This is supposed to be a retelling of Shakespeare's Othello transposed to a primary school in the 1970s. I have read a number of Chevalier's books and enjoyed them but this was an epic fail. As a former primary school teacher in the mid 1970s to the early 1980s I just didn't buy the characters or their behaviour. Having taught hundreds of 11 year olds, this is so far removed from Australian playgrounds at that time that it was simply ridiculous and I nearly gave up on it. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything redeemable in it.

A novel based on Othello where, in 1970s Washington, DC, a group of children's lives are turned upside down. New boy Osei arrives - and it's the colour of his skin which shows how prejudice was, and sadly still is in some places, so rife. The story sprints to a tragic ending which demonstrates an out-of-control series of experiences in an otherwise safe, suburban setting.

Tracy Chevalier is an author whose work I seek out and have consistently enjoyed. I thoroughly enjoyed her edited collection of stories inspired by Jane Eyre and so was delighted to find that she is one of the authors participating in the Hogarth Shakespeare series, re-telling some of Shakespeare's plays. 'New Boy' is a retelling of Othello, set in a 1970's Washington DC primary school - an intriguing concept for a retell of the 16th century Venetian based Othello. The concept works wonderfully - racism is at the heart of the experiences and events in this one day in the primary school. The characters, mainly 11 year old school children on the cusp of adolescence, are instantly recognisable as the characters in Othello, not only because of their cleverly chosen names, of which more later, but also because of their character traits and emotional responses to events. The ruinous handkerchief of Othello is here replaced by a pencil case, a superb decision by Chevalier which fits her chosen setting perfectly. As soon as the novel starts we recognise that newly arrived Osei (often known as O) will be the Othello of this telling. He very quickly encounters Dee (Desdemona) and the stage is set for tragedy when the jealous Ian (Iago) can not bear to see Dee being so friendly with Osei. All the lesser characters are there also, with similarly relevant names. Set just post the height of the American Civil Rights movement there is a poster of Martin Luther King on the classroom wall but nastily racist teacher Mr Brabant (Brabanzio, father of Desdemona in Othello) does not hide his contempt for and prejudice against Osei especially on seeing his closeness to Dee, Mr Brabant's favourite pupil. Not a word, action or character is unfitting for this initially improbable sounding rewrite. For those who consider Shakespeare requires verse, then this is there too, in the form of playground rhymes and contemporary popular song lyrics. If one of the purposes of the Hogarth project is to encourage readers to revisit the original Shakespeare, it has certainly succeeded for this reader who has already returned to re-read an Othello not looked at since my own school days in the 1970s.. I shall now re-read New Boy to see what other clever connections I may have missed. It has also prompted me to seek out the other books in the series and I would certainly recommend this book to lovers of literature and Shakespeare as well as readers who appreciate social commentary in the novels they read.

This re-telling of 'Othello' has a lot to recommend. I thought that the transference of the action to a group of 11 year old school children was really interesting, allowing the action to all take place within one school day given the whims of children at this age. Moving the action to the '70s allowed for some interesting explorations into the nature of race, some of which I thought worked well and others which lacked a touch of subtlety. I think my key criticism comes from the author's characterisations. Iago, as we are all aware, is one of the most fascinating characters from literature; psychopathic, charismatic and wickedly intelligent. Here, his counterpart of Ian just did not contain these same nuances. Ian is, quite simply, a bully and as such, it is difficult to see how he would be given the trust to manipulate the situation necessary. Motivation is also lacking for some of the action, which is a slight failing. I did, however, really like the character of Mimi and felt that she could have been developed further. With all this being said, I think this is a really successful modernisation of the classic that works well to re-invigorate the subject matter.

Another in the Hogarth Series of Shakespeare Retold, this time Tracy Chevalier, known for her Historical Fiction, takes on Othello and sets it in a 1970’s surburban schoolyard. A group of 11 year olds and starting to experiment with romance and born into a casually racist society are about to have the foundations of their lives shaken.

