Pigeon English Literary Elements

Young Adult

A tough housing estate in London, UK, sometime during the early 2000s

The book is told from the first-person perspective of eleven-year-old Harrison “Harri” Opoku. Because of Harri's age and innocence, he is an unreliable narrator, consistently misinterpreting his surroundings and using hyperbole.

Integrated into the text are several short first-person narrations from the perspective of Harri’s "special pigeon." The pigeon narration, rendered in italics, is philosophical and reflective.

The text uses a lighthearted, juvenile tone to contrast with the novel's dark themes. Told in the innocent voice of a child, the novel maintains a strong sense of tension and dramatic irony throughout as Harri is oblivious to pervasive dangers.

Protagonist: Harri; Antagonist: The Dell Farm Crew

The novel's central conflict is between Harri and the Dell Farm Crew. Harri and his friend, Dean, seek to uncover the killer's identity while the Dell Farm Crew, responsible for the murder, harass and threaten Harri.

The climax is the final scene when Harri runs home from school and is stabbed in the stairwell. The text uses dramatic irony to build to this moment, as Harri evades death several times during the course of the narrative only to be murdered when he least expects it.

Harri frequently references his own death throughout the text, indicating the traumatic effect of witnessing violence and foreshadowing his murder.

At the dead boy's funeral, Harri decides he wants a coffin shaped like an airplane but also realizes, "children aren't supposed to die, only old people. It even made me worried for if I was next." Harri's discomfort at the funeral foreshadows his murder.

"I'd rather be killed with the Persuader than with a knife. A knife's too sharp, it tears too much spirit up." This quotation, which references Julius's bat, foreshadows Harri's death, as he is stabbed with a knife.

"If Agnes dies I'll just swap places with her. She can have my life. I'll give it to her and I'll die instead." Harri makes this pledge when Agnes is ill with a fever, which foreshadows Harri's death because he is murdered soon after Agnes's recovery.

"Some other kid'll get killed soon and they'll have to concentrate on him. Then our killer can just come out of hiding and carry on like nothing happened." Dean makes this observation in reference to his investigation. He assumes the community will move past the trauma of the dead boy's murder as soon as another child is killed; Dean and Harri do not realize Harri will be that child.

Harri makes a deal with Daniel Bevan that if Harri dies first, Daniel can have all his books.

Harri also makes several observations that foreshadow the revelation that Killa murdered the dead boy. For example, at the dead boy's funeral, Killa rides by on his bicycle but falls off in front of the procession. Killa also refuses to engage in conversations about the dead boy, indicating his guilt. Harri and Dean teach Takeaway Terry's dog, Asbo, to "smell evil," after which Asbo jumps on Killa, identifying him as the murderer.

Because Harri is young and innocent, he often fails to recognize how disturbing and dangerous his circumstances are. For example, Harri states that he prefers female police officers because they "talk to you instead of hitting you all the time." This understatement indicates Harri has either witnessed or been the victim of police brutality. Yet, Harri does not recognize how unjust this abuse is.

When the Dell Farm Crew vandalizes Harri's church, Harri states, "there was no church today because of the broken glass and bad words." By describing the destruction and graffiti passively, Harri understates the assault on the church. Similarly, when Asbo, Terry Takeaway's dog, retrieves meat, Harri thinks about "the dead man in the bushes. You hoped the meat wasn't from him." Harri is not shocked by the presence of a dead body in the park bushes.

Hollyoaks - A British soap opera that first aired in 1995. Lydia and her friends enjoy this television show
I Am Legend - A post-apocalyptic film starring Will Smith. Auntie Sonia claimed to have made Will Smith's bed

Michael Jackson - A massively famous American singer and dancer. Harri and Poppy share a love of Michael Jackson
Ofori Amponsah - A Ghanaian singer-songwriter. Harri plays an Ofori Amponsah CD to drown out Miquita's advances
Kwaw Kese - A Ghanaian musician and rapper. Lydia receives a Kwaw Kese CD for her birthday.

Spiderman, Wolverine, and Storm - Altaf teaches Harri about these characters from the Marvel Comics universe
Ananse - the Akan trickster god who is usually depicted as a spider. Harri compares superheroes to Ananse

Usain Bolt - a Jamaican Olympian considered the fastest sprinter of all time. Harri compares himself to Usain Bolt after winning his school's race.

Harri describes his dismal urban environment in grim detail. For example, when describing the playground, a place Harri and other children love, he lists "football goals with no nets," "drug needles around the playground," swings that are "are always broken from the dogbites," and "broken glass everywhere." The text paints a vivid picture of Harri's neighborhood by simply listing what Harri observes.

Harri desires to join the Dell Farm Crew and seeks their protection, though the Crew relentlessly bullies Harri, murders their enemies, and is responsible for nearly all the danger Harri finds himself in.

Harri and the dead boy's deaths parallel one another. Harri admired the dead boy and saw similarities between them, such as their mutual love of the Chelsea soccer team and that they dated similar-looking girls. Harri and the dead boy both stood up to their bullies and were stabbed because of it.

Metonymy - Harri refers to the funeral guests simply as "Hoodie," "Next Hoodie," and "ten or eleven hoodie," because the guests are wearing their hoods up against the rain, and Dean thinks wearing a hoodie is suspicious.

When Harri goes out alone to feed the pigeon, he describes the night by stating that "the river was asleep" like Lydia and Mamma and that "the helicopters were out looking for robbers again."

During the carnival, Harri describes a girl's dancing by using personification. To illustrate her limited mobility, Harri states the girl's "feet were tapping on the ground all stiff and shy."

Harri is slightly indignant when he learns that fingerprints enhance a person's ability to feel small objects. He claims "it isn't really a fingerprint's job to identify you," but it is an "accident" that fingerprints have been coopted as forensic evidence because "everybody's pattern is different."