Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Little Bee, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Refugee Experience
Cross-Cultural Relationships
Horror and Trauma
Moral Compromise and Self-Interest
Identity and Fear
Summary
Analysis
Little Bee states that her story changes on Lawrence’s third day staying at Sarah’s house. Early in the morning, Sarah comes into Little Bee’s room and says she wants everyone to take a day-trip to London for an “adventure.” Little Bee finds this ironic, since in her country an adventure is pretending that one lives in a regular house with dishwasher and washing machine and appliances.
As with the concept of horror, Sarah and Little Bee’s differing view of what constitutes an “adventure” reiterates the cultural contrast between them. For people like Little Bee who are plenty familiar with danger, an adventure simply means peace and stability.
Themes
When they are children, Little Bee and Nkiruka have a special place in the jungle where they pretend to live in a modern house with all the appliances. When Little Bee is eight, they play house for the last time, even though they are already too old for the game. They wait for nightfall and then walk the mile from their home to the jungle. Holding hands, they enter, but the jungle is so dark that they soon lose the trail and become completely lost. Although they are not in any real danger, the darkness terrifies Little Bee, so Nkiruka sits and holds her close, rocking her gently until they both fall asleep.
Although Nkiruka is only described in small segments, this scene depicts her as not only Little Bee’s sister, but her protective and nurturing companion. Nkiruka’s death is thus traumatic in two ways, since not only does Little Bee witness the horrific murder of her sister, she also loses the person who gives her a sense of safety and surety, much like Andrew is for Sarah.
Themes
Little Bee wakes before Nkiruka. The jungle is growing brighter so she wanders some distance through the trees, alone. She finds what she later learns to be a jeep, covered in overgrowth and vines. Inside lies a man’s skeleton, though the bones are clean and he obviously laid there for years. At her young age, Little Bee imagines that the jeep and the skeleton grew out of the jungle like the trees. She wanders back to Nkiruka, unsure of what she just saw but certain that Nkiruka should not see it.
Even if she is too young to understand, Little Bee’s childhood exposure to danger and death again reiterates the difference between her and Sarah’s culture. Where Sarah’s culture tries to hide death—she will not even tell Charlie what it means for his dad to die—death is merely something that Little Bee happens upon in the forest.
Themes
Back in the present, Sarah, Little Bee, Charlie, and Lawrence all take the train into London. Little Bee has never been on a train before, and Charlie claims that he is the train’s driver. Little Bee is again overwhelmed by the amount of people in the city who never speak to each other or touch each other. Sarah and Charlie walk on ahead, while Little Bee and Lawrence follow behind. Lawrence points out certain landmarks, but Little Bee is angry that he acts as if “everything is normal” between them. Lawrence insists that they have no choice—civilization is just a lot of people pretending everything is normal. They walk until they reach the edge of the River Thames.
The tense compromise and mutual impasse between Little Bee and Lawrence parallels Lawrence’s understanding of society, which he suggests is only a series of tense compromises between individuals, nations, and governments, all motivated by self-interest. Lawrence sees his own selfishness and manipulation of other people as a microcosm of the way that society as a whole functions, which seems to let him rationalize his own poor behavior.
Themes
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At the river’s edge, Little Bee notices that people walk slower as they watch artists and street performers and riverboats. She sees a little boy and his parents watching one of the performers. The boy’s skin is light brown, and Little Bee realizes that his father is black and his mother is white. The boy’s skin color seems to Little Bee to be the color of “happiness” and she begins to cry with joy. As she looks at the crowds of people in London, she sees them differently. The crowds are a flurry of people from every place and race. They are no longer a “them” but a “you.”
For Little Bee, the interracial couple symbolizes cross-cultural relationships and the potential for people to cross ethnic and cultural barriers to love each other. Little Bee’s observation that their son’s light brown skin is the color of “happiness” suggests that she sees the possibility for cultures to meet and produce peace and life, rather than war and exploitation.
Themes
Little Bee realizes that for the first time since she’s been in England, she can disappear into the crowds and not look more or less different than any other person. She can end her story story as Little Bee and take a new name, a new life. Little Bee steps into the crowd, feeling and enjoying the power of the city. The world feels colorful and alive. She follows the crowd down the street and onto a bridge. A young man asks her what her name is and Little Bee answers “London Sunshine” and they both laugh together.
Little Bee’s sudden feeling of freedom suggests that in a diverse city, people are much freer to take on new identities and blend into new communities, allowing for a greater degree of personal freedom. In such diversity, people do not easily absorb into opposing monolithic groups, but form one mass of humanity.
Themes
Little Bee looks back towards Lawrence and Sarah and sees them standing together with their arms around each other. Beneath them, Charlie stands looking “very small and sad” and alone. Little Bee’s happiness vanishes. She returns to Andrew and Sarah and Charlie. Sarah can see she is bothered, but does not understand why. Charlie pulls on Little Bee’s hand so she walks down to the beach with him to play. Little Bee worries Charlie will overheat in his Batman costume, but when she asks him to take it off, Charlie whispers that if he removes his costume, his father will die, because Andrew died while Charlie was at nursery without his costume on.
Although the crowds and a new identity offer Little Bee freedom, she remains with Sarah for Charlie’s sake, which suggests that although taking on a new constructed identity may offer a person freedom, it prevents them from truly loving the people already in their life. Also, Charlie’s belief that his dad will die if he is not Batman suggests that although his constructed identity gives him a sense of power, it also burdens him with a far greater responsibility than he can carry as a four-year-old.
Themes
Little Bee explains that it’s not Charlie’s fault that Andrew died, and suggests that sometimes it’s good to take one’s costume off. She tells Charlie that she wishes she could take her Little Bee costume off too, so she could just be a “village girl” and use her real name. Charlie wants to know what Little Bee’s real name is, but she’ll only tell him if he takes off his Batman costume. Charlie refuses.
Lawrence comes down to the beach and angrily asks Little Bee to go speak to Sarah. Sarah tells Little Bee that Lawrence is jealous of Andrew. Sarah found Andrew’s study full of research notes about the immigration centers and the oil wars in Nigeria. She thinks he was planning to write a book, and Sarah wonders if she should continue the work he started and write the book herself. The idea infuriates Lawrence. Little Bee tells Sarah that she wants to speak her true opinion of Lawrence, but Sarah snaps at her and states she’s already made her choice. However, she quickly apologizes and hugs Little Bee.
Although Sarah mourns her moral compromise as it relates to helping refugees, she also compromises in her relationship with Lawrence. Lawrence holds Sarah back from her desire to live a meaningful life and she even recognizes she’d be better off without him. Despite this, Sarah clings to Lawrence to avoid being alone, suggesting that one’s emotional needs may cause them to compromise their values as much as comfort and lifestyle do.
Themes
Sarah asks Little Bee to go play with Charlie and Lawrence because she needs a minute for a phone call. Little Bee and Lawrence stand talking at the railing while Charlie plays below them in the sand. Lawrence still thinks Little Bee should leave. Little Bee thinks Lawrence should return to his own wife and children. Sarah walks down to them and begins to make an announcement until she asks where Charlie is. Neither of them knows, and as they call for Charlie on the bank they cannot find him. Sarah’s screaming makes Little Bee think of the jungle and the jeep, and she realizes there is horror in this world as well.
Although Sarah’s horror is arguably of a smaller magnitude, Little Bee’s recollection of the jungle in Nigeria suggests that horror in the developed world is the same as horror in the developing world. Although Sarah and Little Bee come from different worlds, the horror of losing a loved one transcends their cultural differences.
Themes