Osei is the son of a diplomat and so this is his fourth school in six years. He knows that if he is to survive this all white school he’s going to need an ally. Luckily for him Dee is instantly drawn to him, she’s a naturally kind girl and the most popular in the school so his safety seems assured. But there are people that don’t like seeing the budding interracial relationship. Ian is a spiteful boy who has earned his place in the pecking order through intimidation and fear, he’s not about to see a new boy take it from him. He sets out to destroy the friendship between the black boy and the golden girl. By the end of the day, the school and its key players – teachers and pupils alike – will never be the same again.

It isn’t easy to write from a child’s point of view. Often it comes across too childish or too mature, and 11 year olds are tricky as can be. This group are top of the tree at school so think they are very grown up, yet as they’re about to go to a new school where’ll they’ll be at the bottom of the pecking order they are constantly vacillating between feeling grown up and feeling insecure. Chevalier captures this perfectly.

The characters are all eminently observable and the interactions between them are fascinating. The friendship between the three female protagonists is still a three way see-saw but the weight of adolescence is already starting to destroy their precarious balance. Ian (Iago) is an immensely interesting character, I love that his motivation is not in any way related to romantic desire.

It’s quite a quick read, I devoured it in one sitting. But it was no less satisfying for that.

5 Bites

NB I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley in return for an honest review. The BookEaters always write honest reviews

Tracy Chevalier’s novel New Boy is the third book I’ve read in Vintage’s series of modern interpretations of Shakespeare plays. I enjoyed Vinegar Girl, Anne Tyler’s retelling of The Taming of the Shrew, and Hagseed, Margaret Atwood’s clever re-imaging of The Tempest, and I like the sound of Edward St Aubyn’s Dunbar (his take on King Lear).

With New Boy, Chevalier transports Othello to a suburban Washington DC schoolyard in the 1970s. The titular new boy is Osei (‘O’), the Ghanaian son of a diplomat, who has lived in a number of different cities and countries and who is used to being the perennial new boy. Amazingly, given that a lot happens, the action in the novel takes place over the course of a single day — Osei’s first at this DC school — in the final weeks of sixth grade. Setting the story among 11- and 12-year-olds is a bold but somehow fitting move. These children — who would now be dubbed ‘tweens’ — are the kings and queens of elementary school and have formed firm friendships, which could soon been uprooted as they move on to their various junior high schools and start again at the bottom of the hierarchy. There is a mix of confidence and uncertainty among the characters in New Boy, and great precociousness.

This is 1970s DC and the pupils and even the teachers are wary of having a black boy join their school. And Osei, who has lived in London, Rome and New York, among other places, is confident and well-travelled, and this very worldliness acts as a catalyst, bringing out both the best and the worst in his various schoolmates. Popular future homecoming-queen Dee is the only character who immediately warms to Osei, and they end up sitting next to each other, trading pencil cases and even — in this world where relationships form and disintegrate within the space of a single day — agreeing to ‘go with’ each other. Later, Dee questions her own motives as to why she is so drawn to the new boy, but compared to her classmates, whose reactions vary from wary to downright furious, she is warm, welcoming and protective of her new friend.

The course of true love never did run smooth, however, and especially not in the sixth grade. Our antagonist Ian watches the new boy with shrewd, calculating eyes and, with a textbook youngest-son inferiority complex, realises that his own power within the schoolyard could soon be under threat, especially when he sees the sudden alliance between Osei and Dee. To nip this possibility in the bud, Ian quickly crafts a plan involving his minion Rod, girlfriend Mimi, Dee’s friend Blanca, Casper — the most popular boy in school — and a strawberry pencil case. The consequences are devastating for the whole school.

