The Others in the Motherland: A Postcolonial Reading of the Windrush Generation in The Lonely Londoners and Small Island

Abstract

This thesis explores how Samuel Selvon's The Lonely Londoners (1956) and Andrea Levy's Small Island (2004) depict the experiences and struggles of the Windrush generation in postwar Britain, focusing on themes of alienation, racism, discrimination, and complexities of cultural identities. The Windrush generation, named after the ship HMT Empire Windrush that transported the first group of migrants in 1948, refers to Caribbean migrants, who arrived in Great Britain after World War II. These migrants, initially invited to help rebuild postwar Britain, faced significant institutional and social challenges that shaped their identities and experiences. The thesis argues that both Selvon - as a first generation migrant - and Levy – as a second generation migrant - use their novels as postcolonial literary works to illuminate the marginalized stories of the Windrush generation, which were often overlooked or misrepresented in mainstream British narratives. With references to history and through the lens of postcolonial theory of key scholars such as Homi Bhabha, Edward Said, and Frantz Fanon, this study highlights how the novels confront colonial stereotypes and explore the complexities of racial and cultural identities of the Windrush generation, situated between two senses: belonging and exclusion. This study provides an in-depth historical overview of the Windrush generation, situating their migration within the context of postwar Britain through the integration of cultural and postcolonial theoretical framework. The study of The Lonely Londoners and Small Island examines the use of language, form, and content of the novels and the psychological and social impact of the migration on the members of the Windrush generation, and the racism, xenophobia, and discrimination they faced in the institutional and social spheres. Taken together, this thesis synthesizes the similarities and differences between two novels, offering insight into how they serve as crucial texts in the representation of Windrush generation in literature.