Major Issues Raised in White Teeth by Zadie Smith - Book Report/Review Example

Major issues raised in “White teeth” The novel d “White teeth” by Zadie Smith deals with the issues of racial differences, problems of assimilation into a different culture and the complexities of the immigrant experience in Britain. Throughout the turmoil and upheavals portrayed in the experiences of the various characters in the story, the central issue that the author appears to be trying to convey is the common factor binding all these different groups, i.e., their human nature. The mode of expression of this common element is through white teeth. One of the major issues raised in the story is that of multiculturalism, because the story centers around three families of different ethnic backgrounds who all live in London. The characters struggle to develop a sense of identity and belonging and Smith illustrates this through several and constant references to the end of the world, thus suggesting that the protagonists are suffering from uncertainty about the future which only makes them adhere even more closely to the past and to their cultural roots (Ellam, 2007). The immigrant experience is thus the foundation of the entire story, because each of the three families comprises individuals whose background derives from another country but who are trying to settle into the UK. Colonialism plays a significant role, because the confusion the characters feel about their ethnic identity in London is linked to the colonial roots of England’s past (Mullan, 2002). Since England was a great colonial power, many of the ethnic minorities now living in London such as the Jamaicans, Indians and Bangladeshis were treated as inferior citizens by the British and as the novel portrays, in the modern day the immigrant experience is doubly difficult, because they find themselves in a position of struggling to overcome the subtle underlying racial prejudices as well before they can assimilate into UK society. As Mullen (2002) also points out, another characteristic feature of post colonialism that is evident in the book White Teeth is the use of the English language in such a manner that it accommodates the customs and vocabularies of the formerly colonial races. Through the story, the author appears to be trying to demonstrate that the barriers of ethnic origin and colour could possibly be transcended in some instances, despite the struggle that this might entail. For instance, the two main protagonists in the story are Archie Jones who is married to a Jamaican woman named Clara and Samad Iqbal, a Bangladeshi man who is Archie’s best friend. Despite the upheavals that occur periodically in the story and the difficulties that both these men face in their personal lives as well as in the lives of their children, their friendship persists and sustains itself, remaining as strong and stable as ever. As the story reveals, the two men met during the second World War when they were both manning a tank in Europe. During the succeeding years after the Second World War into the 2000 decade, momentous changes had taken place in the racial equations that once existed, wherein coloured people were seen to be inferior and subjected to racism. As Moss (2000) has pointed out, the author Smith herself is a representation of the new post-racial society that she espouses so strongly in her book; the new entrepreneurial, multicultural Britain because she is a young, half-Jamaican woman. The storyline is the struggle of individuals from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds to fit into British society and Moss (2000) has highlighted the views of other critics that Britain is a “mongrel nation” characterized by a “fortuitously diverse condition” that also produces a “concomitant pain”. The cultural and ethnic diversity which is so much a part of Britain is illuminated in this book and the experience of the characters is like looking into a mirror which portrays to some extent, the struggle of the country itself to accept the ebb and flow of history which has brought so many immigrants to its shores. Thus, another major underlying theme in Smith’s book is the gazing into the cultural mirror mosaic that spells Britain in the present day, while the friendship of Archie and Iqbal represents the stability of certain values that are common to all groups, whether ethnic or native. The story for example, tries to portray the new multicultural Britain by going against racial stereotypes in the portrayal of the characters of Iqbal’s two sons. As the story unfolds, the characters struggle to reconcile their own cultural beliefs and practices in the context of the host culture, i.e., Britain. In the process, the author is able to shed light on the good and bad points about both the cultures. While one of Iqbal’s sons, Magid is sent to Bangladesh so that he can absorb the Muslim culture and adapt to it, the events in the story show that this son who was to be trained into a devout Muslim becomes an atheist and makes science his consuming passion. On the other hand, Millat, Magid’s twin who stays on in Britain and is a drunkard and womanizer, surprisingly goes on to become a part of a Muslim brotherhood. The Chalfens who are Jewish, also go against the stereotypes of their race as intellectual liberals. In the process of illustrating the difficulties experienced by other cultures in assimilating into British society, Smith has also shed light on some of the negative elements of British society, such as the loss of family values and closeness which is prevalent in the other cultures such as Asian, Jamaican and Jewish cultures. Yet another important theme underlying the story of White teeth is the interactions between the families of various races, which sometimes appear to go against their own culture. For instance, the Chalfens treat Iqbal’s sons, Magid and Millat as their own sons and are very sympathetic to the turmoil and difficulties those two young men are facing; so much so that they ignore their own son Josh, who is sidelined. Towards the end of the story, this blurring of cultural differences becomes even more evident as Millat and the radical Muslim brotherhood, Josh and an animal rights group as well as Archie’s Jamaican mother-in-law with her religious connections, all join together in opposition to Marcus Chalfen’s science projects. This plot line effectively demonstrates how religion becomes the common factor uniting these people of various different cultures so that they all stand together in the battle of religion versus science. The novel is aptly named “White Teeth” because it contributes towards a building up on the same theme of unity and a common factor underlying all the different racial and ethnic groups that comprise the mosaic of British society and make it a mongrel nation. What divides people of different cultures is the colour of their skin, their outward appearance and their cultural practices despite the fact that all of them are human beings. While outwardly, Smith appears to be focusing on the cultural differences and showing individuals from different cultures all struggling to get along with each other, she constantly brings up the motif of “white teeth” which recurs throughout the story. It is significant to note that despite the outward colour of the skin or the race/culture that an individual belongs to, they all have teeth that are white. Whether Jamaican, Muslim or British, teeth are one common element of the human body that are exactly alike in everyone, irrespective of whatever their religious, cultural or ethnic background is and they are white in the case of all human beings. The author thus highlights the unity of the human race and suggests that despite the cultural and religious differences existing between individuals struggling to live together in Britain, these differences are only external because deep down, the common factor uniting them all is their human-ness, symbolically represented by this author through white teeth, which are exactly the same in people from all cultures. While variations in shape and size may exist, they are all nevertheless white, hence the recurring motif of the white teeth is significant. References: Ellam, Julie, 2007. “Critical Perspective”, Retrieved March 16, 2010 from: http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth257#criticalperspective Moss, Stephen, 2000. “White teeth by Zadie Smith”, The Guardian, January 26, 2000; Retrieved March 16, 2010 from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/jan/26/fiction.zadiesmith Mullan, John, 2002. “After post colonialism”, The Guardian, October 12, 2002; Retrieved March 17, 2010 from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/oct/12/featuresreviews.guardianreview31 Read More