Chevalier’s novel is powerful, compelling and often shocking, with convincingly written characters who, as they deal with love (or something like it), friendship, jealousy and betrayal, and grapple with their own — often racist — beliefs. Although Othello works all too well in this sixth-grade 1970s setting, the teachers in New Boy are no better than their pupils. Some catch themselves before they explain how they always knew that a “bl—a new boy” would cause such disruption to their comfortable school ecosystem. Others barely bother to disguise their prejudices. 40 years after Chevalier set New Boy and over 400 years after Shakespeare penned Othello, and we still have a lot to learn from the story. New Boy demonstrates that — in the words of Lindsey Lee Johnson — school really can be the most dangerous place on Earth.

Shakespeare’s Othello is always powerful, always uncomfortable and always timely. It’s testament to the writing and, unfortunately, the continuation of human vice and strife that this should be so more than 400 years after it was first performed. Tracey Chevalier has made a bold choice in the framing of her Hogarth rewrite, choosing to recast the familiar characters as children and set all the events during a single elementary school day. Othello therefore becomes a coming-of-age story in which the protagonists confront racism, jealousy and sexual prejudice. Some of these elements work better than others.

The children are curious when they notice Ossei in the playground one morning. He stands out not only as the titular New Boy but also as the only black student. They are curious and uncertain, they whisper in groups and there is more than one racist remark. As Ossei (“O” because it is easier for Western tongues) negotiates his way through the trials of finding his place in a new school and combats the semi-innocent prejudice of his peers and the knowing hostility of some of his teachers he meets Dee, our Desdemona. She’s attracted by his calm and his difference and they are soon “going” together in the sudden and ephemeral way of children, sowing unease and raising eyebrows amongst children and adults alike. What will Dee’s mother (apparently very strict and conservative if we are to believe the vague hints) think about her daughter’s relationship with “the bl-, I mean new” boy? From the side-lines our Iago (Ian), the playground bully, is disgusted and plots the downfall of the couple. Chevalier cleverly works in some of the key aspects of Shakespeare’s play, with a strawberry-decorated pencil case becoming the gift and favour destined to come between the lovers. Unfortunately some of the keys themes of Othello work better than others.

The racial aspect of the play is given an interesting perspective by the youth of the characters. Chevalier convincingly represents how easy it is for children to learn and adopt the prejudices of their elders and how these can utterly, and dangerously, define the identities of others. Racism is, after all, a frankly But there is also the ability of children to upset and reject these preconceived ideas, to accept people simply as themselves. When contrasted with the deeply unpleasant attitudes of one teacher in particular the changeability of the children offers some measure of hope. Choosing to set New Boy in the 1970s was a little more puzzling. While on the one hand it allows Chevalier to frame her story amongst the later, more radical Civil Rights activism of Black Power, Black is Beautiful and the Black Panthers, a new (represented by Ossei’s older sister) it could easily, and perhaps more powerfully, have been set today. After all we haven’t solved these problems and many feel we are moving backwards rather than forwards with the alt-right representing the modern “acceptable” face of racism and prejudice.

The main problem with the story is that the original is so inescapably mired in sex and violence. It’s about sexual jealousy and women’s lack of control over their interactions with men. Every action and conversation policed and judged and laid open to criticism and accusation, and so often violence. This is not to say that this aspect of the play is irrelevant, we’ve tackled sexism no more successfully than we have tackled racism, but these children are so young that it is not as convincing or as impactful as it could have been. Of course the oversexualisation of children and their relationships with their peers and their elders is an important current theme but some of the responses and attitudes of these children do not fit. They are too deeply felt, too violent, too thoughtful.

Iago, that repository for so much human vice, is not well-suited to the body of an eleven year old, particularly one who motives and personality are so little explored. There are hints of a difficult home life, the influence (and reputation) of several older, possibly delinquent brothers, and brief mention of possible abuse. This isn’t enough. Any situation which can create a child with worrying tendencies towards casual, sexual and racial violence at such a young age needs to be dealt with more thoroughly and sensitively. His relationship with his “girlfriend” Mimi as well as that of Ossei and Dee may represent a concern with the sexual (im)maturity of young children but it fails to really offer insight. It’s a difficult thing to write children well, especially when they are dealing with issues we consider, rightly or wrongly, to be adult. In this case I can’t help but think that making the characters even a few years older, or allowing these relationships to develop over a longer period would have served the story better.

