تويت
Contemporary British Values
and Their Presentation in
Contemporary British Narratives
By Salim M. Ghadban سليم محمد غضبان
1- Introduction
Values, in general, affect the core of our social life. Therefore individuals, communities, or societies consider and highlight them. British subjects who share British values are considered part of British community. Other British subjects who reject them are in danger to be labeled as “extremists”. There is only little difference between key British values from one side, and European or Western ones. Queuing is an example on a common value adopted by European countries.
On 27 November 2014, the Department for Education in Britain encouraged all schools to promote “British values”. Some schools were shut down because they failed to prepare children for living in modern Britain. British Prime Minister David Cameron made it clear: ”British values are our strongest weapon.” One can understand why British values are highly sat on the government’s agenda. The issue of British values emerged in the last decade as a very important subject because of terrorism from Middle East which disseminates in many corners of the world, and starts to threaten Europe. This raises a question on whether Muslim values are incompatible with British values, although the vast majority of Muslims have denied that ISIL and ISIS have anything to do with real Islam. Chopping people’s heads off for disagreeing with them is not at all allowed in Islam. In general extremism has nothing to do with ordinary Islam Therefore, they need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism, to save themselves first, and then to save the world. British government decided to use the system of values to combat extremism.
Otherwise, British values have a history that starts from the day Magna Carta document has been signed. That what some scholars claim in spite of that Britain as a united country has been established after the Act of Union. There are so many British values to name like power, aristocracy, democracy, sport, superiority, nationality, and many others. Many values can easily change over time, but fundamental values take a long time to change.
According to Ofsted, (Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills) “fundamental British values” are:
- Democracy
- The rule of law
- Individual liberty and mutual respect
- Tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.[1]
One concentrates here on the values shown in some modern British narratives. Many Brits want to fight for human rights overseas and it is reflected in many British narratives.
Aristocracy was popular in the Victorian age and up to the Great War. It was important for the Brits to show that they are from a high-class society. Richness was a very positive value Brits were proud of. But it was not considered over aristocracy value. British values have some common things with the values of other Western and European countries. But they differ so much from the values of the Eastern or developing countries. Values usually change through time for many reasons. Actually, that is what happened with British values, especially after WWI. Therefore, when one talks about contemporary British values, one means those values that dominated in British community in the period of time from WWI and up to nowadays. Many things have changed. Britain achieved much progress in many different fields especially in technology. This change was reflected on the British way of life and on the daily conduct of the individuals. In the nineteenth century, women were usually working at home. Very few worked in industries. The social relationship between men and women, especially between husbands and wives were much different. Women rarely had sex outside marriage relationship, or before marriage. Men controlled women in one way or another. These days, if a man tries to practice the same thing he will be considered as man chauvinist. Human rights have been only declared by United Nations after WWII. Brits were proud of winning two worlds’ war and one world cup in football. That is what the British hooligans shouted once in a World Cup play when they played against Germany. Sport is a very positive value for the British. They also feel very proud of winning the two wars, although Britain became weak and lost most of its colonies after WWII. English language was disseminated in most countries of the world. It became a second language for many peoples. Many considered it as the language of business. It became very difficult for people to work without the ability to speak and write in English. Therefore, British people feel superior over others. But after WWII peoples of the world do not consider superiority so much. They agree on many common values, like democracy, equality, and the necessity of giving human rights for all individuals. After WWII many thousands of people from the previous British colonies started to immigrate to Britain. Some became British subjects. They started to claim their rights as so. Britain faced a cultural clash. Slowly it is transferred to a multicultural country with some new values.
2-Discussion:
Let us start by discussing British values in the novel War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. This is a magnificent novel narrated by a main character, which is actually a horse called Joey. The first problem one confronts here is drinking. Drinking alcohol is widespread in British community. The narrator suffers because of it. His owner abuses him every time he drinks. Let us look on what Albert tells his mother about his father.
“When father’s drunk he doesn’t know what he’s saying or what he’s doing. He’s always drunk on market days. You’ve told me often enough not to pay him any account when he’s like that.” [2]
The novel talks about a friendship between this horse and a young man, Albert, who makes miracles in order not to be separated from his horse. Love of horses is not bound to the Brits. Actually most peoples of the world share this love, taking for example Red Indians and Arabs. Arabic horses are known as full blood horses, very famous and competitive. During WWII an English soldier admires the horse Topthorn:
“”He calls his friend to look at him “Come and look at this one, Karl. Have you ever seen a finer looking animal? He has the head of an Arab””[3]
Love of horses is a human value, but not all animals are so lucky. Brits have respect to most animals. The author shows Brit’s respect for horses and the knowledge of how to make difference between their species. But the breakout of WWII made both parts deal with animals in different ways. This was an exception.
“When noble creatures such as these are forced to become beasts of burden, the world has gone mad”[4]
Other peoples are so different in dealing with different species of them. Actually, in every community, however it is civilized, one finds some people who abuse animals. Albert’s father affects his mother so she defends him and agrees on his point of view. She says to Albert:
“They never understand you. They’re stupid creatures. Obstinate and stupid, that’s what your father says, and he’s known horses all his life”[5]
But it seems that the author of this novel gives the excuse to the horse abuser, Albert’s father, because he drinks. Moreover, he is also giving him the excuse of drinking too much. Albert’s mother says:
“And it’s the mortgage that worries him sick and makes him drink.”[6]
But Albert is not contented:
“” You don’t drink Mother” Albert replied vehemently. “And you’ve got worries just like he has, and anyway if you did drink, you wouldn’t get at me as he does.””[7]
The author lets the situation change after Albert’s father holds drinking. He excuses to his horse:
“I’ve treated you bad- I’ve treated everyone bad. I know it and I’m sorry for it”[8]
Even the horse, Joey, tells Albert:
“ He stopped his Tuesday drinking sessions, looked after Mother as he used to do when I was little, and he even began to treat me right- didn’t treat me like a workhorse any more.”[9]
WWII was another subject. British proudness is clear in the novel. Just after the war is declared one sees Albert talking to his mother:
“Just because the British Lion’s sleeping they think he’s dead. We’ll teach them a thing or two, Mother- we’ll teach them a lesson they’ll never forget.”[10]
British braveness is also clear in fighting Germans. Albert, the young man, who trained the horse, shows much braveness in enrolling the war after he receives a letter which tells him that his horse has been lost in the war. The cruelty of the war makes people a little inhuman, but only to some extent. The two parts of the war are supposed to be civilized people. Therefore, when the horse Joey gets caught among barbed wires in the no man’s land, both parts participate in an action to rescue the horse. The British soldier and the German soldier who both rescue the horse, play coin toss, and the English soldier wins the horse. This shows a value that the British and Germans share as civilized people. It is fairness and justice. The French are also civilized. The French girl, Emilie, and her grandfather take good care of the two horses when they find them. Emilie deals with the horses, as they were human beings, and tries to prevent Germans from taking them.
