Contrasting Regions: Nigeria and England Quotes in Little Bee (The Other Hand)

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

Truly, there is no flag for us floating people. We are millions but we are not a nation. We cannot stay together. (3.388)

Little Bee and people like her are caught between regions – she doesn't belong any more to any one country, and isn't really wanted in any country. Yevette suggests that there are communities of people like herself and Little Bee, but Little Bee's experience as a refugee/undocumented immigrant is limited to her two years in the detention center, and the few days she spends in England before being deported. Her knowledge of the immigrant and refugee experience is really limited.

Quote #5

"This is f***ing bulls***. This is a classic Nigerian scam. Come on, we're going back to the hotel." (4.213)

When Little Bee and her sister ask Andrew and Sarah to help them on the beach, Andrew thinks they are scamming him. He has the same reaction when Little Bee calls him from the detention center two years later. This points to a stereotype that all Nigerians are scammers because of the prevalence of "Nigerian scams," like ones reported by snopes.com, and others.

Quote #6

Little Bee had fled southeast on bleeding feet from what had once been her village and was shortly to become an oil field. (4.141)

Sarah is telling us the story Little Bee is telling her, the beginning of Little Bee's journey to England.