Another brilliant book by this talented author. I really enjoyed it and thoroughly recommend it.

New Boy is a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s Othello (read more about the original plot here) and part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series. There are five books in the series, though I’ve only read one (Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood). I’m a bit of a fan of classics being re-told (when done right), how they take the story and give it that modern twist and make it feel like new. That was definitely the case here, where if I hadn’t been aware this was based on Othello I don’t think I would have been any the wiser because it stands up in its own right.

Set in 1970’s Washington D.C., New Boy takes place in the classroom and the playground with the cast being played by a group of rather hormonal 11 year olds. Othello is now Osei, the son of a Ghanaian diplomat, new to school and the only black face in a sea of white students. He is immediately the subject of fear, speculation and, in the case of Dee (one of the most popular girls in school), love at first sight.

Her love starts to lead to acceptance from other pupils, threatening the delicate balance of playground hierarchies. Unhappy by this turn of events, “King” of the playground (Ian) schemes to bring Osei and Dee down and sets in motion an unfortunate and tragic chain of events which seem to lead to nothing but unhappy endings for everyone involved.All this takes place in the course of one day, with the book split into sections entitled recess, lunch etc., giving it a pace that it might not otherwise. I felt I was on a bit of a runaway train. You could see where it was heading with no way to stop it. It also made the book fairly short, so it was quick to read, though this doesn’t take anything away from the story.

At first I wasn’t sure about the school setting but when I think back to my teenage years or what the politics of my daughters playground and how one day you’re best friends, the next day you don’t want to know, it started to make sense. The era seemed right, with the almost inbuilt racism of so many and the way that’s affected their behaviour.
The only downside for me is the age of the children. I am not sure if they weren’t just a little of young for their behaviour. It seemed a little too Machiavellian for 11 year olds. Move everything forward a few years and, for me, this book would have been pretty much spot on. I like Tracy Chevalier’s writing style, finding it easy to read and accessible, and think she has really painted a picture here…plus written a book anyone, lover of Shakespeare or not, can pick up. A recommended read!

One of my all time favourite authors so I really hate to write this review but I disliked New Boy intensely. I had to keep checking that it was a Tracy Chevalier book & not a mistake on the part of my kindle. It was for me a totally unrealistic view of how 11 year olds behave and speak ( and I do know a few). The ending was too dramatic and the characters weak.
The only thing in its favour was that the story was timed beautifully as always with Chevalier.

New Boy - Tracey Chevallier

Everyone knows Othello, right? If you haven’t, go away and read a summary online somewhere.

Are you back?

Okay. Picture this. All the characters are eleven and it’s America in the seventies. Othello’s the new boy on the playground and, worse for him, he’s black. Desdemona is one of the popular girls and generally considered to be the prettiest girl, and she’s ace at holding the ropes for ‘jump-rope.’ Cassio’s the popular guy, the jock, and Emilia is the best at jumping rope in the school. Iago’s not that popular, but he sure has a lot of power. He gets other kids’ lunch money off them, and his sidekick, Rod, who’s not the sharpest tool in the box, is at his beck and call. Brebantio is one of the teachers. Add in a few extras. Oh, and the handkerchief is a pink pencil case with strawberries on it.

You picturing it? Sounds mad, right?

But. It. Works.

‘New Boy’ is part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series (the only other I’ve read is ‘Vinegar Girl’ which I wasn’t that keen on) written by the extremely talented Tracey Chevalier. Although I know the story, I was still turning the pages (okay, swiping as this was a Galley copy I’d been kindly given by NetGalley), desperate to find out what happens.

Like a train crash, you see it all coming.

But but but. It’s set in a school. People don’t die at school, right? They just get suspended or detention or their parents get called in - yeah? School isn’t the real world.

When I got to the last page, I kept swiping. But there was no more book left. And then it hit me all at once. All the emotions that I’d be shoving to one side as I raced through the story, desperate to hear the next escapade of Ian or Mimi or Bianca. And I stopped dead. I think this book almost killed me.

