Manners and Civilization Theme Analysis

Until their arrival in England, Hortense and Gilbert believe that the “mother country” is more advanced and inherently superior to their own society in Jamaica; as colonial subjects, the best they can do is emulate British norms and hope to assimilate into British society. However, upon experiencing life in England, the Josephs realize that the vaunted civilization they’ve been taught to admire doesn’t exist, or at least is inaccessible to immigrants of color. The novel illustrates this with its often humorous focus on manners. In Jamaica, Hortense and Gilbert learned British etiquette from teachers who insisted this was the only way to become “civilized,” but in their rough and uncouth British neighborhood they discover they’re much more mannerly—and so, according to the colonial narrative, more civilized—than those around them. In fact, despite successfully crafting a narrative of their own superiority, the novel’s British characters often lack not only politeness but kindness and decency, especially in regard to people of color. Ultimately, the novel uses superficial hallmarks of advancement, like manners, to argue that a society’s preoccupation with its own civilization can undermine its fundamental humanity.

In both British and Jamaican communities, institutions and social norms promote the idea that the dominant colonial power is a civilizing influence among its backward colonies. Queenie opens her narrative with a description of visiting the British Empire Exhibition, which recreated tableaus from “every country we British owned.” The exhibition isn’t just a form of entertainment. Through essentially parodying other cultures without explaining them—an older boy, Graham, explains to Queenie that Africans aren’t “civilized” and “only understand drums”—it encourages British viewers to conclude that they are superior and deserve to exercise colonial dominion.

After generations of British rule and propaganda, Jamaican society, especially the educated echelon in which Hortense grows up, is committed to colonial ideology. Although she’s born out of wedlock to a poor mother, because of her light skin Hortense is raised by her father’s cousins, wealthy landowners whose emulation of British customs confers on them social superiority, in the eyes of others and especially their own. Educated in schools run by missionaries, Hortense learns about English history, poetry, and even the English climate rather than about her own country. She also imbibes British etiquette and even worship for British objects, regardless of their actual value. In her first appearance, Hortense remembers her friend Celia’s declaration that “in England I will have a big house with a bell at the front door.” Now Hortense gloats that Queenie’s house has a doorbell because it represents the civilization she’s been taught to admire, even though it’s irrelevant to her life and the difficulties she’ll soon encounter.

As immigrants, Gilbert and especially Hortense realize that they fulfill the etiquette that represents British civilization better than most British natives. On her first shopping trip in England, Hortense wears a trim coat and heels, and she’s astounded at the slovenly housecoats sported by the English women she’s admired from afar all her life. In contrast to Queenie’s assumption that she’s never been in a shop or seen bread before, Hortense recoils from the uncouth baker who handles her bread with his dirty bare hands. Although Hortense’s idea of civilization is predicated on imitation of the British, as far as manners and appearances go, she’s much more civilized than Queenie and her new neighbors. Episodes like this recall Queenie’s description of the British Empire Exhibition. While her teenage chaperones, Emily and Graham, amuse themselves making fun of the black actors in the Africa exhibit, one of the actors speaks to Queenie in perfect English and directs Graham to a toilet, although the boy can’t find it and has to “wee behind some bins.” Although Queenie doesn’t realize it at the time, the man she’s been taught to think of as inferior has learned his British manners better than she has.

The novel doesn’t dwell on moments like these to assert the importance of superficial etiquette. Rather, they show that besides lacking the manners they use as evidence of their advanced civilization, the British often lack the essential kindness and compassion that manners are supposed to denote, especially towards colonial immigrants. While Hortense and Gilbert initially believe that by acting as British as possible they can gain acceptance, they quickly discover that most British citizens are so convinced of their inherent superiority, they’re blind to the fact that, by conventional markers, the Josephs are more civilized than they are. This is especially true of Bernard, who interprets Gilbert’s repeated gestures of civility as impertinence, calling him a “cheeky blighter” when he tries to shake hands, and boorishly shutting the door in response. This surface rudeness underscores deeper personal flaws, like Bernard’s overwhelming arrogance, and foreshadows his future unkindness to his wife. Ultimately, Hortense and Gilbert’s experience in England exposes not only a failure of British manners, but of human kindness. By the end, they’re establishing tenuous security and happiness, but they do so by forging connections among the immigrant community, not as a result of any gesture of welcome from their hosts. If the Josephs carve out a life in England, it will be in spite of British “civilization,” not because of it.

While many of the novel’s characters devote inordinate attention to issues of etiquette, superficial manners are meaningless if they don’t correspond to deeper attributes like kindness and compassion. The novel makes light of etiquette in order to show how arbitrary it is as a metric of one society’s superiority to another. More importantly, the many failures of manners underscore the failures of the values they’re supposed to represent, and argues that regardless of the manners it does or doesn’t display, a society can’t claim to be civilized in the face of the unkindness it so casually dispenses to those who arrive on its shores as immigrants.