The national proud appears clearly in this novel. Memories are encouragements for people in hard times to achieve victory. Therefore, when Albert decides to go to war, his mother gives him a scarf with claps. This national symbol is for his grandfather and father. Albert makes his best to keep the clasp safe and return it to his father after the war finishes. The value of insistence on success is clear in this novel. Albert insists on success, especially when bad weather strokes the harvest in his father’s farm, and his continuing to search for his horse after his group in a trench was attacked by gas, resulting in his temporary blindness. Brits also show solidarity when the horse should be sold by the military. Albert’s friends collect the price of the horse from each other to buy the horse in the auction, and give it free to Albert. And when the horse falls in Emilie’s grandfather hands after the auction, he does not hesitate so much in giving him the horse free after he recognizes the relationship between Albert and the horse. He does not hesitate in giving him back the clasp, the national symbol that was bound to the horse. This shows that Emilie’s grandfather knows what such a symbol means to the Brits. National music is also available in this novel. Brits use Scotch music, sac pipe music to encourage soldiers to start an attack on Germans from the trench.
Another value is clear in this novel. It is keeping promises. A number of promises have been taken by Brits’ characters. All have been kept. The author says in other words that keeping a promise is a British value. Take this quote as an example on Albert’s insistence to keep his promise for the horse:
” I’ll find him, David. That’s what I came all this way for and I’m going to find him. Either I’ll find him, or he’ll find me. I told you, I made him a promise and I’m going to keep it.”[i]
He describes his father:
“He’s a man of his word is my father, you can be sure of that”[11]
On the political plan, and after the end of WWI, Arabs got negative picture of Brits’. They failed to keep their promises to the Arabs, and deceived King Hussein of Hejaz. All Arabs were frustrated. They also accuse Britain for helping Jews in Palestine to establish a state on Palestinians’ land in 1948, which had very bad consequences that continues to exist until now. Feeling guilty is not a negative value. It should push people to mend their actions. Therefore, if Britain would behold a good repute, it should try to correct its mistakes. Britain claims that it is helping other peoples to find their way towards progress and to fight poverty. From the colonized point of view, there are many values that they appreciate other than these. This problem shows the difference between British values and others’ values. Britain was always proud of its values. It rarely listened to the colonized. That is why it lost most of its colonies.
From social perspective, the author also refers in this novel to farmers’ traditions, where they rarely sell their own things, and prefer to leave them for their families.
The story ends when Albert returns home and gives the horse and the claps back to his father. This is a story of insistence on success, and victory, a clear British value. One can see that the author has succeeded in presenting as much positive British values as possible.
The Brits have won two world wars because of their insistence on success and achievement.
Atonement is another novel by Ian McEwan, 2001 that shows many British values. Tallis’ family is very upper-class English. Richness is considered highly in this novel. But Cecilia loves Robbie in spite of his social status. This is again represents a change in British values. This was impossible for a rich family to accept it if it happened one century before. British morals appear through the behaviour of Briony when she recognizes that she was guilty when she accused Robbie of attacking Lola. The whole story concentrates on her attempt to atone her guilt.
One can notice how Brits appreciate talented people, by noticing how Briony’s family encourages her to write. Britain has long literature history. Shakespeare is the father of English literature. Through Briony’s sacrifice to atone her guilt, one gets an idea of the importance for British people to achieve justice, and the importance of innocence feeling. Briony refuses to go to study at Cambridge. She prefers to be a training nurse in London. She would take care of British soldiers wounded in the war. In this way, she does not only atone, but also shows her national feeling and her love to Britain. In the time of war, one notices that all Brits sacrifice many things for achieving victory of their land. It is very clear how the nurses in the hospital were very active in cleaning the beds very well. This is a sign of two things, the first is that Brits appreciate cleanness highly, and the second is that they exert themselves for the sake of their homeland. Cecilia self, worked as a nurse in a military hospital in London. The national spirit pushes them to defend their land.
In a part of the novel, which is not real, one sees Briony confesses to her sister and Robbie that she was guilty and faulty. But later on in the novel which is based on a real story, one knows that Robbie and Cecelia do not meet. The narrator, Briony, confesses that she has changed a part of the story to atone for her guilt, and she wanted Robbie and Cecilia to have each other. When we see the old woman Briony at the end, she appears with a big burden of guilt. She confesses her whole action and publishes the story as atonement.
Considering that Briony was only thirteen when she became guilty, one cannot but appreciate her high moral when she gets old. She understands her own and others’ behaviour and its consequences, learns the language of feeling and responsibility and how to distinguish between them. She can now distinguish right from wrong, and develop her self-knowledge, self-esteem and increase her confidence in her own abilities. The novel adds to the British values and not decreases them. One gets the feeling that Brits have high morals. Nobody is above the law. Respect for the others is highly appreciated in British society. By this, the individual acquires his self-esteem.
One notices that music was played in this novel, both on the individual plan and on the national plan when soldiers sang national songs in Dunkirk in France.
Now we inter the area of multiculturism. Discussing the novel, Brick lane, by Monica Ali, 2003, one finds Nazneen falls in love with ice-skating, which is a famous English sport. Thousands of immigrants fall in love with British values but they mean that not everything British should be praised. Nazneen is one of them. Britain is famous in the field of sport and appreciates highly this value. British football teams are very popular round the world, Chelsea, Manchester United, etc... Their sporting heroes have thousands of fans.
Chanu respects Mrs. Islam and apparently considers her as a typical Muslim woman. The narrator tells us that events show that this woman does not have ideal moral. Chanu does not encourage his wife to make contact with Brits.
““He had warned her about making friends with ”them”, as though they were a possibility. All the time they are polite. They smile. They say ”please” this and ”thank you” that. Make no mistake about it. They shake your hand with the right, and with the left they stab you in the back.””[12]
That does not sound like a fair criticism. It only shows how difficult it was for Chanu to integrate in the British community in spite of his education. British values have proved to be so powerful and useful. One hardly hear of any actions of corruption in the United Kingdom. On the other hand, most of the developing countries suffer so much of corruption on all levels. One sees millions of people have no access to education, clean water or electricity, because of the corruption of the official people in charge. Moreover, Brits do not chop people’s heads off because of their different point of view. They do not condone female circumcision or the marrying of a little girl to an old man.