It’s exquisite. A beautiful, horrible retelling of an old story. A glimpse of racism in the seventies. A little prod to remind you how awful school is, and how infuriating it is when parents say ‘you’ve never had it so easy.’ They’ve forgotten. Children are so much more cruel than adults.

You need to read this. I can’t stress it more. Thank you to NetGalley for the copy; all thoughts and opinions are my own.

After reading and reviewing At the Edge of the Orchard. I was delighted to be allowed to read New Boy. Although beautifully written I did find the New Boy disturbing and to be honest depressing. Although a fan of Shakespeare I have never actually read Othello so did not realise what the story entailed. I would be interested in reading more of the Hogarth series.

A modern interpretation of Shakespeare’s Othello set in a Washington elementary school in the 1970s. Having studied Othello for A level many years ago I was keen to see how this story compared. I liked the way most of the characters were easily identifiable from their names, O for Othello, Dee for Desdemona, Casper for Cassio, Ian for Iago & so on.
Osei Kokote (O), joins the school for the last few months before the children move schools, he is noticeably different, he is the only black student. Having been a new boy several times before as his father is a travelling diplomat, he knows he needs to find an ally fast to survive and hits it off immediately with the most popular girl in the school, Dee. One pupil, a bully Ian, decides to destroy their budding relationship as wants no-one usurping his powerful position in the playground. Ian’s machinations take place over the course of one school day. This stretched my credulity a little but if you think back to the age of 12 the days did seem longer! By the end of the day none of the students or teachers involved in the drama will be the same again. Ian is as skilful as Iago with his scheming, the handkerchief of old becoming a strawberry decorated pencil case in the 1970s.
Overall the retelling is a success in my opinion although it is more paired back and concise, crammed into one day. The use of adolescence with all the raging hormones works well with the mix of friendships, rivalries, jealousy, betrayal and bullying. The ending, whilst not as dramatic as Othello, did leave me hanging a little & wanting more. An interesting adaptation, which fit well into the schoolyard setting. Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read & review this well crafted, powerful novel.

The Hogarth Shakespeare series is a project rewriting some of the Bard’s most famous plays, into novels by some of the world’s best-loved authors.

New Boy by Tracey Chevalier is based on Othello.

4-stars

Othello is one of Shakespeare’s great tragedy, with Othello, a black general and his wife Desdemona going to war, where his ensign Iago plots his downfall.

Chevalier reframes the story, with the military setting becoming an elementary school playground in Washington DC. Osei is the new boy, and the only black boy in an all white school, who is soon befriended by Dee, despite the aversion of the other students due to his race. Ian, a known school bully, decides to reassert the pecking order by bringing Osei down.

This take on the story is incredibly interesting, fleshing out characters more than we see in Shakespeare’s words and in a way we don’t often see on stage. We see insights into each of the main characters, Osei, Dee, Ian and Mimi (Ian’s girlfriend representing Emilia from the play).

These insights are interesting, deviating from what many see as the key aspect of Othello – the mystery behind the motivations of the characters. Iago’s motives are the most debated of any of Shakespeare’s villains, while Othello’s actions and anger has also been questioned, as has Emilia’s complicity. In New Boy, we see first-hand insight into the characters and their thoughts and feelings giving us a whole new perspective, particularly in the case of female characters Dee and Mimi whose dramatic counterparts are often overlooked and dismissed.

Chevalier brings in a whole new dynamic in the relationships by making Osei new to the school. In the play Othello is an established general who has earned the respect of his men, meaning he has power, which Osei does not. Equally, the key part to Iago’s deception is that he is seen to be honest, whereas Ian is known to be manipulative and a bully. As such the rewriting does take out some of the nuance of the original story, however, it is an enjoyable new way to look at a well-worn tale.

