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Small Island， a turning point in the writing career of Andrea Levy， was finished in a time span of four and a half years and was awarded the 2004 Whitbread Novel Award， the 2004 Orange Prize for fiction， the 2005 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the Best of the Best Orange Prize.
Small Island probes into the meaning of the Black British’s existence and identity， loosely based on the story of Levy’s mother and father. In a 2004 interview conducted by Bonnie Greer， Levy discussed the role of race in her parents’ lives：
My parents came from a class in Jamaica called “the colored class.” There are white Jamaicans， black Jamaicans and colored Jamaicans. My parents’ skin was light.
I am English. Born and bred， as the saying goes. （As far as I can remember， it is born and bred and not born and bred with a very long line of white ancestors directly descended from Anglo Saxons.）.
As a representative of Black British writing， Small Island inherits some noticeable thematic traditions of Black British literature.
Firstly， the novel investigates Britishness and hybridity in its attempt to redefine Britishness， Besides， to support the mother country， women in the colonized countries knitted socks for the RAF.
An expansion of the traditional thematic features of Black British literature presents itself not only in the depiction of the involvement of Jamaican in the war， but also in the display of the trauma of war.
Otherness， incorporated into some traditional Black British literature， could also be discerned in the Small Island. The mixed race baby of Queenie served as a symbol of multiculturalism， with which the white British were confronted after the war. When the baby was born， he emodies the possibility of thinking against and beyond race and it holds the potential to herald the future of Britain. But in Britain of the day， he will always be marked as an outsider. The adoption of the baby by Gilbert and Hortense symbolized Britain’s inability to fully embrace the infusion of Black British into its country and its culture. In Britain， the otherness of colored people still awaits to be investigated and subverted. However， on the other hand， Levy challenged the tradition of eulogizing the feats of the Anglo-Saxon and ignoring the contribution of people of the colonized countries by putting them into the same narrative discourse and giving them the same discursive power. The domination of a single discourse was broken， and the discourse of the other was given the same weight. The novel also challenges the ‘literary racial segregation’ typical in previous literature by giving relatively equal weight and treatment to the white British and the black Jamaican in the discourse. The novel also follows the thematic tradition of investigating identity， belonging and home， which is common for works by writers engaged with the displacement stemmed from immigrant experiences in Britain.
To an extent， the novel also crosses gender boundaries as it interweaves male and female stories and articulates the female narrative of air-raids and rationing cards.
As illustrated above， Small Island not only inherits some thematic traditions of Black British Fiction， but also challenges and expands them， which sets it as a landmark in the history of Black British literature.
References：
[1]Allardice， L. The Guardian profile： Andrea Levy. The Guardian， 21 January. 2005.
[2]Gilroy， P. The Black Atlantic： Modernity and Double Consciousness. London： Verso. 1993. Print.
[3]Graham， Shane. “Memories of empire： The Empire Exhibition in Andrea Levy’s Small Island and Hari Kunzru’s The Impressionist.” The Journal of Commonwealth Literature 48.3 （2013）： 441-452. Print.
[4]Lang， Anouk. “‘Enthralling but at the same disturbing’： Challenging the Readers of Small Island.” Journal of Commonwealth Literature 44.2 （2009）： 123-140. Print.
[5]Levy， A （2005） In： Commonwealth Writers’ Prize： 2005 Winners. Available at： www.common?wealthwriters.com/2005/levy.html.
[6]Jaggi， Maya. “Redefining Englishness.” Waterstone’s Magazine 6 （1996）： 63-69.
[7]Levy， “Empire’s Child，” interview by Bonnie Greer.
[8]Levy， Andrea. Small Island. London： Headline Review. 2004.
Levy， Andrea. This is my England. The Guardian， 19 February. 2000.
[9]Loh， Lucienne. “Space and Style in Contemporary British Fiction.” Contemporary Literature 51.4 （2010）： 883-891. Print.
[10]Rushdie， S. Imaginary Homelands. London： Granta Books. 1991. Print.
Small Island probes into the meaning of the Black British’s existence and identity， loosely based on the story of Levy’s mother and father. In a 2004 interview conducted by Bonnie Greer， Levy discussed the role of race in her parents’ lives：
My parents came from a class in Jamaica called “the colored class.” There are white Jamaicans， black Jamaicans and colored Jamaicans. My parents’ skin was light.
I am English. Born and bred， as the saying goes. （As far as I can remember， it is born and bred and not born and bred with a very long line of white ancestors directly descended from Anglo Saxons.）.
As a representative of Black British writing， Small Island inherits some noticeable thematic traditions of Black British literature.
Firstly， the novel investigates Britishness and hybridity in its attempt to redefine Britishness， Besides， to support the mother country， women in the colonized countries knitted socks for the RAF.
An expansion of the traditional thematic features of Black British literature presents itself not only in the depiction of the involvement of Jamaican in the war， but also in the display of the trauma of war.
Otherness， incorporated into some traditional Black British literature， could also be discerned in the Small Island. The mixed race baby of Queenie served as a symbol of multiculturalism， with which the white British were confronted after the war. When the baby was born， he emodies the possibility of thinking against and beyond race and it holds the potential to herald the future of Britain. But in Britain of the day， he will always be marked as an outsider. The adoption of the baby by Gilbert and Hortense symbolized Britain’s inability to fully embrace the infusion of Black British into its country and its culture. In Britain， the otherness of colored people still awaits to be investigated and subverted. However， on the other hand， Levy challenged the tradition of eulogizing the feats of the Anglo-Saxon and ignoring the contribution of people of the colonized countries by putting them into the same narrative discourse and giving them the same discursive power. The domination of a single discourse was broken， and the discourse of the other was given the same weight. The novel also challenges the ‘literary racial segregation’ typical in previous literature by giving relatively equal weight and treatment to the white British and the black Jamaican in the discourse. The novel also follows the thematic tradition of investigating identity， belonging and home， which is common for works by writers engaged with the displacement stemmed from immigrant experiences in Britain.
To an extent， the novel also crosses gender boundaries as it interweaves male and female stories and articulates the female narrative of air-raids and rationing cards.
As illustrated above， Small Island not only inherits some thematic traditions of Black British Fiction， but also challenges and expands them， which sets it as a landmark in the history of Black British literature.
References：
[1]Allardice， L. The Guardian profile： Andrea Levy. The Guardian， 21 January. 2005.
[2]Gilroy， P. The Black Atlantic： Modernity and Double Consciousness. London： Verso. 1993. Print.
[3]Graham， Shane. “Memories of empire： The Empire Exhibition in Andrea Levy’s Small Island and Hari Kunzru’s The Impressionist.” The Journal of Commonwealth Literature 48.3 （2013）： 441-452. Print.
[4]Lang， Anouk. “‘Enthralling but at the same disturbing’： Challenging the Readers of Small Island.” Journal of Commonwealth Literature 44.2 （2009）： 123-140. Print.
[5]Levy， A （2005） In： Commonwealth Writers’ Prize： 2005 Winners. Available at： www.common?wealthwriters.com/2005/levy.html.
[6]Jaggi， Maya. “Redefining Englishness.” Waterstone’s Magazine 6 （1996）： 63-69.
[7]Levy， “Empire’s Child，” interview by Bonnie Greer.
[8]Levy， Andrea. Small Island. London： Headline Review. 2004.
Levy， Andrea. This is my England. The Guardian， 19 February. 2000.
[9]Loh， Lucienne. “Space and Style in Contemporary British Fiction.” Contemporary Literature 51.4 （2010）： 883-891. Print.
[10]Rushdie， S. Imaginary Homelands. London： Granta Books. 1991. Print.