I did not want to make my previous post too long, so I decided to create another post on identiy.
While I was researching a little about Little Bee online, I came across Chris Cleave’s website, where he answers questions on his novel.
One of the questions was: Is Charlie/Batman based on your own children?
To this question, Cleave states that Charlie is included in the book for two reasons. One, he is funny and lovable, he is the reason why Sarah does not just abandon Andrew to go live with Lawrence. The second reason however, he states is because “Charlie is a study in the early formation of identity. Little Bee is a novel about where our individuality lies – which layers of identity are us, and which are mere camouflage. So it’s a deliberate choice to use the metaphor of a child who is engaging in his first experiments with identity – in Charlie’s case by taking on the persona of a superhero”.
I think this shows the imporance of identity in the novel. I just thought I’d share this with you guys, I thought it was really neat. If you would like to know more about the background of Little Bee, visit his website.
This is very interesting Viya . I never knew he had a website.
His website provide more information on the reason why he wrote the book, and his opinion.