Postwar Britain’s Journey To Multicultural Society—Postcolonial Melancholia And Conviviality In Andrea Levy’s Small Island

After the Second World War,Britain invited subjects in the Commonwealth nations to migrate into Britain and promised them citizenship to rebuild the country,which leads to the first massive immigration in history.And the first group of black Jamaican immigrants taken by the SS Empire Windrush in 1948 has great significance in researching Britain’s social transformation after WWII.As the fourth novel of Andrea Levy,Small Island has received great attention since its publication and won multiple prizes.And later the novel has been adapted into TV series and drama and gained continuous discussion.Based on the archetypes of Levy’s parents,the first-generation Jamaican immigrants,this novel tells stories about the mutual adaptation and influence of the Jamaican immigrants and the white Brits before and after WWII.When talking about the intention of creating Small Island,Levy points out the entry of immigration brings about a two-way influence,as not only the colored immigrants have to rethink their relationship with the mother country and identification,but also the indigenous white British is forced to change the recognition of Englishness formed under colonial control.By Paul Gilroy’s postcolonial theories as the theoretical framework,this thesis analyzes the interaction and social influence between the black Jamaican immigrants and local white Brits in Small Island.The thesis argues that after the collapse of the Empire,Britain has fallen into a kind of “postcolonial melancholia”.The cultural amnesia of colonial history leads to viewing the colored immigrants as hostile outsiders intruding their home space.In addition,the British whites are stuck in the fantasized homogeneous Englishness and refuse to face the changes in the postwar period,while in this novel there is an indication that this tendency is in decline.Only stepping out of this melancholic mood,white Brits could face the colonial history and current situation in Britain and take action.On the other side,a different “convivial culture”is in the formation and promotion with the coming of colored immigrants.This different culture is reflected in the reorientation of black immigrants’ identity,the gradual formation of the black community,and the demand and attempt for interracial communication and cohabitation.Under the joint action of the two sides,the British society after World War II moved towards a multicultural direction.