‘Little Green Man’ (2001), Simon Armitage

Analysis: how is autism represented?

At one point in Simon Armitage’s 2001 novel Little Green Man, the narrator, Barney, is told “‘[y]ou’re a sick person. You make people ill. You poison them.’” (186). Another tells him “[y]ou need help” (227). They are both right, and even with the dramatic reveals of the ending (which in itself is a masterful piece of plotting) I found the story dark to the verge of twisted. It read a little like reality TV taken to extremes: as children, Barney’s gang of five friends discovered the eponymous statue of a little green man. Whoever was in possession of the green man could give a dare to another of the group, who then took possession of it, and so the cycle continued. The plot focuses largely on the gang as adults: Barney has rediscovered the statue and reunites the old gang (now with families and wives) in what amounts to a rapidly escalating game of dares; whoever fails their dare is out. The prize? The statue, which has turned out to be worth a veritable fortune.

I finished the novel with a vague sense of being left dirty, unclean. Like in reality TV, there are no heroes. In fact, not a single one of the characters is even remotely likable. They aren’t flawed, but borderline demonic. This theme continues in the presentation of the character with autism, Barney’s seven-year-old son Travis. Travis lives with his mother, Barney’s estranged wife Kim. In his infrequent appearances in the story, Travis is constantly demanding something, usually one of “VEEJO” (33) or “TOCOLATE” (187). In fact, I don’t think there is a single positive portrayal of Travis in the story. His role seems to be to cause trouble, with his unusual impulses (such as throwing everything in the carriage out the window of a train, including his and Barney’s train tickets), meltdowns, and generally “making a nuisance of himself” (82).

This is reflected in his treatment both by the characters, and by Armitage himself. The fact that Armitage writes Travis’s dialogue to reflect his idiolect is at odds with every single other character, whose voices are uniformly presented in Queen’s English with barely a hint of geography or class. The characters too (who, as has been established, are far from angels) see Travis as something other. At one stage Travis has been taken from school by an unknown person, and rather than describing him as kidnapped, Kim says to Barney “[s]omeone’s stolen him, Barney” (181); dehumanising Travis into little more than a thing to be owned. Barney likewise does not think much of Travis, particularly his ability to empathise. At one stage he considers what Travis’s reaction will be when Barney dies, reflecting “[a]nd Travis? What would he do? Poke me with a stick? Ask me for a biscuit?” (237).

This trend continues in the comparisons Barney – and perhaps Armitage – make about Travis. Travis is variously compared to:

“one of those boneless sea creatures on the inside of a glass tank” (21)

“starving Ethiopians” (54)

“a Tasmanian Devil on heat” (120)

“that strange alien creature supposedly pulled from a spaceship in Roswell, New Mexico” (126)

“a monkey” (163)

“something out of a fairy story, a skinny little sea-elf with blond hair and blue eyes, who’d come ashore from the deep. At any moment he might slide back under the waves and disappear into the otherworld” (167)

“a baby” (188)

“a cat” (193)

Clearly these are problematic descriptors. They are beings without individuality, agency, or from another world altogether, and although they may be used to describe a specific situation or action, they add up to form a larger picture. That picture is a routine dehumanisation and alienation of Travis.

It would be easy to blame this on the narrator. It could indicate deepseated problems with Barney rather than with the text itself. Which would be valid, except for the fact that the descriptions of Travis are mirrored through the aforementioned lack of any positive actions by Travis within the text.

When present, some of the autistic traits are described well, particularly given the novel is approaching 20 years old. Travis’s love of repetition for instance is described well. When watching Top Cat he is described as rewatching the same scene over and over again:

“as soon as Officer Dibble tripped over the baseball bat and went flying through the air, Travis hit the rewind switch with the big toe of his right foot, and the cartoon ran backwards for four or five seconds. Then he hit the play button with his left foot, and the video clunked into forward gear, and Officer Dibble tripped and flew, and Travis stuck out his right foot. Rewind, whirr, clunk, play, clunk, rewind, whirr, clunk, play. Each time, Travis turned his head, watching from sideways on, letting out a little yelp of delight and pedalling his legs in the air before reaching out for the button again with his toe. Clunk, rewind, whirr, clunk, play” (33)

The inclusion of Travis’s special diet and dosage of Ritalin is also an authentic touch. However, the complete absence of any positivity around Travis serves to fundamentally undermine these more positive elements.

Armitage’s portrayal of autism is reasonably accurate in what he shows, but he is let down by his characterisation of Travis. Although a child, he is seen by characters, and inevitably the reader, as needy and demanding, exhibiting no positive traits such as love or affection. He is driven by base needs and desires, an impression which is furthered by Armitage’s frequent comparisons to animals or otherworldly beings. Armitage further separates Travis from the rest of the characters linguistically by making him the only character to speak in an idiolect. This all serves to make this a frustrating text as far as its presentation of autism goes. On the one hand Armitage presents several potential traits of autism realistically, but on the other Travis is scorned and dehumanised by all the significant characters he comes into contact with, including both his own mother and father. For me these issues in the presentation of autism all boil down to one core issue: the absence of positivity around Travis. This issue metonymically stands in for a broader issue: an absence of positivity around autism.

Textual information

Publisher: Penguin Books

City: London

Edition date: 2002

Blurb: “Boys will be boys, and eventually they grow up to be men.

It’s just a shame that they keep on acting like boys…

Rummaging through his attic one day, Barney unearths a priceless possession – one that takes him back to his seventies childhood, to his old gang, and far away from his failed marriage and unreachable young son. But when Barney reunites his circle of friends, past jealousies and rivalries begin to surface. Only this time they’re dangerous. Because boys’ games can be cruel, and boys’ games played for adult stakes even crueller…”

Total pages: 246

Author’s relation to autism: unsure

Autism (Asperger’s) within the text

Explicit in blurb: no

Explicit in text: yes

Age: 7

Sex: male