White Teeth is a 2000 novel by the English author, Zadie Smith. It focuses on the subsequent life of two wartime friends - Samad Iqbal of Bangladesh and England Archie Jones - and their families in London. The novel is centered around British relations with people from previously colonized countries in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.
The book won numerous awards, including the James Tait Black Memorial 2000 Award for fiction, the 2000 Whitbread Book Award in the category of best first novel, The Guardian First Book Award, Commonwealth First Book Award, and Betty Trask Award. The Time Magazine incorporated the novel in TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005 .
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On New Year's Day 1975, an Englishman named Archie Jones, a 47-year-old man whose distressed Italian wife had just walked out to him, tried to commit suicide with a gas sucked in his car while interruptions might cause him to change his mind. Filled with fresh enthusiasm for life, Archie flipped the coin and then found its way into after the New Year's Eve party. There he meets the much younger Clara Bowden, a Jamaican woman whose mother, Hortense, is a devout Jehovah's Witness. Clara is interested in the unattractive and anti-social Ryan Topps, but their relationship falls apart after Ryan becomes a member of Jehovah's Witnesses. Archie and Clara soon married and had a daughter, Irie, who grew intelligent but with low self-esteem.
Also living in Willesden, North-West London, was Archie Samad Iqbal's best friend, a Bengali Muslim from Bangladesh; the two men spent much of their time at the O'Connell pub. Archie and Samad met in 1945 when they became part of the tank crew who edged in Europe in the last days of World War II, even though they missed the action. After the war, Samad emigrated to England and married Alsana Iqbal, Alsana Begum, or "Miss Alsana," in a traditional marriage. Samad is the oppressed servant of a West End curry house, and is obsessed by the history of his alleged but unlikely grandfather Mangal Pandey, a Hindu soldier from Uttar Pradesh, not Bengal, famous for firing the first shot of the Indian Revolt of 1857 (though he missed). Samad and Alsana have twin boys, Magid and Millat, who are the same age as Irie. Samad in particular found it difficult to maintain his devotion to Islam in English life; he is constantly tormented by what he sees as the effect of this cultural conflict on his own moral character - his Muslim values ​​are undermined by his masturbation, drinking, and infidelity with his children's music teacher, Poppy Burt-Jones. In an effort to preserve his traditional beliefs, he sent a 10-year-old Magid to Bangladesh in the hope that he would grow well under the teachings of Islam. From that moment on, the lives of the two boys followed a very different path. For Samad's anger, Magid became an atlis Anglis and devoted his life to science. Millat, meanwhile, pursues the path of women's rebellion and drinking - and hides the love of mafia movies like The Godfather and Goodfellas. Angry at the marginalization of society in the British society Millat demonstrated against Salman Rushdie in 1989 and finally promised a militant Muslim fundamentalist brotherhood known as the "Eternal and Victorious Guardian of the Nation" (KEVIN).
The Jones family and Iqbal's life was intertwined with a white middle-class cadastre, a Jewish-Catholic family of Cambridge intellectuals symbolizing the typical tension of liberal liberal liberalism in North London. The father, Marcus Chalfen, is a university professor and geneticist working on the controversial 'FutureMouse' project where he introduces chemical carcinogens into the body of mice and thus is able to observe tumor development in living tissues. By reengineering the actual genome and supervising the development of cancer at the prescribed time, Marcus believes he is eliminating random. The mother, Joyce Chalfen, is a horticultural and part-time housewife with an often misguided passion to mother and 'heal' Millat as if she were one of her plants. To some extent, the Chalfen family provides a safe haven because they (confidently) accept and understand the turbulent life of Irie, Magid, and Millat. However, this sympathy comes at the expense of their own son, Joshua, whose difficulty is ignored by his parents. Originally a good "Chalfenist", Joshua then rebelled against his father and his background by joining the radical animal rights group "Against Torture and Animals Exploitation" (FATE). Meanwhile, after returning from Bangladesh, Magid worked as Marcus's research assistant on the FutureMouse project, while Millat became more involved in KEVIN. Irie, who had worked for Marcus, briefly succeeded in her long-hidden interest for Millat but was rejected under KEVIN-inspired conviction. Irie believes that Millat can not love her, because she has always been a "second son" symbolically and literally; Millat was born two minutes after Magid. Irie made Magid "second son" to change by sleeping with her right after her romantic encounter with Millat. This causes her to become pregnant, and she is not sure of the father of her child, because her brother is an identical twin.
