Pigeon English: Plot Summary (AQA GCSE English Literature): Revision Note

Pigeon English: Plot Summary

An important step in preparing for your exam is to thoroughly understand the plot of Pigeon English. Once you're familiar with the novel, you will feel confident connecting key events to broader themes. Having a deep understanding of the text will boost your confidence in finding relevant references to support your responses.

Below you will find:

• a general overview of the whole novel

• detailed summaries by chapter

Overview of Pigeon English

Pigeon English is a novel that follows the life of a young boy, Harrison Opoku. Harri and half of his family have recently immigrated to London from Ghana, and now live in a council estate full of crime, hardship and many different cultures. 

The story starts at a crime scene: an older child from Harri’s school has been murdered outside of a local takeaway, Chicken Joe’s. Standing alongside his friend Jordan, Harri is fascinated by the blood of the victim and the nature of the crime. The death grips Harri’s life, both in his imagination and how his world moves around him, in the five months that the story is separated into.

Pigeon English becomes the tale of Harri and his best friend Dean trying to solve the murder of this young man, set against the backdrop of multicultural London and the societal and economic challenges of families and immigrants in the late 2000s. The book is inspired by the 2000 murder of Nigerian immigrant Damilola Taylor, and set and written amid the anti-immigrant sentiment influenced by then Home Secretary Theresa May and her “hostile environment” stance on immigration.

Alongside crime, violence and murder, Harri and his older sister Lydia face up to the differences of life in Ghana and the UK, as well as the social, physical and emotional pressures of adolescent boys and girls coming of age. A sweet and innocent child, Harri makes friends with a pigeon, and that pigeon becomes a part narrator of the story, a mythical guardian angel who seems wise to the future awaiting his human friend.

Pigeon English: Chapter-by-chapter plot summary

Pigeon English is separated into five chapters, each a sequential month of the year. 

March

• Harri and his friend Jordan are at the scene of a murder, looking at the blood on the pavement from behind a police line:

  • Harri notes that even a pigeon looks sad as it walks through the blood

• We get a picture of Harri’s home life

• Harri is impressed when he sees an older boy, X-Fire, spraying graffiti on the wall of one of the tower blocks

• Harri, his older sister Lydia and their mum talk on the phone to their father and baby sister in Ghana:

  • Harri teases Lydia by telling their father a story about a pigeon getting in the house and scaring Lydia

  • Harri felt a connection to the pigeon and made it his special pigeon

• Harri is with X-Fire and some of X-Fire’s friends:

  • Harri plays the role of the dead boy as X-Fire mimics stabbing him to teach him what it’s like

  • Dizzy and Clipz boast about doing it, but Killa stays quiet

• Harri, Lydia and their mother go to the market:

  • Harri sees X-Fire, Dizzy and Jordan stealing a phone, but doesn’t say anything as his mother would stop him seeing Jordan if she knew

• At night, Harri sees a man retrieve a knife from the communal bins

• We get our first passage of narration from the pigeon: 

  • The pigeon mentions the dead boy, but says he “wasn’t mine”, which suggests Harri is and that their connection is real

• Lydia’s friends Miquita and Chanelle come over:

  • Miquita makes Harri uncomfortable

  • Miquita mentions she won’t go to the funeral because she doesn’t respect the dead boy and it was own fault he got killed because he was “fronting” 

• At the funeral, Harri sneaks away with his best friend Dean to watch the crowd for “suspicious activity”

• At school, X-Fire steals Harri’s bag and tries to get him to join his gang, the Dell Farm Crew, but Harri doesn’t understand

• Harri’s Aunt Sonia visits:

  • Harri’s mother tells her about a racist insult she received at work, but they tell Harri it means something else when he overhears 

April

• Harri fails an initiation task for the Dell Farm Crew:

  • Harri thinks he’s the gang’s enemy now

• Harri gets the idea to interview people about the stabbing at the pub after watching a news report with his mum:

  • Dean and Harri go to the pub and watch patrons from the doorway

  • The only person they talk to says he doesn’t know who did it, but that it was probably a kid

• At school, the Dell Farm Crew block Dean and Harri from going into the cafeteria:

  • They mention that Harri failed his first test, but X-Fire will make the next one easier

  • They charge Dean a pound to get past. Harri tells Dean it’s only because he’s white