The novel is also short, coming in at under 200 pages it is more of a novella, contrasting to the long scope of Shakespeare’s plays which last 3-4 hours depending on the cuts made. It is very accessible, easy to read and an engaging story – although we may know what happens we want to see how it is done, and it is done very cleverly.

Rewritings and adaptations never live up to the original tales, however they do allow Shakespeare to live on in new ways and for us to understand him in a contemporary context. New Boy does exactly that and is a very enjoyable and accessible way to approach history’s greatest playwright.

This representation of Othello is set in the 1970s in a school environment. It has the characteristics of the original tragedy but the environment isn't so conducive.

Osei is the son of a diplomat and that means moving around with his parents. At eleven years old, he is the new boy at yet another school. His fith and he is the only black one.

Even at this young age, he is familiar with the drill of starting anew as he has travelled to Europe and American cities where "his kind" isn't welcome. The teachers and students alike are racists and expect the worse from him. Dee, the most popular girl in the school finds him to be fascinating and is the first to befriend him. His colour doesn't seem to matter to her.

Ian is the school bully with Mimi, Dee's best friend as his girlfriend. He becomes instantly resentful and hatred pours off him. He is also very manipulative and in the course of a day, manages to plot Osei's downfall. Those who assist him are unaware of his intentions. They just do as they are told. Everyone is afraid of him, including the teachers who don't do anything to stop his cruel behaviour towards his victims. Some younger than him!

This rendition is very powerful in the way that hatred, betrayal, cruelty, manipulation, racism and prejudices are portrayed. It's dark and poignant but the environment doesn't seem fitting. It's just my opinion, but I feel that it would have worked better with a higher age group. It's still a gripping story and would make a great subject for a debate.

I received a complimentary eARC from the publisher via NetGalley and the views expressed are my personal opinion.

Hi I won't be reading this as I have not read any others in the series. Thanks for sending this to me without a request, I'm sorry to decline.

This is the second book in the Hogarth's Shakespeare Series I have read. After reading Anne Tyler's retelling of the Taming of the Shrew, Vinegar Girl, I wondered if I would enjoy Tracy Chevaliers New Boy as much. I certainly did. New Boy is the retelling of Othello. It reads as one day in the life of various students in a 1970s Washington school. Brilliantly done by the author. I'm sure Shakespeare has a smile on his face!

Thanks Netgalley for my copy.

I've read a few of these Shakespeare re-works, and coming after Atwood and McEwan last year was always going to be tricky. There are things to admire about this book, O's isolation and vulnerability are well constructed and many of the side characters are done well. I have 2 main problems. The first is the portrayal, in gruesome uncomfortable detail, of a young black boy by a middle aged white woman that seems very risky today, particularly in the casualness of the racism. The second is Iago, or Ian, whose scheming just doesn't translate to a 12 year old that well. His sleaziness (and all the pubescent sexual tension) oddly does work, but I felt the deception beyond realistic ability.

The novels in the Hogarth Shakespeare series are retelling of Shakespeare's most famous dramas and comedies.

New Boy by Tracy Chevalier takes inspiration by the Tragedy of Othello, here setted in the playground of an USA suburban primary school in the 1970

Osei (called also O) is the son of a diplomat from Ghana, and for this reason his family moves frequently. Osei is used in being the new boy in every school, the only children who does not now anybody and that has to settle himself.

In this new school all the children are white, so Osei is new and different. The only girl who behaves friendly with him is Dee, and the two become friends. Othello's story has not an happy ending, and here it will be Ian to destroy the relation between O and Dee.

New Boy is a faithful retelling of the original drama, but with the addition of another thematic:the friendship - and love - between O and Dee is not accepted for the racist mentality that is common in that area (both in adults and children).

I was not convinced by the choice to have a single day timespan (an extremely long school day with lessons alternating with playground time) and the choice of characters being children (age about 10 - 11 years). In some moments the difference between the events (dialogues and emotions) and the character's age makes the story unreal and not very much engaging.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me the copy necessary to write this review.

