Small Island Characters

Queenie’s mother is a brusque woman who runs a butchery with her husband, Wilfred. Disgusted by the family business, Queenie seizes her first chance to leave the farm in order to avoid becoming a woman like her mother.

Hortense’s mother, an uneducated maid, who had Hortense with Lovell Roberts. Hortense barely remembers Alberta, who gave her to her father’s cousins (Philip and Martha Roberts) and so that she might be raised in a wealthy and educated household.

A young woman when Arthur returns home insane from World War I, Bernard’s mother ages rapidly under the stress of caring for her husband and providing for her Bernard. She dies at the age of forty-two, when Bernard is finally old enough to work.

Queenie’s baby. Scandalously, the father is Michael Roberts, not Bernard, and the baby is black. Queenie gives up baby Michael to Hortense and Gilbert so the baby can have a more stable, normal life.

An employee of Queenie’s parents. She chaperones Queenie at the British Empire Exhibition and makes fun of the people in the Africa exhibit.

An employee of Queenie’s parents. With Emily, he takes Queenie to see the Africa exhibit at the British Empire Exhibition, and informs her ignorantly that black people can’t speak or understand English.

Queenie’s elementary school teacher.

One of Queenie’s younger brothers.

One of Queenie’s younger brothers.

One of Queenie’s younger brothers, who dies of rheumatic fever in childhood.

Charles Ryder’s wife, a well-meaning but ignorant American missionary who makes no attempt to understand Jamaica’s complex society but views all the black people around her as poor and backwards. Stella has an affair with Michael Roberts, after which he has to join the RAF to escape the scandal.

Queenie’s ignorant and racist neighbor, who complains first about Cockney refugees settling in their neighborhood and later about their black tenants. Mr. Cyril Todd represents the general racism of the neighborhood.

Queenie’s neighbor, who leaves the neighborhood with her family because too many people of color have settled there after the war.

Queenie’s neighbor. During the Blitz, she’s forced to rent lodgings to a Cockney family who lost their own house, but she resents having to do so, confining them to an attic and refusing to let them use her bathrooms.

Gilbert’s mother, a resourceful woman who runs a cake-baking business to support her many children, as well as Gilbert’s father, who is an alcoholic.

Gilbert’s brother, who moves to America as a factory worker during the war.

Gilbert’s first commanding officer. All the men in the regiment despise Colonel Baxter because he refers to them condescendingly as “colony troops.”

Gilbert’s commanding officer in England.

Two black American GIs, to whom Gilbert gives a ride during one of his errands. The American are shocked at the extent to which Gilbert interacts with white soldiers in the RAF, while Gilbert is revolted by how completely segregated the Americans’ lives are.

One of Gilbert’s wartime friends, another Jamaican airman.

One of Gilbert’s wartime friends, another Jamaican airman.

One of Gilbert’s wartime friends, another Jamaican airman.

Queenie’s friend from her job at the rest center, who persuades her to let three officers stay at her house during their leave, one of whom is Michael Roberts.

Bernard’s only friend during his time as a soldier in India. A cheerful older man, Maxi takes Bernard under his wing and convinces him to go into business with him when they return to England. However, Maxi eventually dies in a fire in their barracks.

An Indian soldier with whom Bernard shares guard duty. Bernard initially likes him because he’s educated and obedient. Later, Bernard accuses him of stealing his rifle with Ashok, another Indian soldier.

An Indian soldier with whom Bernard shares guard duty. Bernard dislikes him because he speaks ironically of all the “good things” Britain has brought to India, in reality pointing out the injustice of colonial rule.

Kenneth’s landlady, who often kicks him out, forcing him to hide out in his brother Winston’s room in Queenie’s house.

A quiet German-Jewish refugee who lodges with Bernard and Queenie just before the outbreak of war. When Britain officially declares war on Germany, the government imprisons him in an internment center.

Gilbert’s partner in his post office job, an older white man who’s never convinced that Gilbert, as a foreigner, knows where he’s driving.

A young man in Bernard’s unit. Bernard despises him, partly because he has Communist leanings and helps organize the strike that results in the unit’s transfer to Calcutta, and partly because Pierpont makes fun of him and constantly gives him crude sex advice.

A white soldier in Gilbert’s RAF unit. Charlie is unintelligent and barely knows the basics of British history. While Hortense isn’t allowed to teach in England because her extensive training took place in Jamaica, Charlie gets a job after only a year of training in England.

Two members of a white British colonial family whom Hortense boards with while teaching at the Half Way Tree Parish School. Hortense is shocked at their bad manners, though Celia gets along well with them.

A white women, who seems likely to be a prostitute, who lives in the same building as Hortense and Gilbert in London.

A tenant in the same building as Hortense and Gilbert, who offers to let Hortense and Gilbert live in a rundown house he owns in exchange for helping him to fix it up. They move into the house at the end of the book.

Winston's twin brother. Kenneth is much less dependable than Winston, is always embroiled in some get-rich-quick scheme, and comes to stay with his brother often because he regularly gets kicked of his own apartment by his landlady.