Book Response: "Forest Gate" by Peter Akinti

Everyone has had suicidal thoughts at one point or another.

If someone actually has committed suicide, though it is up to the ones the victim loved to find cues as to what led the victim to kill themselves. Forest Gate by Peter Akinti is about a boy who flees from Somalia as a refugee. In London, he encounters many taunts and jeers when he goes to the Forest Gate School for Boys. They bullied him only because they thought he was Pakistani, calling him a “Paki liar,” when he told them he wasn't Pakistani, and was not lying about it. All the people in his class teased him,

Except for one boy.

James, the only friend Ashvin had, as well as Ashvin himself, soon became friends. This shows that some people look at the mainstream people as the antagonists, and come out of it better people.

“My sponsor….bought me expensive jeans, same as everybody wears...and Air Force 1s.”
“Great! Why don’t you put them on?”
”Then they would win.” 

They soon discover that neither of them want to be part of a world where the human race can be so cruel, and become friends over the fact that they are suicidal.
Each of them as only got the other, which might make it more tempting to kill themselves. This is the first clue that they want to kill themselves, at least the first clue that is visible to the outside world.

Also, James’ brothers and mother are completely ignorant to James’ problems, and thus continue to be insensitive to his loneliness.

When Ashvin was beaten by his peers, they did it only for two reasons: They didn’t know anything about him, and were scared of him, and also, they thought he was lesser than them because he was of color, when they knew that he genuinely didn’t care that they despised him.

There is a quote about after the fact when Ashvin sits, huddled in the dark, the rain washing over the bloody gash on the bridge of his nose, that I thought was important because it is truly iconic of the relationship between James and Ashvin.

“... James said he would have cried but he remembered staring directly into Ashvin's eyes looking for tears, but they only glistened in triumph.”

Even while they are raped by two male police officers, they try not to give up. They are trying hard not to give in, but the human race makes it more and more tempting to let death wipe all shame away. Ashvin answers the officers’ questions with a “It’s none of your business”. Jam,es, however, reacts by crying and telling them the entire story while they strangle him.

At some point, Ashvin’s sister states that they “should never have been united in the first place.” I strongly disagree with that idea, because not having a confidant to talk to can make a situation of wanting to give up far worse. I think that given a different reason to have been united may have stopped them from committing suicide. Had they not met each other because a bully threatened to kill Ashvin with a gun to his head, calling him racist things, and beating him until he bled, I think the nature of their relationship would have been a lot more innocent.

All in all, the clues that should be made blatant within this story are numerous. The bullying played a big role. It affected not only Ashvin but also the relationship he has with James. The fact that they were raped by the two racist police officers also probably made giving up more tempting. The question Ashvin’s sister has to answer, now, is how she could have stopped Ashvin from leaving this world.