The jamaican teacher
This text is an extract from the book "Small Island" by Andrea Levy wrote in 2004 (twenty o four). It is written in first person. The narrator is a Jamaican teacher who is currently looking for a position in England. At first, the woman who received her in her office for an interview appears to be quite welcoming: indeed, she’s polite, smiling, well-bred... But reading the text, we soon realize that she has been faking smiles throughout the interview. Beside, from the beginning of it, she has trouble in hiding her real nature: look at the way she reacts when she sees the narrator (line three ....)
Then, although she staying civil, we can’t really say that she shows willing. For example, when she takes the letters of recommendations, she holds them but then she can’t be bothered to read them. Moreover, she interrupts several times the Jamaican woman’s speech. She doesn’t care about the skills of the woman and the only questions she asked her concern her origins. During the discussion, she becomes increasingly aggressive and she jeers at the narrator. I guess she takes great pleasure telling her she is not qualified to teach over there because it makes her giggle. Finally, she doesn’t worry anymore about this woman and goes back about her business as she was gone. We can easily think that she is racist and she has never intended to give her a chance.
Perhaps the narrator should have to stand up to this biguiling woman but honestly, I don’t guess it would have changed anything. However, if I were her, I would inquire whether it was true that I was no qualified to teach in England.
I guess I would try to appeal to the courts for