  • The pair then bully younger boys off an old mattress at the park

• Harri recalls a happy story about helping his Dad fix the shop roof back home

• Miquita comes round while Harri and Lydia’s Mum is at work at night:

  • She continues to make Harri uncomfortable with flirtatious comments

• Miquita gives Lydia a bag that the pair try to keep hidden, but Harri sees:

• Lydia puts the bag in with the washing and goes to the launderette alone, but Harri follows

• Harri sees her put the contents of the bag into the washing machine with bleach

• She leaves in a rush and finds Harri

• Harri asks what was inside

• Lydia lies, and Harri doesn’t tell her he saw the contents: boy’s clothes covered in blood

• X-Fire arrives:

  • He questions a frightened Lydia, and she tells him nobody saw 

• A policeman visits the school to talk to the students about the murder, and that the students should tell the police if they have any information

• Harri and Dean use sellotape to test surfaces for fingerprints by the river, where they believe the killer disposed of the murder weapon

• When Harri, Lydia and their mother visit Auntie Sonia, we find out she has burnt off her fingertips on the stove

May

• The carnival takes place, which Lydia, Miquita and Chanelle all dance in:

  • At the carnival, Harri watches the Dell Farm Crew interact aggressively with the police

• The Dell Farm Crew vandalise Harri’s church:

  • Lydia tells him he needs to stay away from the Dell Farm Crew

  • He confronts her over the bloodstained clothes she washed

  • Lydia says it was just Miquita’s blood and to forget it, before running away to cry 

• Harri gets talked into mugging someone with X-Fire, Killa and Dizzy of the Dell Farm Crew:

  • It’s another initiation test; the gang plan to crash into the victim, and Harri is to steal what the victim has dropped

  • Harri again sees his pigeon

• Mr Frimpong from the church walks towards them and Harri realises the elderly man is going to be the victim:

  • Harri starts to feel sick

• Dizzy, Killa and Harri run towards Mr Frimpong, but Harri covers his face and just runs past as the other two crash into the old man

• The pigeon delivers another monologue, speaking of trying to save Harri from this event, and how he needs to be wary of his future

• Later, Harri throws away the coat he was wearing and his Mustang toy as a sacrifice for his deeds

• The next day at school, the Dell Farm Crew confront Harri:

  • X-Fire mimics shooting him in the head

  • Dizzy tells Harri they won’t forget what he did

  • X-Fire tells Harri to stay quiet about it

• Dean and Harri are with a local man, Terry Takeaway, and his dog Asbo when X-Fire and Killa come by:

  • Asbo sniffs Killa and jumps up at him, causing Killa to get a screwdriver out of his pocket and threaten the dog

  • Killa and X-Fire leave when confronted by Terry 

• Harri sees Mr Frimpong at church:

  • He doesn’t know Harri was part of the assault

  • Harri thinks he was invisible thanks to his alligator tooth

• Jordan and Harri play football in the tower block:

  • Jordan kicks the ball twice at a woman who lives in the building

  • After she leaves angrily, Harri is worried, but Jordan shows Harri the knife he carries

  • He tells Harri to get one, and then holds it to Harri’s face to scare him

• We find out Poppy is now Harri’s girlfriend

• At Harri’s flat, Miquita is straightening Lydia’s hair:

  • Suddenly, she holds the straightening iron in front of Lydia’s eye and threatens her, making sure she’s loyal to them

  • She burns Lydia’s cheek until Lydia says she doesn’t know anything

• Later on, Lydia destroys her dance costume:

  • When Harri sees her, she makes him promise he won’t tell anyone he saw her at the launderette with the bleach

• We get another speech from the pigeon, who insinuates a link between its presence and death

• Dizzy chases Harri:

  • Harri thinks it’s funny until X-Fire arrives and angrily sprints after him

  • X-Fire threatens to kill Harri

June

• We find out that Agnes, Harri’s baby sister, has a fever:

  • Harri prays for her recovery, promising his life in exchange for hers

• Auntie Sonia visits with a black eye and bandaged nose:

  • They only talk about her injuries when Julius, her partner, is out of the room, and she claims they were an accident

  • Julius comes back in and says he can get better medicine for Harri’s baby sister Agnes than what she is getting, but Harri’s mum declines

• Later, Harri dreams about Agnes

• When he wakes up, he has a conversation with the pigeon:

  • The pigeon tells him that Agnes will be fine, and they won’t let her be on her own

