Essay Questions

What is "dub" music and why is it important to the story?

Without a basic understanding of what "dub" means within the world of reggae music, it is tough to fully understand or appreciate the story in this novel. The first-person narrator speaks of dub throughout the text without any contextualized introduction. The first introduction of the term is just a couple of pages into the book. The reader is then quickly hurled into a music subculture without any background information at all to help guide the way: "I’d fling down a rootsy dub track of the ancients chanting stories about the divinity of our emperors." A quick overview of dub typically insists it is a subgenre within the broader genre of reggae, not unlike ska or rocksteady. The difference is that dub is less a genre within itself like those two examples than a style that can be equally applied to all subgenres associated with reggae. Dub is characterized predominantly by the complete removal or severe reduction of vocals, the addition of sonic effects like echo and reverb, and an intensifying of the focus on rhythm instruments like bass and drum.

What is the historical context within which this fictional narrative takes place?

The novel is separated into three "books" which span the period from November 1978 to January 1982. Much of the narrative is set in the U.K. This period of history in England was marked by rising racial tensions which led to several riots and clashes between people of color who were immigrants and an organized white supremacy movement headed by a group called the National Front. Many reggae-inspired rock groups of the era addressed this incendiary tension in songs with the most notable probably being "Ghost Town" by the Specials. It is within this historical context of increasingly open racism (most infamously characterized by "skinheads") that the narrator tells her story of growing as a Jamaican immigrant at the beginning of the Thatcher era of conservative domination of UK politics as she navigates through the underground world of dub music.

Who is the woman obliquely referred to only as "Blue Lady" in the novel?

At one point the narrator writes that "Blue Lady is on the TV outside Downing Street, ready to go in and take charge." The identification of Downing Street references the home of the British Prime Minister. The swing to the right politically in both the U.K. and the U.S. in the 1980s is attributed primarily to the two most dominant figures of the period, Pres. Ronald Reagan in America and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in England. Thatcher is never mentioned by name in the book, but the reference to the Blue Lady is an explicit identification of her. The story of riots in Bristol, the rise of dub music to prominence in the country, and the intensifying racism across the country are all aspects of the period which is wrapped up in the comprehensive pejorative sense of Thatcherism. While for many, Thatcherism represents a concerted effort to reform the British welfare state, for many others it is a term that defines an era of racial tension, excessive force exercised by police, and cities on fire.