The narrative series grows closer like Millat and KEVIN, Joshua and FATE, and the mothers of Clara Hortense and Jehovah's Witnesses all plan to show their opposition to Marcus's FutureMouse - which they view as a nefarious distraction with their own beliefs - at his exhibition on the Night of the Year New 1992. At Perret Institute, Hortense and other Jehovah's Witnesses sang aloud in the hallway. Samad is out to silence them, but when he arrives, it can not bear to stop them. When he returned, he suddenly attacked him that the founder of the Perret Institute and the oldest scientist in Marcus Chalfen's panel was Dr Perret, the Nazi whom he captured during World War II. Angry that Archie did not kill him many years ago, Samad ran and began to curse Archie. At that time, Millat climbed to the table of scientists with guns. Without thinking, Archie jumped in front of him and took a bullet in his thighs. When he falls, he knocks on a mouse glass enclosure, and it escapes.
At the end of the novel, the narrator presents us with a different "final game" in the style of television. Magid and Millat both serve community service for Millat crimes, as witnesses identify both as the culprits. Joshua and Irie eventually joined and joined Hortense in Jamaica in 2000. Mickey opened the O'Connell pub that was previously only for men, and Archie and Samad finally invited their wives with them.
Maps White Teeth
Main theme
The story mixes with sadness and humor as it illustrates the dilemmas of immigrants and their children as they are confronted by different new communities. Contrast in different host culture settings, different aspects of non-English culture emerged. British culture of the middle class and the working class also made a poem through the characters of Chalfens and Archie.
Immigration
As part of their character experience as immigrants, they are faced with a conflict between assimilating and preserving their culture. This novel describes the lives of various backgrounds, including Afro-Caribbean, Muslim, and Jewish. In accordance with the Smith inscription, "what was then is the prologue," the characters and their various cultural backgrounds show the complexity involved in immigration and replanting one's roots. For example, first-generation characters are confronted with conflicting pressures to assimilate into British society and preserve their indigenous culture. As a result, many find it difficult to claim a place in their new environment. Alsana, Samad, and Clara face various complications when assimilated into British culture and as a result experience a continuing sense of 'unrootedness': they can not replant their roots in new territory.
Smith uses second-generation characters Irie, Magid, and Millat to show how the consequences of immigration increase over time. These characters no longer have a strong relationship with the English despite being born there. In contrast, Irie, Magid, and Millat are strongly influenced by the impartiality of their parents while also experiencing difficulties in finding a place in British society. Their assimilation process is in some ways more complex because they are far from their original culture. When migration makes lineages and cultures more difficult to trace, each character also shows a theme that knows a person's roots are not always liberating. For example, Samad feels that English life is not conducive to adequate Muslim education. He tried to defend the Magid faith by sending him to Bangladesh, but Magid grew to be a believer in science, not faith. On the other hand, Millat, despite living in London, is involved with the Muslim militant group KEVIN.
As second-generation immigrants, Clara introduces her parents to a new aspect of British culture and her colleagues to her Jamaican heritage. This exchange is indicated by the relationship of Clara and Ryan and Ryan's bond with Clara's mother, Hortense Bowden. Ryan is the catalyst for Clara's diversion from his background, while Clara in turn serves as a medium for Hortense's introduction to white and Ryan for darkness (as well as conversion to a new religion). Similarly, Samad met his employer Poppy Burt-Jones, a twin teacher, when he was involved in a PTA battle to incorporate Muslim holidays into the elementary school curriculum. The actions of these second-generation immigrants reflect the idea that the past and the present are dialogue, because their lives now disrupt their parents' relationship with the past.