Othello has always been one of my favourite stories written by Shakespeare so I was thrilled to be offered a copy of this book for review. Additionally, Tracy Chevalier is an author who never fails to write a fantastic story.
New Boy is one of the retellings of Shakespeare that was commissioned by the Hogarth Press as part of a series of retellings commissioned as part of events coinciding with the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.
This is the second book I have read in the Hogarth Shakespeare series, the first was Hagseed by Margaret Atwood.
I thought this retelling was fantastic and captured all the essential elements of Othello which make it the beloved classic it is known to be.
New Boy is set in a schoolyard in 1970’s Washington DC and revolves around the arrival of Osei Kokote, the only black boy in a school full of white children. It is Osei’s fourth school in six years and he knows he needs to work quickly to gain an ally so he is pleased when that ally turns out to be Dee, the most popular girl in school.
Not everyone is happy about the budding relationship though and before long Ian is setting plans into motion that can only end in violence.
“Dee noticed him before anyone else. She was glad of that, held on to it. It made her feel special to have him to herself for a few seconds, before the world around them skipped a beat and didn’t recover for the rest of the day.”
The arrival of Osei in the school exposes both casual racisms and the prevalence of an institutionalised racism within the school and the lives of the children. The overt racism displayed by teachers, such as Mr Brabant, was the hardest to read.
Throughout the book, he makes derogatory comments about O clearly influenced by the colour of his skin.
Osei is identified as an outsider in the playground from the very beginning merely because of the colour of his skin. Dee herself informs the reader that there are no other black children in the school or black residents in her neighbourhood. This is despite Washington DC being nicknamed ‘Chocolate city’ because of its high proportion of black people. Her own mother won’t let her watch black singing and dancing on TV.
Dee’s teachers ask her to look after Osei and show him around the school. Via Dee’s questions we learn that he is from Ghana and that his name means ‘noble’. Osei recognises that his name is difficult for people to pronounce and tells Dee to call him ‘O.’ He also tells his fellow classmates to call him O as he knows his name would further make him an outsider and object of ridicule. Thus, before he even meets people he has been stripped of an important part of his identity.
In the playground Ian spots O immediately and sees him as a potential threat. He recognises that he owns the playground within minutes of entering it and he is horrified to see Dee paying him so much attention.
“Ian was not the tallest boy in the year, nor the fastest. He did not kick the balls the farthest, or jump the highest when shooting baskets, or do the most chin-ups on the monkey bars. He did not speak much in class, never had gold stars pasted to his work, did not win certificates at the end of year for best mathematics or best handwriting or best citizenship. He was not the most popular with the girls – Casper claimed that honour.
Ian was the shrewdest. The most calculating. The quickest to respond to a new situation and turn it to his advantage.”
I could not read Ian without seeing ‘Iago’. For me he was every bit as cunning and loathsome. Ian is essentially a bully who is more concerned with gaining and maintaining power than caring for those around him.
Ian admits that the appeal of his reluctant girlfriend Mimi was that she was ‘out of step’ with the other children in the playground. Even his ‘best friend’, Rod, is someone he sees as a useful tool to maintain his status.
Mimi plays a big part in the events that unfold in the playground that day. In a large part her involvement comes from her fear of Ian but racism does play its part. Mimi falls into the category of ‘I am not racist but’. She comments to Dee about what other people will think about her and O but is quick to say that of course she doesn’t think those thinks. However, she does acknowledge to herself that, there was no ignoring the colour of his skin.
O for his part feels incredibly privileged to have Dee as his ally. He not only finds her beautiful but feels she is ‘lit from within.’
O is used to all the forms of racism exhibited within the school, even that exhibited by the teachers. He tells Dee about several instances where teachers have seemed displeased with him if he excels in school and treated it as atypical. Whereas if he messes up it is seen as inevitable because of the colour of his skin, it is the embodiment of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
As the afternoon goes on tensions in the playground build up and eventually erupt.
At one point one of the teachers Mrs Lode says that the colour of his skin has nothing to do with it. However, after having read this I would suggest that the colour of his skin has everything to do with it.