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
In the morning, Sarah enters Little Bee’s room and asks if she wants to drive to the store with her. While they are driving, Sarah tries to explain about Lawrence staying overnight, but Little Bee says she already understands: Sarah is just making the choices that she thinks will make her happy; there is nothing wrong with that. Sarah is happy that Little Bee understands. Sarah’s car is low on fuel so they stop at a gas station. Little Bee privately reflects on how the gas flowing into the vehicle likely came from her country, and the whine it makes passing through the pump sounds like her family’s screams.
Little Bee offers Sarah an understanding ear without trying to change her mind, which contrasts with Lawrence’s attempts to convince Sarah to get rid of Little Bee. Little Bee’s reflection that the gas pumping sounds like her family’s screams reflects the fact that the developed world’s consumer goods often come from developing countries; the developing world’s pain provides the developed world with wealth and convenience.
Themes
At Sarah’s house, Little Bee thinks that the best thing she can do for Sarah right now is “understand.” She decides that “Understanding” could have been a good name for her village because even before the oil war, everyone in her village—everyone in the world, even—understood that they had “nothing.” They made peace with it. Nkiruka used to put her face in an old wood frame and the children would pretend she was a TV commentator for the BBC. In Sarah’s living room, after Sarah has gone back to bed, Charlie wakes and asks Little Bee if he can watch TV. Little Bee isn’t sure, so they turn on the TV without sound and imagine what it might be saying.
Little Bee’s name for her village suggests that an understanding exists between the developing world and the developed world: one has lots of wealth, the other has none. Although Little Bee accepts this and even recalls her childhood happiness in spite of it, such an understanding suggests that humanity accepts gross inequality and moral compromise in self-interested nations.
Themes
Lawrence laughs gently from behind Little Bee. He smiles and invites her to come have breakfast with him in the kitchen. They leave Charlie in the living room and drink tea in the kitchen. Lawrence tells Little Bee he believes she should turn herself into the police; it’s what’s best for Sarah. Little Bee asks if Lawrence will turn her in if she doesn’t, and she feels frightened. Lawrence states that he’ll die without Sarah because she is the only thing in the world that matters to him, even if that sounds “pathetic.” However, Little Bee understands this. Everyone is afraid of death.
Although Lawrence claims that he wants what’s best for Sarah, his own shallowness and attempt to keep her in an unhappy lifestyle clearly suggests he only wants what’s best for himself, which seems to put him at odds with Little Bee’s character. Also, his claim that he’ll die without Sarah suggests that he himself has no real experience with death, unlike Little Bee who has far too much.
Themes
Lawrence asks if Little Bee is actually afraid of death or if she only wants a “comfortable life.” Little Bee assures him that because of what she’s seen, the Nigerian politicians will find a way to kill her no matter what. She suddenly feels “rage” at Lawrence’s selfishness. She tells him that if he reports her to the police, she’ll make sure that Sarah knows he sold her out. Little Bee will make Sarah hate him. Lawrence believes her, though he is surprised by how cunning she is. Little Bee tells Lawrence that she’s been in England for two years now; she is more like him than like her own self.
Lawrence’s doubt that refugees are actually fleeing for their lives embodies native-born citizens’ skepticism toward asylum-seekers. Although Lawrence is selfish and shallow, the author uses him as an everyman, an example of a typical citizen of the developed world, reticent to share their wealth, safety, or privilege with others. Little Bee’s assurance that she would die in Nigeria suggests that refugees truly are fleeing death.
Themes
Get the entire Little Bee LitChart as a printable PDF.
Lawrence insists that he is “selfish” and a “loser.” He thinks Little Bee is nothing like her. However, Little Bee insists that she is selfish too. When Lawrence doesn’t believe her, Little Bee is is furious, because Lawrence doesn’t see her as an actual person who can cunning or selfish “like a white person.” She shouts at him but Lawrence laughs at her, so Little Bee states, “I left Sarah’s husband hanging in the air.” Little Bee realizes she’s made a mistake. She loses her anger. Lawrence grabs her by the wrist and demands that she tell him what she did.
Even when Lawrence admits that he is selfish and insists that Little Bee is a better person than him, he neglects to see her as an actual human being. Lawrence’s inability to see Little Bee as person suggests that even when someone thinks well of refugees, they can still dehumanize them by thinking of them only as refugees and not individual people in their own right.
Themes
Little Bee recounts that when she leaves the detention center, she arrives at Andrew’s house in two days. However, she does not know how to approach him, so she hides in the bushes and watches for days. Andrew is always angry, yelling at Sarah and Charlie. When he is alone he yells at himself and cries a lot. Andrew catches a glimpse of Little Bee once and thinks he is hallucinating. On the third day, while Sarah and Charlie are gone, Andrew stands in the garden and shouts for Little Bee to emerge. She does, but he thinks she is a ghost. When she touches his arm he flees into the house and closes himself in his study.
Andrew’s belief that Little Bee is only a ghost dehumanizes her much like Lawrence does, seeing her not as a person but a thing or idea. This ironically parallels Andrew’s failure to regard Little Bee as a person on the beach as well—rather than see her as a human being, Andrew decided she was “not our affair.” This tragically suggests that even after two years of guilt and self-contempt, Andrew still has not recognized his mistake or overcome his self-interest.
Themes
Through the door, Little Bee tells Andrew not to fear her—she’s just a person. She leaves and comes back later to find Andrew standing on a chair in the middle of the room, about to hang himself with a power cord. When Little Bee asks why he is doing this, Andrew replies that he’s seen the person he truly is and he can’t live with it. Little Bee tells Andrew that her sister survived too, but Andrew knows she is lying and kicks the chair out from under him. Little Bee tries to help him, but Andrew won’t let her, and he’s too heavy for her to lift out of the noose. Little Bee realizes she could call the police to help him, but they’d arrest and deport her. While she is deciding whether she should do this, she realizes it’s too late. Andrew is already dead.
Again, even in his guilt, Andrew is dominated by his own self-interest. Rather than do anything to help Little Bee, Andrew decides that he cannot live with who he’s seen himself to be and must die, with no apparent thought for what it will do to Charlie or Sarah.
Themes
In the kitchen, Little Bee tells Lawrence that her failure to save Andrew is the reason she wants to stay and help Sarah and Charlie. Lawrence is disturbed and decides he has to report Little Bee to the police, since what she did is a crime. However, Lawrence immediately realizes he can’t do that without ruining his relationship with Sarah and connecting himself to Little Bee, which would also destroy his career at the Home Office and reveal his affair to his wife. He might even go to prison. Little Bee tries to take Lawrence’s hands to make amends, but Lawrence is still furious. However, he realizes they are at an impasse, and they agree to keep each other’s secrets.
Although Little Bee just testified to her own selfishness, it pales in comparison to Lawrence’s. Lawrence’s brief conviction that he must report Little Bee’s crime to the police is instantly overridden by his desire to maintain his affair with Sarah, keep his career, and protect his marriage, which again suggests that Lawrence is not concerned with upholding the law or Sarah’s welfare, but only his own self-interest.
Themes
In the living room, Sarah asks Charlie who let him watch TV before breakfast, which is against the rules. Little Bee and Lawrence quickly compose themselves and tell Sarah they’ve just been getting to know each other. Sarah seems pleased with this and states that they’ll all need to learn to get along. While she makes Charlie breakfast, Little Bee looks at the TV in the living room. The news commentator looks like Nkiruka.
Sarah, Lawrence, and Little Bee are now all forced to make their own moral compromises to achieve their own aims, which again suggests that human beings are naturally self-interested.
Themes
