Author’s Craft By writing the novel Little Bee from alternating perspectives of two characters, Chris Cleave created a way to both contrast and connect the lives of a Nigerian refugee and a middle class Londan woman. In order to make a distinction between the two narrators, Cleave uses different style choices to reflect the voice of each character. For Little Bee, Cleave uses lots of imagery, for example “The African girl they locked up in the immigration detention center, poor child, never really escaped. In my soul she is still locked up in there, forever, under the fluorescent lights, curled up on the green linoleum floor with her knees tucked up under her chin.” (Cleave 7). The way a character talks in a novel helps the reader get to know the character as much as a physical description. Reading Little Bee’s chapters, I learned quickly that she is a creative and empathetic character. Little Bee describes the world around her in a unique way, paying close attention to the struggles and emotions of others. Sarah O’Rourke has a …show more content…
No Exit is largely about existentialism; the belief that people can choose their path, but must be willing to accept their consequences. Andrew O’Rouke, Sarah’s deceased husband, was unable to deal with his past mistakes. He did not take responsibility for his actions, or more accurately, lack of actions, and the guilt ended up killing him. No Exit is also largely about being forgotten; after you die, you only exist as others remember you. This relates to the thousands of unnamed Nigerians in the story who have been victim to the violence of greedy oil companies. They never got to tell their story, and as a result are forgotten. At the end of the book Sarah and Little Bee are back in Nigeria and are collecting stories so Sarah can write a book and draw attention to the horrors the Nigerian people are secretly