There exists a significant difference between the
perceptions of London from the past, as seen through Evaristo’s novel, The Emperor’s Babe, and current times.
The verse of the novel helps to more indirectly add to the idea of London from
the past. In addition, the character of Zuleika creates another set of
perceptions as well. Evaristo chose a character that would change perceptions
based on her feelings for herself and others, as well as one that would see all
aspects of London. This character and novel created easy comparisons to the
modern age today.
Evaristo’s novel deals with how someone in the roman time
period could have viewed London, England, which is directly in contrast to how
we view London now. The difference in the views of Zuleika from her days as a
poor baker’s daughter to the affair of the emperor also changes in the novel. In
Evaristo’s novel London is shown as somewhat of a cesspool, dirty and
uncivilized. However, as a poor citizen of London Zuleika enjoyed her life. Her
perception of London does shift immensely when she is married off to a man much
older than she. She begins to see the side of London those with money can
afford. However, even though her technical standard of life increased she hates
her life. This mostly has to do with the fact that her husband essentially
raped her. Evaristo manages to give a description of London in its many various
forms through class division. While the London Evaristo shows through Zuleika
is a town on the very outreaches of an empire, she also shows that with enough money,
the upper class could still have elaborate homes. Even these homes however, did
not save the wealthy from experiencing the weather, especially as the wealthy
build their homes in the style of their counterparts in the capital of Rome. Seeing
as many viewed London as a bland town that had nothing to recommend it, the
idea of following the capital makes sense. Zuleika describes the house she must
share with Felix during the winter, “’Great for British winters,’ I once replied,
/ as snow fell on to the frozen fountain,” sarcastically describing how the
want of the wealthy to emulate the ‘fashionable’ thus leading to them not
adapting to the very different weather and terrain of London and England.
Evaristo writes the novel in such a way as to introduce the
idea of how station can affect perceptions, as can feelings towards others. The
very first part is like an
introduction and gives insight into the character as she is throughout most of
the book. The word choice in each of the sections helps to signify the feelings
of Zuleika towards the other characters and herself. The very beginning before
she is married off suggests that she is content with her life and that she
enjoys being a rapscallion. Yet, even here, there remains a scene of London
that is somewhat terrifying. “Our thanks? To raid his store one night, /find
his great, black, rigor mortis self,” describes the time that she and her
friend found a dead body in a shop. There is no description of how long the
body was there, and things like this do still happen today, but this scene was
disturbing, especially since both Zuleika and her friend Alba are young in this
section. She avoids her family after realizing that her father basically sold
her to the man that wanted her as a wife. After her forced marriage and rape Zuleika
becomes dissident and somewhat listless until one day she leaves her house and
security detail to visit others. “…it was my first night/ in the Kingdom of the
Dead,” it what Evaristo uses to describe Zuleika’s wedding night. The use of
the Kingdom of the Dead as a metaphor shows indication that the character
Zuleika hated or would grow to hate her life married to Felix. She becomes less listless before she begins to
become worse and worse, clearly disliking herself and her lot in life. “I am
becoming a spectre, I think…” references how she gets through the first year of
her marriage. She is afraid of being left alone, but also of having Felix
return from trade. This is understandable considering that she could not be any
older than twelve when she is married off. However, she manages to adjust her
perception slightly to deal with this fact, and when she is gifted with a
couple of slaves and finally visits her friends she becomes a bit happier. “I
would have more days out on the town,” is at the very end of a part of section
two, after Zuleika has spent a day with one of her friends. Yet even with this
section, immediately afterwards comes a section where she meets her husband’s
sister and her self-doubt begins again. But, she does gain the two slaves, who
start out wild but as Zuleika muses “…I hope they will become—/my devotees.” However,
once Zuleika begins the affair with the Emperor the prose picks up and becoming
more romantic and brighter. Zuleika’s prose also focuses on the emperor and not
on herself as much. “my Libyan, my lover-to-be,” focuses specifically on her
description of the emperor. This again addresses her change of perception. This
argument, while appearing to deal only with Zuleika’s perception of the people
around her indicates how her perception of London is colored.