On the political level, Brits are not always faithful to their values. This raises the question about the difference between theory and practice. British politicians support the most undemocratic and dictatorial regimes across the developing world. They are accused of having a double standard of morality, especially regarding tackling Palestinian problem. They have long been complicit in Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people, funding Israel’s war crimes, and the ground invasion that took place on the Gaza strip in 2014. More than 1’000 Palestinian died in that invasion. Instead of helping Israel, it should be subjected to intense international pressure. United Nations fails to do that. In brief, Brits should not find themselves in conflict with their own good values. They have to stick to these if they want the others to follow them.
Many foreigners, when they cannot cope with British values, they take decisions for their wives thinking that they protect them against moral corruption. Men feel that it is their duty to do so according to their religion or their old way of living. Chanu wants to take the family back to Bangladesh, his homeland, because it is a man dominated country’ where a women who fails to comply her husband can face bad consequences. Man feels that he is not obliged to find the time to discuss the implications of his wife’s choices. But in Britain, Chanu wants to choose which British values his family can adopt, and which of them the family should reject. Some thinkers mean that British values can face partial failure if they meant to be implemented on all communities in Britain. The reader finds out that Nazneen does not want her husband to turn her down, while she is looking for a better future for the family. Anyway, these types of immigrants are luckier than nowadays some types of asylum seekers that find it too difficult for them to cope with values which are different from their religious ones or their traditions.
Extremism nowadays is very common in the Middle East. Many countries suffer so much of the atrocities perpetuated by what is called “The Islamic State (ISIL / ISIS). One witnesses a war on values. When IS destroys old cultural heritages’ sites, it declares war on values that contradicts with its own values leaving no place for differentiation. Hundreds of thousands of refugees are fleeing war zones. But sometimes, the reason for leaving their homelands and communities could be falling in love with British values. Therefore, sending some asylum seekers back to die in their original countries is not a simple matter. It is not like a cat killing a rat. It is unmoral.
After the end of colonization, thousands from the developing countries started to immigrate to Great Britain. It was legal, and most of them became British subjects. Britain is a country with money and resources. It acted as a magnet for these immigrants. But it was not difficult for it to tackle this problem. Nowadays, the United Kingdom is facing enormous challenge. The problem now is how to spend these resources while the number of refugees and immigrants starts to surpass the ability of the government to contain them. Situation has deteriorated dramatically after what is falsely called “The Arabic Spring”. Since its start, Europe has been struggling to cope with the surge of refugees and immigrants entering its territories. Nowadays’ refugees’ crises is not found in the narratives discussed in this paper, as there are written through decades ago. Many future narratives are expected to deal with this problem.
Anyway, the fact that hundreds thousands of immigrants from different cultures became British subjects created cultural clash in British society. Many of these are fundamentalists. This is apparent in this novel. But using racism to fight fundamentalism is not a wise middle, because it creates more enemies for Britain than she already has. Immigrants should be allowed to contribute to society. One should consider them as an element of development to the economy of the country. The curtailment of liberty is not useful. It is not the time for British nationalists to carry the cudgels for their country. Terrorists’ ideologies are not expected to have currency in our modern world.
Nazneen loves her educated man but only in the beginning. Later on, she hates his way of living and hates him, but her religion and traditions do not allow her to leave him. Moreover, the traditions of her society do not encourage women to educate themselves. Families do not like their daughters to surpass their brothers. Even when she has an affair with another Muslim man she does not marry him. Although Chanu advises her not to have any contact with the British, she actually admires the British values but not dare to say so much. She is hanging between two cultures and unable to decide. When her husband is tired of the British culture, he decides that he will take his family and leave to Bangladesh. This was the break point for Nazneen. She refuses to leave, and she keeps her daughters with her. The story ends with this sentence: ““Razia was already lacing her boots, “This is England” she said. You can do whatever you like.”” P. 492. So Nazneen shifts to the English culture, she is now practicing ice-skating, an English sport.
The sense of luxury and technology is present in this novel. The narrator lets us know what is happening inside Nazneen’s mind when her husband thinks of taking the family back to live in Bangladesh to avoid moral corruption.
“When she thought about Couripur now, she thought about inconvenience. To live without a flushing toilet, to abandon her two sinks (kitchen and bathroom), to make a fire for the oven instead of turning a knob - would these be trades worth making? She tried to imagine Chanu, marching off to the latrine with a heavy book in his hand. He liked to read, sometimes for half an hour or more, while sitting on the toilet. The flies would see him off the latrine.”[13]
When radio, television, and many other electronic things become popular, because of the progress Britain has achieved, Chanu sends brand new technologic sets to his relatives in Bangladesh.
In the novel, the cultural clash between Brits and foreigners causes the establishing of many extremist groups on both sides. Having another faith or different opinion can be unpleasant. But unpleasantness is not a crime. We are free to have different opinions. Children in schools should learn to respect the other cultures; know about similarities and differences between themselves and others. What is strongly needed is a sense of accepting each other to avoid any clashes. That can only be achieved by having tolerance and respect to the different cultural traditions. The golden piece of advice in this matter is, treat others as you want to be treated. Religion fundamentalism plays a dangerous role in setting people against each other. Many Brits start to feel not free in their homeland. One can attribute positively to the peace between communities by bearing a mission on our shoulders. That is to encourage everybody to accept responsibility for their behaviour. All modern societies are democratic ones. Fighting against democracy, prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour are not acceptable in any democratic society. Our mission is to identify and combat these actions. Recently, some schools were closed by British government for undermining British law and values. Teaching children not only British values, but also human values, is important to prevent youths from joining the jihadist groups. Avoiding pork is not a British value, but letting people eat what they like to, is a human value.
Although Chanu shows some resentment against some British values, he does not hesitate in praising others. English literature is an example. “Yes, even a girl from Gouripur has heard of Shakespeare.”[14] He starts to drink alcohol giving himself the excuse that he should adapt with British society. He explains his point of view to his wife:
”it’s part of the culture her. It’s so ingrained in the fabric of society. Back home, if you drink you risk being an outcast. In London if you don’t drink you risk the same thing.”[15]
In this novel, one has to choose the best culture for him/her to follow, if s/he does not want to face a cultural clash. And the best culture for some is the English one. The meaning is that many societies have stereotypes in terms of gender, cultural and racial activities that do not suite any democratic society. These should be challenged, and different attitudes should be promoted. In this way British values and culture were presented to the reader. It shows British superiority.
