To Sir with Love

Ricardo, or Ricky, Braithwaite is the novel’s main character, and the only Black character within the novel with the exception of Seales, who is of mixed-race heritage. Born in the Caribbean English colony of British Guiana, Braithwaite seems to have had an easy childhood, as he does not understand the depth of poverty in which his students live. With an excellent education and experience as an engineer in Trinidad and, later, in the RAF, Braithwaite seems to have not felt the depth and breadth of racism until living in England after World War II. After the war ends, he suffers horribly, and finds prejudice everywhere he looks. In this way, Braithwaite’s story represents the stories of many Black soldiers—both in Britain and the United States—and the disillusionment they felt after returning from the horrors of war to witness the horrors of inequality.

Despite the trauma, Braithwaite has undergone as a result of racism, the novel presents his character as the picture of gentlemanly masculinity: “His clothes are well cut, pressed and neat; clean shoes, shaved, teeth sparkling, tie and handkerchief matching as if he’d stepped out of a ruddy bandbox. He’s big and broad and handsome … so different from their fathers and brothers and neighbors” (111).