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Michael Roberts
Queenie’s aunt, who owns a candy shop in London. Through this relative, Queenie escapes the drudgery of her butchery and begins an exciting new life in the city. Aunt Dorothy encourages Queenie to marry Bernard because he’s educated and of a higher class, and can therefore provide security and respectability. However, despite her good intentions, she pushes her niece into a disastrously unfulfilling relationship.
Aunt Dorothy Quotes in Small Island
The Small Island quotes below are all either spoken by Aunt Dorothy or refer to Aunt Dorothy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 24: Queenie Quotes
“The cheeky ones,” she told me, “will be Cockneys. You’ll want nothing to do with Cockneys, they’re all jellied eels and kneesups. No, that one’s a gentleman. No spivs or ne’erdowells ever read The Times.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Aunt Dorothy Character Timeline in Small Island
The timeline below shows where the character Aunt Dorothy appears in Small Island. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 23: Queenie
...vow even when her father shouts at her. In the midst of this family turmoil, Aunt Dorothy , “Mother’s posh sister,” arrives from London and invites Queenie to come live with her.
(full context)
Chapter 24: Queenie
In London, Aunt Dorothy hires an elocution teacher to improve Queenie’s pronunciation and departure so that she can succeed...
(full context)
Aunt Dorothy ’s interest is piqued by a tall, thin man who comes to the store to...
(full context)
...vein that always moves when he eats and his habit of “dithering over change.” However, Aunt Dorothy says he’s a “gentleman” and approves of him. Queenie wonders why courting girls seem so...
(full context)
When Queenie and Bernard return to the shop that night, she finds that Aunt Dorothy has had a stroke and died on the shop floor, nearly crushing Prudence. At the...
(full context)