Chanu’s relationship with his daughters has three faces:
1- The cultural clash with the British society.
2- The clash of generations.
3- The discrimination against women.
Chanu explains to his friend:
“I’m talking about the clash between Western values and our own. I’m talking about the struggle to assimilate and the need to preserve one’s identity and heritage. I’m talking about children who do not know what their identity is. I’m talking about the feelings of alienation engendered by a society where racism is prevalent. I’m talking about the terrific struggle to preserve one’s sanity while striving to achieve the best for one’s family. I’m talking_”[16]
One can give many examples on the differences between British culture and Muslim one. One of these is when the baby of the family became very sick, it took British doctors a long time and hard job to cure him and not let him die. But the family did not recognize this. Instead, they considered it as only an action of God. “It was God alone who saved the baby,” P, 130, ls.21-22. Another example is about the ignorance of some foreigners, when Chanu could not tackle a British invented machine “However Chanu coaxed and cajoled it, the machine never gave up its mystery. He could never get it to work.” P. 318, ls. 12-14.
Finally, immigration caused Britain big problems. But immigrants also faced huge problems trying to adapt themselves to the new society and its new culture. We saw what happened with Chanu in the novel “Brick Lane”. He was obliged to leave Britain after many years of staying, because he could not adapt himself to British culture and values. He could neither quit his original culture. One can understand that it is difficult for an immigrant to spend all his life hanging between two cultures. The problem continues to exist through the next generation when one has children. British values can be good but they do not necessarily suit immigrants, because immigrants will lose their identity if they adapt them. Chanu chooses a peaceful way to solve his problem although it is very hard. On the other hand, Nazneen could make an incredible performance; she could self-decide her family’s fate. Nobody now can enjoy making decisions for her. Others, because of the segregation of women will continue to suffer.
London fields, by Martin Amis, 1989 is telling a murder story that has not happened yet. What we should deal with here, is not the events as a whole, but the British values presented.
This is a story that presents sport, in general, and especially darts, as a British value that extends long ago in British history. Once, Keith reads the dart’s discipline and stops at this important statement:
“Whilst darts is basically a twentieth century sport, darts go way back into the English folk Heritage. Those famed English archers are said to have played a form of darts prior to defeating the French at the proverbial Battle of Agincourt In 1415.”[ii]
The narrator says that Keith is very good at darts, but he is no better at darts than practically everyone else in England. He means that darts is a part of the British culture, and that darts is what the Brits do best, in the afterglow of empire.
This shows the importance of this play, as a kind of British sport. It is only shown as this by a negative character, Keith who participates in many national competitions and achieves an advanced position.
Describing how Keith is fond of darts the narrator says:
“He threw himself into his darts. Darts was in his blood (his only patrimony, except for the darts itself and the Ronson cigarette lighter). The darts in his blood coursed through him, feeding his darts brain.”[iii]
Ronson lighter here is also a symbol for quality, which is also a British value. Brits demand always the best quality for everything because they are not poor and England is a famous industry land. Most countries of the world race for technological progress. It becomes a national value, and all countries are proud of it. Britain is one of the preceding lands in the field of technology and it has not the intention to lose its preceding position. In one word, it is better for all to adapt themselves to the new technologies.
On the next page and in the middle we find the following about the history of darts:
“Those Pilgrim Fathers are said to have thrown darts while sailing to America in 1620 on the so-called Mayflower.”
During reading this novel, one sees clearly that the author concentrates on this sport to show how the British are fond of it. It is inserted in the story with intention. Other sorts of sport were also mentioned. The insistence on mentioning the history of darts in Britain is clear on page 396, where the whole page almost is on this subject. One wonders if the aim of this novel is to show the importance of this British value, darts or sport in general, for the Brits.
3-Conclusion
British values are many and different in importance. These have been changed through time. In every period, one sees most people want the change, but some others stand against it. Some British values are hard to change. They are in the unconscious of the British people. Other values are more fluidly. These change according to time and up to the taste of the Brits. Britain shares many values with America and Europe, but only few ones with the developing world. Otherwise there are some common values that Muslims share with the Brits and the whole of humanity such as giving charity, looking after the elderly, sick and needy.
British contemporary narratives succeeded many times in giving a good picture about British values. Other times they failed. In some cases, they represented some of these values as negative ones. This can be understood after the wave of immigrants to Britain some decades ago, and which continued more or less up to our time. British positive characters in contemporary British narratives seem more contently than the negative ones. Comparing Britain with most countries of the world one finds it more stable, more peaceful and a better place to live.
Core British values are a good middle to combat terrorism. Therefore, one must not allow extremists to undermine them. To open debate, and not try to curb it and promote animosity, is the wisest thing one can do to keep Great Britain great, taking in consideration that nobody should be over the law. All people should be taught to live together peacefully, as our world is transferring rapidly to become multicultural. Therefore, human values should always be promoted. If immigrants have to behold British values they must be given freedom to speak out and to stand up against attacks on their rights. Freedom to hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in British law. Britain is still one of the best countries, which one can live in freely and in democracy.
Bibliography
- Ali Monica, Brick Lane (2013)
- Amis Martin, London Fields (1989)
- [1] http://www.doingsmsc.org.uk7/british-values/
- McEwan Ian, Atonement (2001)
- Morpurgo, Michael Warhorse (1982)
-
and Their Presentation in
Contemporary British Narratives
By Salim M. Ghadban سليم محمد غضبان
1- Introduction
Values, in general, affect the core of our social life. Therefore individuals, communities, or societies consider and highlight them. British subjects who share British values are considered part of British community. Other British subjects who reject them are in danger to be labeled as “extremists”. There is only little difference between key British values from one side, and European or Western ones. Queuing is an example on a common value adopted by European countries.
On 27 November 2014, the Department for Education in Britain encouraged all schools to promote “British values”. Some schools were shut down because they failed to prepare children for living in modern Britain. British Prime Minister David Cameron made it clear: ”British values are our strongest weapon.” One can understand why British values are highly sat on the government’s agenda. The issue of British values emerged in the last decade as a very important subject because of terrorism from Middle East which disseminates in many corners of the world, and starts to threaten Europe. This raises a question on whether Muslim values are incompatible with British values, although the vast majority of Muslims have denied that ISIL and ISIS have anything to do with real Islam. Chopping people’s heads off for disagreeing with them is not at all allowed in Islam. In general extremism has nothing to do with ordinary Islam Therefore, they need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism, to save themselves first, and then to save the world. British government decided to use the system of values to combat extremism.