• Miquita and Chanelle get into a physical fight at school:

  • Miquita shouts that Chanelle won’t “tell” and to “keep her mouth shut”

• Lydia and Harri go to the youth club. When they leave, they see Miquita and Killa: 

  • Harri notices burn marks on Miquita’s hands from Killa

  • Killa gets annoyed at Harri staring through his binoculars, so Killa grabs and then smashes them

• A local butcher and his wife are arrested for being undocumented immigrants:

  • A confused Harri is told by Lydia that Julius sells fake visas, but that they are in the UK legally

• Jordan and Harri throw stones at a bus, but Harri’s mum catches them:

  • She bans Harri from seeing Jordan

  • The pair insult each other and become enemies

• Harri and Dean try to get a DNA sample from Killa:

  • The Dell Farm Crew chase Harri, but he gets into a classroom with a teacher as Killa shouts “you’re dead!” at him

• The next day, Killa confronts Harri, banging his head into a paper-towel machine:

  • He tells Harri that he can’t prove anything and to drop it before he gets into serious trouble

• Lydia gets a birthday package from home and cries:

  • Harri acts up to make her laugh and to stop her crying

• Dean and Harri find the dead boy’s wallet on a garage roof

July

• Harri teases Jordan:

  • He knocks on Jordan’s door, driving his remote-controlled car towards him, promising him a go and then instead just going back inside

• Miquita comes over to teach Harri how to kiss:

  • She uses her tongue, which he does not expect or like

  • Lydia tells her to stop, but Miquita continues

  • Miquita then sexually assaults Harri

• Harri and Miquita argue:

  • Lydia lets slip that Miquita’s boyfriend is a murderer

  • Miquita is angry, but leaves with Lydia afraid

• Harri rescues his pigeon from an attack by some magpies

• Auntie Sonia comes over, talking about leaving on a boat:

  • It is implied Julius has broken her foot, which is in plaster

• As she leaves, she points out that the word “DEAD” has been scratched into their door with a knife:

• Harri says it was probably a junkie, but thinks it was Jordan

• Dean and Harri watch the basketball court, hoping to feel the dead boy’s spirit

• Harri remembers a day when the dead boy got into a confrontation with Killa and X-Fire over a basketball shot:

  • They pushed him forcefully, then Killa ended up pushed over, his screwdriver showing again as the other kids stood and watched

  • The dead boy left, but came back and spat water at Killa before cycling off

  • The tension scared Harri, who ran away, but “knew somebody was going to get killed”

• Back in the current day, X-Fire, Dizzy, Killa and Miquita find Dean and Harri at the courts:

  • The gang make the boys empty their pockets, where they find the dead boy’s wallet

  • Killa sees the picture of the boy, gets angry, and pushes Miquita away when she tries to calm him

  • Killa runs off, and X-Fire burns the boy’s picture in front of Dean and Harri, and then makes Dizzy cover the gate for witnesses as he pulls out his knife

  • As Harri pleads for his pigeon to help, Lydia turns up and threatens to call the police

  • Lydia is filming them with her phone

  • With X-Fire distracted, Harri, Dean and Lydia all run

  • X-Fire and Dizzy chase but they escape

  • Lydia emails the video to a friend, and then we get a thought from the pigeon, who talks about how it isn’t his place to change events

  • There is more insinuation that the pigeon is linked to death

• Harri and some other younger boys are jumping over cracks in the pavement to ensure they have a good summer

• One of the boys, Connor, stands on one on purpose as he doesn’t believe in the spell:

  • He then admits he knows who killed the dead boy

  • Connor says it was Jermaine Bent, who we find out is Killa

  • The other boys don’t believe him, but Harri is in shock

• The children and their parents are at the playground, which has been set on fire:

  • They watch and complain about the local kids, and watch the firefighters put the flames out

• On the last day of school, Harri and Poppy talk:

  • She kisses him and then they part ways

• Harri runs home alone in an excited mood

• He gets to the steps but someone comes out of nowhere, stabs him and runs away

• Harri drops to the ground, calling for his mum

• The pigeon arrives, and they talk:

  • The pigeon tells him that it will be over soon and he will show him the way

• Harri makes the pigeon promise to tell his sister Agnes his funny story from the plane

• Harri sees his blood and struggles to keep his eyes open, trying to think of Agnes as he loses sight of her

Sources

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