Internal_Conflicts._the_Other_Hand,_Chris_Cleaves

Analyse how the author used a main conflict in the text to express important ideas. In the book “The Other Hand” by Chris Cleave, Cleave uses Little Bees’ internal conflict to express ideas about Refuge. Little Bees conflict with her thoughts shows us that there is no refuge from your own thoughts or memories and her conflict also helps us to understand Andrew’s suicide. Her conflict also helps us to understand more about the importance of identity in the novel. In “The Other Hand” Refuge is an important theme, Little Bees conflict with her thoughts helps us to realise that there is no escape from the horror in thoughts and memories. Little Bee states early in the novel that; “for me and the girls from my village, horror is a disease and we are sick with it.” (pg66). This implies that all the girls from Little Bees village have experienced a horror and the memory of that horror is eating away at their minds like a disease they are dying of. Little Bee says that “we ‘are’ sick with it” as if the horror of the memories are always there for them. Throughout the novel Little Bee keeps saying “if the men come suddenly, I will be ready to kill myself” (p68) suggesting that she has witnessed something that the “men” have done and she is so terrified of what they might do to her, that she will rather seek refuge in death from it than experience it again. Little Bee has witnessed things in this novel that the memory of them are so horrible that she would rather die than experience it again. Little Bee’s internal conflict with her thoughts is also reflected with Andrew’s conflict with his thoughts. This helps us to realise that fleeing from a country is not the only type of refuge that someone can have. Just before Andrew commits suicide he says to Little Bee, “It was a long time ago, Okay'” a long way away. Why don’t you just stay over there'” (p274). This implies that something happened in Nigeria and Andrew has been trying to forget it. However because Little Bee has come back into his world he cannot forget what happened, and he has to face what it but he does not want to. Andrew not wanting to face what happened in Nigeria is backed up when Sarah describes Andrew’s suicide saying that “Death of course, is a refuge...” (Pg 36). This suggests that the only way he could stop the thoughts and memories of the horror he experienced in Nigeria was to seek refuge in death. The same was for Little Bee who all the way though the novel was always looking for ways she would kill herself “if the men came.” Little Bee’s conflict with her thoughts also shows the idea of identity. She helps us to understand that the identity some people show might not be who they are at heart, but that they are hiding their true identity. When Udo and Nkiruka are running from the “men” they change their names to Little Bee and Kindness. “It was not safe to use their true names, which spoke so loudly of their tribe and of their religion.” (Pg 144). This suggests that Little Bee and Kindness adopted new names to ensure their safety; giving themselves a new identity so they could not be recognised for who they were and where they came from. For centuries people have been seeking refuge in other countries because of the situation in their home land. “The Other Hand” by Chris Cleave suggests that sometimes there is more than one form of refuge, and that it can include the changing of your identity or even in seeking refuge from thoughts and memories in death. I think that we all have some kind of refuge; but our refuge generally does not have as big an affect or is not as noticeable in most of our lives as it does in Little Bee’s and Andrew’s.