Otherwise, British values have a history that starts from the day Magna Carta document has been signed. That what some scholars claim in spite of that Britain as a united country has been established after the Act of Union. There are so many British values to name like power, aristocracy, democracy, sport, superiority, nationality, and many others. Many values can easily change over time, but fundamental values take a long time to change.
According to Ofsted, (Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills) “fundamental British values” are:
- Democracy
- The rule of law
- Individual liberty and mutual respect
- Tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.[1]
One concentrates here on the values shown in some modern British narratives. Many Brits want to fight for human rights overseas and it is reflected in many British narratives.
Aristocracy was popular in the Victorian age and up to the Great War. It was important for the Brits to show that they are from a high-class society. Richness was a very positive value Brits were proud of. But it was not considered over aristocracy value. British values have some common things with the values of other Western and European countries. But they differ so much from the values of the Eastern or developing countries. Values usually change through time for many reasons. Actually, that is what happened with British values, especially after WWI. Therefore, when one talks about contemporary British values, one means those values that dominated in British community in the period of time from WWI and up to nowadays. Many things have changed. Britain achieved much progress in many different fields especially in technology. This change was reflected on the British way of life and on the daily conduct of the individuals. In the nineteenth century, women were usually working at home. Very few worked in industries. The social relationship between men and women, especially between husbands and wives were much different. Women rarely had sex outside marriage relationship, or before marriage. Men controlled women in one way or another. These days, if a man tries to practice the same thing he will be considered as man chauvinist. Human rights have been only declared by United Nations after WWII. Brits were proud of winning two worlds’ war and one world cup in football. That is what the British hooligans shouted once in a World Cup play when they played against Germany. Sport is a very positive value for the British. They also feel very proud of winning the two wars, although Britain became weak and lost most of its colonies after WWII. English language was disseminated in most countries of the world. It became a second language for many peoples. Many considered it as the language of business. It became very difficult for people to work without the ability to speak and write in English. Therefore, British people feel superior over others. But after WWII peoples of the world do not consider superiority so much. They agree on many common values, like democracy, equality, and the necessity of giving human rights for all individuals. After WWII many thousands of people from the previous British colonies started to immigrate to Britain. Some became British subjects. They started to claim their rights as so. Britain faced a cultural clash. Slowly it is transferred to a multicultural country with some new values.
2-Discussion:
Let us start by discussing British values in the novel War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. This is a magnificent novel narrated by a main character, which is actually a horse called Joey. The first problem one confronts here is drinking. Drinking alcohol is widespread in British community. The narrator suffers because of it. His owner abuses him every time he drinks. Let us look on what Albert tells his mother about his father.
“When father’s drunk he doesn’t know what he’s saying or what he’s doing. He’s always drunk on market days. You’ve told me often enough not to pay him any account when he’s like that.” [2]
The novel talks about a friendship between this horse and a young man, Albert, who makes miracles in order not to be separated from his horse. Love of horses is not bound to the Brits. Actually most peoples of the world share this love, taking for example Red Indians and Arabs. Arabic horses are known as full blood horses, very famous and competitive. During WWII an English soldier admires the horse Topthorn:
“”He calls his friend to look at him “Come and look at this one, Karl. Have you ever seen a finer looking animal? He has the head of an Arab””[3]
Love of horses is a human value, but not all animals are so lucky. Brits have respect to most animals. The author shows Brit’s respect for horses and the knowledge of how to make difference between their species. But the breakout of WWII made both parts deal with animals in different ways. This was an exception.
“When noble creatures such as these are forced to become beasts of burden, the world has gone mad”[4]
Other peoples are so different in dealing with different species of them. Actually, in every community, however it is civilized, one finds some people who abuse animals. Albert’s father affects his mother so she defends him and agrees on his point of view. She says to Albert:
“They never understand you. They’re stupid creatures. Obstinate and stupid, that’s what your father says, and he’s known horses all his life”[5]
But it seems that the author of this novel gives the excuse to the horse abuser, Albert’s father, because he drinks. Moreover, he is also giving him the excuse of drinking too much. Albert’s mother says:
“And it’s the mortgage that worries him sick and makes him drink.”[6]
But Albert is not contented:
“” You don’t drink Mother” Albert replied vehemently. “And you’ve got worries just like he has, and anyway if you did drink, you wouldn’t get at me as he does.””[7]
The author lets the situation change after Albert’s father holds drinking. He excuses to his horse:
“I’ve treated you bad- I’ve treated everyone bad. I know it and I’m sorry for it”[8]
Even the horse, Joey, tells Albert:
“ He stopped his Tuesday drinking sessions, looked after Mother as he used to do when I was little, and he even began to treat me right- didn’t treat me like a workhorse any more.”[9]
WWII was another subject. British proudness is clear in the novel. Just after the war is declared one sees Albert talking to his mother:
“Just because the British Lion’s sleeping they think he’s dead. We’ll teach them a thing or two, Mother- we’ll teach them a lesson they’ll never forget.”[10]
British braveness is also clear in fighting Germans. Albert, the young man, who trained the horse, shows much braveness in enrolling the war after he receives a letter which tells him that his horse has been lost in the war. The cruelty of the war makes people a little inhuman, but only to some extent. The two parts of the war are supposed to be civilized people. Therefore, when the horse Joey gets caught among barbed wires in the no man’s land, both parts participate in an action to rescue the horse. The British soldier and the German soldier who both rescue the horse, play coin toss, and the English soldier wins the horse. This shows a value that the British and Germans share as civilized people. It is fairness and justice. The French are also civilized. The French girl, Emilie, and her grandfather take good care of the two horses when they find them. Emilie deals with the horses, as they were human beings, and tries to prevent Germans from taking them.
