To Sir with Love

In the same way that Braithwaite represents the epitome of masculinity within the novel, Gillian Blanchard functions as the picture of femininity. Again, much of the emphasis on Blanchard’s femininity concerns her appearance, which Braithwaite immediately notices: she is “tall, her hair cut in a black neat skull-cap, full figured, elegant” (20). Braithwaite sees similarities between the femininity of Blanchard and Caribbean women, who Braithwaite believes to be the most beautiful in the world. Blanchard does not appear to be fully Anglo-Saxon, and so Braithwaite finds commonality with her there. However, Blanchard does not seem to be the recipient of any kind of prejudice, or understand that prejudice even exists in English society. In contrast to Braithwaite, Blanchard is decidedly white, and British, bringing to light a kind of sliding scale of racism in terms of English society.

Blanchard comes from a wealthy family and shares Braithwaite’s love of culture: theatre, opera, and fine dining. She is shy and tends not to say much in public settings; however, this shyness could be a result of her relatively short engagement with the school, as she only showed up a week before Braithwaite. However, this shyness also seems to cement Braithwaite’s conception of Blanchard as the feminine ideal, an ideal which harkens back to Victorian notions of femininity. As such, the relationship between Braithwaite and Blanchard is problematic for modern audiences: Braithwaite frequently infantilizes Blanchard, referring to her as a girl instead of a woman. When Blanchard loses her temper with Braithwaite and throws off the Victorian ideal of female silence, Braithwaite finds her behavior abhorrent, and they almost break up as a result. However, Blanchard once again returns to relative subservience, allowing their relationship to continue. Blanchard embodies the idea of the fairer sex and acts as a symbol of Braithwaite’s paternalistic outlook towards women. 

Clinty is the “art and drama teacher, a chubby well-formed thirtyish brunette who exuded a certain brash animal charm” (20). She is Braithwaite’s confidante and serves as a foil to the lovely Gillian Blanchard. Clinty exudes an unchecked sexuality that Braithwaite tries to ignore and finds embarrassing, suiting “action to words with puckered lips and arched eyebrows” (21).

Braithwaite often compares Clinty to an animal, as she is frequently snorting with laughter and perching saucily on the side of a desk. Even though Clinty is Braithwaite’s confidante, she makes him uncomfortable: “For some inexplicable reason, I felt nervous about being alone around Clinty; I felt that there was something she wanted to say to me, and for my part I did not want to hear it” (159). Braithwaite knows that Clinty finds him attractive but does his best to ignore her advances. In this way, Clinty is similar to the students, who Braithwaite also views as exhibiting a crude sexuality. Like the students, Clinty is also from the East End, indicating that Braithwaite finds the very community in which he is teaching to be an affront to his ideals.

Braithwaite does not consider Clinty to be very ladylike, as she frequently speaks her mind and mocks Weston’s masculinity. Although Braithwaite finds this amusing, and, in fact, is indebted to Clinty for frequently coming to his aid against Weston’s mockery, Braithwaite finds Clinty problematic. Unlike Gillian, Clinty represents a strong female role model to whom the students can look for guidance. However, she is rarely shown engaging with the students themselves. Therefore, even though she presents an alternative to the aristocratic or Victorian ideals of womanhood that Braithwaite espouses, Braithwaite does not allow her to exist as their role model, instead trying to mold the students to fit his beliefs.

Florian is the Headmaster at Greenslade, serving as a kind of grandfather or fun uncle for the school’s children. He is stoop-shouldered and old but has a great amount of patience and affection for the students. He does not share Braithwaite’s aggressive energy, but rather proffers a kind of calm paternalistic wisdom to both his staff and the students. The students seem to adore him, and he in turn believes that nothing is really their fault. Instead, he thinks of them as products of their environment and is never harsh or disciplinary in his speech or actions towards them. Florian believes that providing students with role models while allowing them to express themselves provides an alternative to discipline.

However, Florian’s loose-disciplinary approach is not necessarily followed by the teachers, who find it works well in theory but not in practice. This differentiation separates the teachers from Florian, a division which causes strife throughout the staff. Similarly, Braithwaite sometimes becomes frustrated by Florian’s patience and seeming innocence, as Braithwaite maintains that even though the students are products of terrible environments, they are still accountable for their actions. In this way, Braithwaite views the students more as adults than Florian does, although this viewpoint changes at the end of the novel, when Braithwaite aligns himself more with Florian.

Part of the reason it seems that Florian can exist as the embodiment of empathy towards these children lies in his own childlike nature. Braithwaite notices something childlike about Florian, who he refers to as “a mischievous imp” (12):“his brown eyes were large, slightly protruding, and seemed filled with a kind of wonder, as if he were on the verge of some new and exciting discovery” (11). Although this childlike innocence allows Florian to empathize and build rapport among the students, it is not without its downfalls. Florian seems ignorant of the bad intentions of other people. He allows Weston and then Bell to disrespect him without consequence. He also allows the school to be denigrated by a newspaper, never suspecting the ulterior motive of the news report. In every way, Florian embodies the overly optimistic educatorwho believes in the healing power of love.

Weston serves as this book’s antihero; as the only other male teacher, he exists as Braithwaite’s foil. Weston represents the negative version of Braithwaite. Although both are concerned about masculinity throughout the novel, Braithwaite depicts himself as the ideal, whereas Weston exists as its antithesis.Braithwaite mentions that Weston’s voice is “surprisingly thin and squeaky” (19), which Braithwaite finds unsuitable in a man. Seemingly, the only thing that is manly about Weston is his extravagant beard. However, Braithwaite maintains that Weston fails to meet even this aspect of masculinity, as his beard is bedraggled and unkempt. As Braithwaite believes a gentleman to be the epitome of masculinity and should be well-groomed, even this façade of masculinity fails to render Weston a man in the eyes of either Braithwaite or his audience.

Weston constantly makes racist remarks to denigrate Braithwaite and deny Braithwaite his masculinity. When Weston first meets Braithwaite, he calls him the “black sheep” (15), mocking Braithwaite’s skin tone and teaching abilities. Although Weston maintains that such jokes are all in good fun, these comments irritate Braithwaite, even though he ignores them for the most part. However, these comments serve a secondary purpose in the characterization of Weston himself. His continued attempts to deflate Braithwaite’s masculinity belie his lack of self-confidence, which contrasts sharply with Braithwaite’s self-assuredness. In this way, Braithwaite uses the character of Weston to poke holes in the prejudiced assertions of colonialism. He implicitly suggests that prejudice, and even to some extent racism, exist due to the colonizer’s lack of self-assurance.