Today’s perception of London is as a metropolitan center. It
is seen as a city on par with New York, Paris, and Rome. In addition, London is
the capital of the United Kingdom, a direct contrast to the backwater town that
was part of the roman empire. London is the heart of Britain and was the
capital of a very large empire for a number of years. London is no longer dirt
roads and beggars, where only the very rich have homes of comfort and design. Instead,
it has become a thriving metropolis that caters to people from around the world
who travel or make their homes there. Today people see London as a place to
travel to, a place of higher learning, and a place to retire. This outlook echoes
how the romans would have viewed Rome, and how capitals have been viewed
throughout history. Capitals can be of the countries themselves, such as
Washington D.C. and Paris, but also of other things, specifically fashion, like
New York and Milan. This makes the difference even more interesting, as London
is not only a capital of a country, but also a fashion capital. London was also
at one point the center of a huge empire, and while this was not necessarily a
bright point in the history of England, almost becoming Rome in a way. Rome was
the center of a huge empire and was seen as the center of the West. London is
not seen today as the center of the West; however, it is seen as an important
place for Western culture. This dichotomy is interesting in another way when
considering the modern slang used in Evaristo’s novel and when the novel itself
was written. Evaristo wrote the novel in this time period, where London is a
major player in the world, but manages to create the scene of London that would
have been more appropriate for the Roman times. The modern slang is not used
for the descriptions of London, but instead appear to be used when Zuleika
becomes frustrated or something important happens.
This use modern slang led to the easy digestion of the
material and created a perception for the readers that directly correlated to
the character. Readers can only experience London through the eyes of the
character, which does also bring up the question of if Evaristo had chosen
another character through which to discuss London, how that might have changed
the reader’s perception. This choice of main character allowed the readers to
see how someone whose station changed and whose perception was massively
affected by those around her could give a description of her life that provided
a commentary on the time period. The modern slang occurs at specific parts of
the novel and allows the readers to try and think about what Zuleika must be
thinking in her situation. In addition, some of the modern slang could more
accurately describe both Zuleika’s condition and feelings than non-slang. Yet
at the same time there is a break every so often where Evaristo brings in Latin
words or phrases, underling more emphatically the time period in which the
novel is taking place. Again, these phrases underscore important parts of the
novel including when her father is selling her to Felix. In a way this
dichotomy of modern slang and Latin phrases also brings in the idea of London
as somewhat of a rebel. Essentially, even though the roman empire had built
London, and Latin was a language spoken by the wealthy and powerful other
languages were still spoken by a majority of the population. This dichotomy
could also signify London today, as a place where many cultures mesh on a daily
basis, like the modern slang and Latin phrases are meshed in this novel.
Just as Zuleika’s perception of London changed based off of
her experiences, so too, does the modern interpretation of London change based
off of experiences. This is a fundamental condition of the human psyche, which
makes Evaristo’s novel all the more compelling. The choice to use prose instead of writing in
free verse also affects how the reader perceives ancient London. This choice
means that the reader has to first dissect exactly what is being said before
even considering looking into the thoughts behind the words. This could also be
seen as a metaphor for London. The reader can look on the surface and see one
version, but has to look deeper to find what is truly being said before they
can extrapolate exactly what is London. The description of England in the book
is not favorable, describing the freezing winter and the hazy and hot summer.
She also describes the lack of hygiene in London. At one point she references,
“…the alfresco sewage running/ between paving stones…” which brings this to
attention. In addition, she continuously references mud, particularly in th
summer, most likely from the rain. “lifted my skirts and was carried by sedan/
over the mud,” is a description from when she is happy, but nonetheless
provides insight into how the Romans viewed London as dirty and gritty.
Throughout this novel there are clear dichotomies in the
word choice and descriptions of city. Yet these are only insights into the
differences between the roman London and view of it and today’s view of London
as a modern and hip capital. These ideals are brought into even greater
attention by the changing perception of the character Zuleika in addition to
the changing perception of the reader throughout the book. All of the
perceptions and dichotomies lead to the differences between roman London and
modern London being clear in such a way that the reader understands just how
unique each if these perspectives are and what creates each.
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