The national proud appears clearly in this novel. Memories are encouragements for people in hard times to achieve victory. Therefore, when Albert decides to go to war, his mother gives him a scarf with claps. This national symbol is for his grandfather and father. Albert makes his best to keep the clasp safe and return it to his father after the war finishes. The value of insistence on success is clear in this novel. Albert insists on success, especially when bad weather strokes the harvest in his father’s farm, and his continuing to search for his horse after his group in a trench was attacked by gas, resulting in his temporary blindness. Brits also show solidarity when the horse should be sold by the military. Albert’s friends collect the price of the horse from each other to buy the horse in the auction, and give it free to Albert. And when the horse falls in Emilie’s grandfather hands after the auction, he does not hesitate so much in giving him the horse free after he recognizes the relationship between Albert and the horse. He does not hesitate in giving him back the clasp, the national symbol that was bound to the horse. This shows that Emilie’s grandfather knows what such a symbol means to the Brits. National music is also available in this novel. Brits use Scotch music, sac pipe music to encourage soldiers to start an attack on Germans from the trench.
Another value is clear in this novel. It is keeping promises. A number of promises have been taken by Brits’ characters. All have been kept. The author says in other words that keeping a promise is a British value. Take this quote as an example on Albert’s insistence to keep his promise for the horse:
” I’ll find him, David. That’s what I came all this way for and I’m going to find him. Either I’ll find him, or he’ll find me. I told you, I made him a promise and I’m going to keep it.”[i]
He describes his father:
“He’s a man of his word is my father, you can be sure of that”[11]
On the political plan, and after the end of WWI, Arabs got negative picture of Brits’. They failed to keep their promises to the Arabs, and deceived King Hussein of Hejaz. All Arabs were frustrated. They also accuse Britain for helping Jews in Palestine to establish a state on Palestinians’ land in 1948, which had very bad consequences that continues to exist until now. Feeling guilty is not a negative value. It should push people to mend their actions. Therefore, if Britain would behold a good repute, it should try to correct its mistakes. Britain claims that it is helping other peoples to find their way towards progress and to fight poverty. From the colonized point of view, there are many values that they appreciate other than these. This problem shows the difference between British values and others’ values. Britain was always proud of its values. It rarely listened to the colonized. That is why it lost most of its colonies.
From social perspective, the author also refers in this novel to farmers’ traditions, where they rarely sell their own things, and prefer to leave them for their families.
The story ends when Albert returns home and gives the horse and the claps back to his father. This is a story of insistence on success, and victory, a clear British value. One can see that the author has succeeded in presenting as much positive British values as possible.
The Brits have won two world wars because of their insistence on success and achievement.
Atonement is another novel by Ian McEwan, 2001 that shows many British values. Tallis’ family is very upper-class English. Richness is considered highly in this novel. But Cecilia loves Robbie in spite of his social status. This is again represents a change in British values. This was impossible for a rich family to accept it if it happened one century before. British morals appear through the behaviour of Briony when she recognizes that she was guilty when she accused Robbie of attacking Lola. The whole story concentrates on her attempt to atone her guilt.
One can notice how Brits appreciate talented people, by noticing how Briony’s family encourages her to write. Britain has long literature history. Shakespeare is the father of English literature. Through Briony’s sacrifice to atone her guilt, one gets an idea of the importance for British people to achieve justice, and the importance of innocence feeling. Briony refuses to go to study at Cambridge. She prefers to be a training nurse in London. She would take care of British soldiers wounded in the war. In this way, she does not only atone, but also shows her national feeling and her love to Britain. In the time of war, one notices that all Brits sacrifice many things for achieving victory of their land. It is very clear how the nurses in the hospital were very active in cleaning the beds very well. This is a sign of two things, the first is that Brits appreciate cleanness highly, and the second is that they exert themselves for the sake of their homeland. Cecilia self, worked as a nurse in a military hospital in London. The national spirit pushes them to defend their land.
In a part of the novel, which is not real, one sees Briony confesses to her sister and Robbie that she was guilty and faulty. But later on in the novel which is based on a real story, one knows that Robbie and Cecelia do not meet. The narrator, Briony, confesses that she has changed a part of the story to atone for her guilt, and she wanted Robbie and Cecilia to have each other. When we see the old woman Briony at the end, she appears with a big burden of guilt. She confesses her whole action and publishes the story as atonement.
Considering that Briony was only thirteen when she became guilty, one cannot but appreciate her high moral when she gets old. She understands her own and others’ behaviour and its consequences, learns the language of feeling and responsibility and how to distinguish between them. She can now distinguish right from wrong, and develop her self-knowledge, self-esteem and increase her confidence in her own abilities. The novel adds to the British values and not decreases them. One gets the feeling that Brits have high morals. Nobody is above the law. Respect for the others is highly appreciated in British society. By this, the individual acquires his self-esteem.
One notices that music was played in this novel, both on the individual plan and on the national plan when soldiers sang national songs in Dunkirk in France.
Now we inter the area of multiculturism. Discussing the novel, Brick lane, by Monica Ali, 2003, one finds Nazneen falls in love with ice-skating, which is a famous English sport. Thousands of immigrants fall in love with British values but they mean that not everything British should be praised. Nazneen is one of them. Britain is famous in the field of sport and appreciates highly this value. British football teams are very popular round the world, Chelsea, Manchester United, etc... Their sporting heroes have thousands of fans.
Chanu respects Mrs. Islam and apparently considers her as a typical Muslim woman. The narrator tells us that events show that this woman does not have ideal moral. Chanu does not encourage his wife to make contact with Brits.
““He had warned her about making friends with ”them”, as though they were a possibility. All the time they are polite. They smile. They say ”please” this and ”thank you” that. Make no mistake about it. They shake your hand with the right, and with the left they stab you in the back.””[12]
That does not sound like a fair criticism. It only shows how difficult it was for Chanu to integrate in the British community in spite of his education. British values have proved to be so powerful and useful. One hardly hear of any actions of corruption in the United Kingdom. On the other hand, most of the developing countries suffer so much of corruption on all levels. One sees millions of people have no access to education, clean water or electricity, because of the corruption of the official people in charge. Moreover, Brits do not chop people’s heads off because of their different point of view. They do not condone female circumcision or the marrying of a little girl to an old man.
On the political level, Brits are not always faithful to their values. This raises the question about the difference between theory and practice. British politicians support the most undemocratic and dictatorial regimes across the developing world. They are accused of having a double standard of morality, especially regarding tackling Palestinian problem. They have long been complicit in Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people, funding Israel’s war crimes, and the ground invasion that took place on the Gaza strip in 2014. More than 1’000 Palestinian died in that invasion. Instead of helping Israel, it should be subjected to intense international pressure. United Nations fails to do that. In brief, Brits should not find themselves in conflict with their own good values. They have to stick to these if they want the others to follow them.
