vigilant, always on the move, always aware of those around them

  • The suggestion is that failing to do so will end up with them hunted and dead 

  • Kelman may be asking the reader to imagine, like Harri did, that he is a shark, and how stressful it must be for all the boys to maintain such vigilance all the time

• This could also be a hint to how the boys and those in the area are seen from the outside:

  • Sharks are famously seen as vicious beasts

  • Here, however, it is the sharks that are worried about their safety

  • Kelman may be asking the reader to reevaluate our own preconceptions about young Black men

• Harri’s dream might be Kelman showing us that, however much he may not realise, Harri is incredibly stressed by his environment, and he is starting to face up to it:

  • By June, it is clear that Harri is navigating through dangers with Miquita, the Dell Farm Crew, and his investigation of the murder

What the quotation means

• In a monologue, the pigeon describes the ease with which violence comes to people

• It is saying that violence feels an easy solution to problems, and that power feels good, especially when we feel angry and want a release

Analysis

• The pigeon is describing how easily we turn to violence in this world, and how it can help us to feel better:

  • The story starts with the dead boy, and we learn in time that he was killed merely for annoying Killa and X-Fire, nothing more

  • Kelman may be using the voice of the pigeon to show judgement about how quick we are to anger:

    • It is interesting that he uses the pigeon to do this, as we often see mistreatment of animals from people who are quick to anger and violence

• Throughout the novel, the main characters often use violence to solve issues:

  • Beyond the murder, Miquita uses violence to keep Chanelle quiet, and then as a threat to Lydia

  • Julius uses it repeatedly, his bat his companion for collecting debts, and for punishing Auntie Sonia

  • Harri, too, turns to violence quickly, pushing a younger boy over when annoyed about a tree being cut down

What the quotation means

• When talking about shouting in his tower block building, Harri mentions that it is his job, as the man of the house, to protect his Mum and Lydia from any “invaders” 

Analysis

• This is a clear example of the gender expectations that stretch across different cultures, that men are protectors:

  • Kelman may be using this to show that Harri is naive enough to think himself a man

• The cultural expectation is that men are meant to be physical, and this has clearly been internalised by the boys in the novel:

  • The Dell Farm Crew are all quick to anger, and use violence as a first resort

  • It is noted in the novel that they do not want to seem weak, and physical strength is a quick way to show you are not

  • Kelman could be asking us to think how different life in the area would be if this was not a learned idea in all men

• The author is also signalling to the reader how Harri is now lacking a male role model directly involved in his home life:

  • Without realising, Harri is noting the gap in his family due to their immigration

  • Kelman could be highlighting here that having his father’s guidance may have changed Harri’s fate

Death

Pigeon English starts and finishes with death, and death hangs over almost every aspect of the novel. Kelman foreshadows Harri’s death on multiple occasions, with the story building towards Harri’s own murder as he obsesses over the dead boy’s fate. 

What the quotation means

• Harri is vocalising his discomfort from being at the murder scene

• He runs home and focuses his thoughts on how fast he is to distract him and to clear him from what happened

Analysis

• Kelman could be setting the reader up early, foreshadowing Harri’s fate by telling them that this is a story of a boy trying to run away, both literally and metaphorically, from death, and ultimately failing:

  • This is where his obsession with death starts, and it is ironic that he says he wants to run away from death, but spends the story investigating it, thinking about it constantly

• This is also a good example of his innocence:

  • Harri makes death a game, running away as if he can control it

• Kelman may also be indicating that we do not do enough to protect children like Harri from death, so he feels he has to try and run away from it himself

Sources

Kelman, S. (2011). Pigeon English. Bloomsbury