Many foreigners, when they cannot cope with British values, they take decisions for their wives thinking that they protect them against moral corruption. Men feel that it is their duty to do so according to their religion or their old way of living. Chanu wants to take the family back to Bangladesh, his homeland, because it is a man dominated country’ where a women who fails to comply her husband can face bad consequences. Man feels that he is not obliged to find the time to discuss the implications of his wife’s choices. But in Britain, Chanu wants to choose which British values his family can adopt, and which of them the family should reject. Some thinkers mean that British values can face partial failure if they meant to be implemented on all communities in Britain. The reader finds out that Nazneen does not want her husband to turn her down, while she is looking for a better future for the family. Anyway, these types of immigrants are luckier than nowadays some types of asylum seekers that find it too difficult for them to cope with values which are different from their religious ones or their traditions.
Extremism nowadays is very common in the Middle East. Many countries suffer so much of the atrocities perpetuated by what is called “The Islamic State (ISIL / ISIS). One witnesses a war on values. When IS destroys old cultural heritages’ sites, it declares war on values that contradicts with its own values leaving no place for differentiation. Hundreds of thousands of refugees are fleeing war zones. But sometimes, the reason for leaving their homelands and communities could be falling in love with British values. Therefore, sending some asylum seekers back to die in their original countries is not a simple matter. It is not like a cat killing a rat. It is unmoral.
After the end of colonization, thousands from the developing countries started to immigrate to Great Britain. It was legal, and most of them became British subjects. Britain is a country with money and resources. It acted as a magnet for these immigrants. But it was not difficult for it to tackle this problem. Nowadays, the United Kingdom is facing enormous challenge. The problem now is how to spend these resources while the number of refugees and immigrants starts to surpass the ability of the government to contain them. Situation has deteriorated dramatically after what is falsely called “The Arabic Spring”. Since its start, Europe has been struggling to cope with the surge of refugees and immigrants entering its territories. Nowadays’ refugees’ crises is not found in the narratives discussed in this paper, as there are written through decades ago. Many future narratives are expected to deal with this problem.
Anyway, the fact that hundreds thousands of immigrants from different cultures became British subjects created cultural clash in British society. Many of these are fundamentalists. This is apparent in this novel. But using racism to fight fundamentalism is not a wise middle, because it creates more enemies for Britain than she already has. Immigrants should be allowed to contribute to society. One should consider them as an element of development to the economy of the country. The curtailment of liberty is not useful. It is not the time for British nationalists to carry the cudgels for their country. Terrorists’ ideologies are not expected to have currency in our modern world.
Nazneen loves her educated man but only in the beginning. Later on, she hates his way of living and hates him, but her religion and traditions do not allow her to leave him. Moreover, the traditions of her society do not encourage women to educate themselves. Families do not like their daughters to surpass their brothers. Even when she has an affair with another Muslim man she does not marry him. Although Chanu advises her not to have any contact with the British, she actually admires the British values but not dare to say so much. She is hanging between two cultures and unable to decide. When her husband is tired of the British culture, he decides that he will take his family and leave to Bangladesh. This was the break point for Nazneen. She refuses to leave, and she keeps her daughters with her. The story ends with this sentence: ““Razia was already lacing her boots, “This is England” she said. You can do whatever you like.”” P. 492. So Nazneen shifts to the English culture, she is now practicing ice-skating, an English sport.
The sense of luxury and technology is present in this novel. The narrator lets us know what is happening inside Nazneen’s mind when her husband thinks of taking the family back to live in Bangladesh to avoid moral corruption.
“When she thought about Couripur now, she thought about inconvenience. To live without a flushing toilet, to abandon her two sinks (kitchen and bathroom), to make a fire for the oven instead of turning a knob - would these be trades worth making? She tried to imagine Chanu, marching off to the latrine with a heavy book in his hand. He liked to read, sometimes for half an hour or more, while sitting on the toilet. The flies would see him off the latrine.”[13]
When radio, television, and many other electronic things become popular, because of the progress Britain has achieved, Chanu sends brand new technologic sets to his relatives in Bangladesh.
In the novel, the cultural clash between Brits and foreigners causes the establishing of many extremist groups on both sides. Having another faith or different opinion can be unpleasant. But unpleasantness is not a crime. We are free to have different opinions. Children in schools should learn to respect the other cultures; know about similarities and differences between themselves and others. What is strongly needed is a sense of accepting each other to avoid any clashes. That can only be achieved by having tolerance and respect to the different cultural traditions. The golden piece of advice in this matter is, treat others as you want to be treated. Religion fundamentalism plays a dangerous role in setting people against each other. Many Brits start to feel not free in their homeland. One can attribute positively to the peace between communities by bearing a mission on our shoulders. That is to encourage everybody to accept responsibility for their behaviour. All modern societies are democratic ones. Fighting against democracy, prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour are not acceptable in any democratic society. Our mission is to identify and combat these actions. Recently, some schools were closed by British government for undermining British law and values. Teaching children not only British values, but also human values, is important to prevent youths from joining the jihadist groups. Avoiding pork is not a British value, but letting people eat what they like to, is a human value.
Although Chanu shows some resentment against some British values, he does not hesitate in praising others. English literature is an example. “Yes, even a girl from Gouripur has heard of Shakespeare.”[14] He starts to drink alcohol giving himself the excuse that he should adapt with British society. He explains his point of view to his wife:
”it’s part of the culture her. It’s so ingrained in the fabric of society. Back home, if you drink you risk being an outcast. In London if you don’t drink you risk the same thing.”[15]
In this novel, one has to choose the best culture for him/her to follow, if s/he does not want to face a cultural clash. And the best culture for some is the English one. The meaning is that many societies have stereotypes in terms of gender, cultural and racial activities that do not suite any democratic society. These should be challenged, and different attitudes should be promoted. In this way British values and culture were presented to the reader. It shows British superiority.
Chanu’s relationship with his daughters has three faces:
1- The cultural clash with the British society.
2- The clash of generations.
3- The discrimination against women.
Chanu explains to his friend:
“I’m talking about the clash between Western values and our own. I’m talking about the struggle to assimilate and the need to preserve one’s identity and heritage. I’m talking about children who do not know what their identity is. I’m talking about the feelings of alienation engendered by a society where racism is prevalent. I’m talking about the terrific struggle to preserve one’s sanity while striving to achieve the best for one’s family. I’m talking_”[16]
One can give many examples on the differences between British culture and Muslim one. One of these is when the baby of the family became very sick, it took British doctors a long time and hard job to cure him and not let him die. But the family did not recognize this. Instead, they considered it as only an action of God. “It was God alone who saved the baby,” P, 130, ls.21-22. Another example is about the ignorance of some foreigners, when Chanu could not tackle a British invented machine “However Chanu coaxed and cajoled it, the machine never gave up its mystery. He could never get it to work.” P. 318, ls. 12-14.
Finally, immigration caused Britain big problems. But immigrants also faced huge problems trying to adapt themselves to the new society and its new culture. We saw what happened with Chanu in the novel “Brick Lane”. He was obliged to leave Britain after many years of staying, because he could not adapt himself to British culture and values. He could neither quit his original culture. One can understand that it is difficult for an immigrant to spend all his life hanging between two cultures. The problem continues to exist through the next generation when one has children. British values can be good but they do not necessarily suit immigrants, because immigrants will lose their identity if they adapt them. Chanu chooses a peaceful way to solve his problem although it is very hard. On the other hand, Nazneen could make an incredible performance; she could self-decide her family’s fate. Nobody now can enjoy making decisions for her. Others, because of the segregation of women will continue to suffer.
London fields, by Martin Amis, 1989 is telling a murder story that has not happened yet. What we should deal with here, is not the events as a whole, but the British values presented.
This is a story that presents sport, in general, and especially darts, as a British value that extends long ago in British history. Once, Keith reads the dart’s discipline and stops at this important statement:
“Whilst darts is basically a twentieth century sport, darts go way back into the English folk Heritage. Those famed English archers are said to have played a form of darts prior to defeating the French at the proverbial Battle of Agincourt In 1415.”[ii]
The narrator says that Keith is very good at darts, but he is no better at darts than practically everyone else in England. He means that darts is a part of the British culture, and that darts is what the Brits do best, in the afterglow of empire.
This shows the importance of this play, as a kind of British sport. It is only shown as this by a negative character, Keith who participates in many national competitions and achieves an advanced position.
Describing how Keith is fond of darts the narrator says:
“He threw himself into his darts. Darts was in his blood (his only patrimony, except for the darts itself and the Ronson cigarette lighter). The darts in his blood coursed through him, feeding his darts brain.”[iii]
Ronson lighter here is also a symbol for quality, which is also a British value. Brits demand always the best quality for everything because they are not poor and England is a famous industry land. Most countries of the world race for technological progress. It becomes a national value, and all countries are proud of it. Britain is one of the preceding lands in the field of technology and it has not the intention to lose its preceding position. In one word, it is better for all to adapt themselves to the new technologies.
On the next page and in the middle we find the following about the history of darts:
“Those Pilgrim Fathers are said to have thrown darts while sailing to America in 1620 on the so-called Mayflower.”
During reading this novel, one sees clearly that the author concentrates on this sport to show how the British are fond of it. It is inserted in the story with intention. Other sorts of sport were also mentioned. The insistence on mentioning the history of darts in Britain is clear on page 396, where the whole page almost is on this subject. One wonders if the aim of this novel is to show the importance of this British value, darts or sport in general, for the Brits.
3-Conclusion
British values are many and different in importance. These have been changed through time. In every period, one sees most people want the change, but some others stand against it. Some British values are hard to change. They are in the unconscious of the British people. Other values are more fluidly. These change according to time and up to the taste of the Brits. Britain shares many values with America and Europe, but only few ones with the developing world. Otherwise there are some common values that Muslims share with the Brits and the whole of humanity such as giving charity, looking after the elderly, sick and needy.
British contemporary narratives succeeded many times in giving a good picture about British values. Other times they failed. In some cases, they represented some of these values as negative ones. This can be understood after the wave of immigrants to Britain some decades ago, and which continued more or less up to our time. British positive characters in contemporary British narratives seem more contently than the negative ones. Comparing Britain with most countries of the world one finds it more stable, more peaceful and a better place to live.
Core British values are a good middle to combat terrorism. Therefore, one must not allow extremists to undermine them. To open debate, and not try to curb it and promote animosity, is the wisest thing one can do to keep Great Britain great, taking in consideration that nobody should be over the law. All people should be taught to live together peacefully, as our world is transferring rapidly to become multicultural. Therefore, human values should always be promoted. If immigrants have to behold British values they must be given freedom to speak out and to stand up against attacks on their rights. Freedom to hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in British law. Britain is still one of the best countries, which one can live in freely and in democracy.
Bibliography
- Ali Monica, Brick Lane (2013)
- Amis Martin, London Fields (1989)
- [1] http://www.doingsmsc.org.uk7/british-values/
- McEwan Ian, Atonement (2001)
- Morpurgo, Michael Warhorse (1982)
-
[1] http://www.doingsmsc.org.uk7/british-values/ P.2 Ls. 9-13
[2] Morpurgo, P. 7, ls. 8-11
[3] Morpurgo, p. 112, ls 2-4.
[4] Morpurgo, p, 74, ls. 4-6
[5] Morpurgo, P. 9, ls. 16-19
[6] Morpurgo P. 23, ls. 5-6
[7] Morpurgo, P. 23, ls. 17-19
[8] Morpurgo, p. 31, l. 24
[9] Morpurgo, p. 149. Ls.8-11
[10] Morpurgo, p. 20, ls. 11-13
[11] Morpurgo, p.18, ls. 21-22
[12] Monica Ali, p. 72, ls. 14-19
[13] Monica Ali, p.77-78, ls.35-38, 1-5.
[14] Monica Ali, p. 91, ls. 35-36.
[15] Monica Ali, p.110, ls. 14-17.
[16] Monica Ali, p.113, ls. 20-28.
[2] Morpurgo, P. 7, ls. 8-11
[3] Morpurgo, p. 112, ls 2-4.
[4] Morpurgo, p, 74, ls. 4-6
[5] Morpurgo, P. 9, ls. 16-19
[6] Morpurgo P. 23, ls. 5-6
[7] Morpurgo, P. 23, ls. 17-19
[8] Morpurgo, p. 31, l. 24
[9] Morpurgo, p. 149. Ls.8-11
[10] Morpurgo, p. 20, ls. 11-13
[11] Morpurgo, p.18, ls. 21-22
[12] Monica Ali, p. 72, ls. 14-19
[13] Monica Ali, p.77-78, ls.35-38, 1-5.
[14] Monica Ali, p. 91, ls. 35-36.
[15] Monica Ali, p.110, ls. 14-17.
[16] Monica Ali, p.113, ls. 20-28.
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