Roots
Irie conflicted about her own roots. She started saving money to travel to Jamaica with her grandmother while simultaneously despising Afro curls and her Jamaican grooves. He dreams of the future when the roots are not a problem; when she was pregnant and realized she would never know who her father was, she was almost happy her daughter did not have to deal with root problems. Roots are a pervasive theme in White Teeth . Samad grips them, seeing it as holy and necessary. He worries that he or her family will lose its roots. Samad once told Archie about his sons losing their roots, "People call it assimilation when it's nothing but corruption. [3] Archie has no roots, and Clara tries to escape hers. He left his mother and Jehovah's Witness in the back, but could never really clean it up. "But how vulnerable Clara's atheism is!" Like one of Hortense's little pigeon cups kept in the living room cupboard - the breath would drop him. " [4] Religion is a large part of both Bowdens 'and Iqbal' roots. Hortense is preoccupied with continuing the tradition of Jehovah's Witnesses, and Samad is worried about losing his faith.
Some narrative point of view
The character of Smith's ensemble allows him to approach the idea of ​​multiculturalism from different points of view. For example, the reader witnessed Alsana and Clara's first hand encounters with London society's prejudices. On the other hand, the reader also watches Alsana subscribe to a prejudice similar to Clara: "Blacks are often friendly, thought Alsana, smiling at Clara, and adding this unconsciously to the short pro side of the list of pros and cons she had in the girl skin black. From every minority he dislikes, Alsana likes to choose one specimen for spiritual forgiveness. "[5] White white white, Jamaican, Bengali white white character, allows readers to examine the ecosystem of one community from multiple perspectives. Smith commented, "I just want to show that there is a well-functioning community There is sadness because the way tradition fades but I want to show people trying to understand each other, regardless of their cultural differences." [6]
Dental
Leitmotif teeth and especially the white teeth of the title play a recurring role throughout. While families in this book have many things that set them apart, white teeth are of a thorough quality. No matter the color of their skin, the religion they follow, or their home country - they have white teeth. Although Clara lost her teeth in a moped accident at the beginning of the story, and they were replaced by a fake set, her whereabouts only found by her daughter when she was a teenager. Irie's decision (if it can be classified as her own) to become a dentist is another repetition of this theme. Irie, by becoming a dentist and caring for the teeth of her community, shows that she is trying to maintain a unifying element, not discriminating, in society. The theme of trying to unite the different cultural elements in the new host culture is the literary trait by and of the descendants of immigrants in different cultures.
Referring to the "tooth" theme in the novel, Smith uses the term "root canal" as a metaphor to show the character history check. For example, when Samad tries to send Magid back to his Bengali roots, the narrator uses a root canal metaphor to comment on the action: "For Samad,... roots are roots and roots are good.You will not get word that the first sign of tooth decay is something rotten, something worsens, deep inside the gums. "[7] Restoring the tooth root, as in the" root canal ", does not automatically store the teeth; similarly, Samad did not prevent Magid from adjusting to British culture by sending him back to his native Bangladesh.
Opportunities
Most of the critical relationships in the life of the main character are developed by chance. Archie and Clara Jones meet each other at the New Year's Eve party. They are pulled together by a "coincidental" similarity, since both Clara and Archie have just survived the apocalypse (Archie's attempted suicide and Clara - witness escaped from Jehova - Armageddon's prediction of 1 January 1975). Samad's failed attempt to control the fate of his sons only pushed his sons away, as Millat became a rebel and Magid "was more English than English." Millat and Magid are the subject of chance and constant opportunity: for example, the two brothers mysteriously break their noses at the same time. Eventually Samad, Millat, and Magid had no control over their fate. Archie also relies heavily on opportunities, making great life decisions by flipping coins. [8] Even Clara and Ryan are bound together by chance: they are united by their differences, both of whom are the only students at St. Jude who is "not Irish or Roman Catholic." [9]
Race
The way characters from different races look at each other is the main theme in the novel, and is intertwined with the culture and country of origin of many characters. Many characters exhibit a skin-based bias, which they do not seem to realize: Archie, despite marrying a black woman and being good friends with Bangladeshi men, is cited as Clara's thought as' not the black kind ', and Samad and Alsana as' Indians' (and Alsana also believes that all non-Bengali Muslims are worse off, and that he needs to 'save' some of them, such as Clara); the idea that Indian children are often quieter and quieter in class, and that Millat is weird because it acts differently for this, repeated by some white women. It implied that Joyce Chalfen thought that Alsana was a bad mother because she was poorly educated, and from a more backward country, and lacked confidence in the psychology of Joyce. Iqbal and their Bengali friends and relatives are often and often referred to as 'Indian', 'Pakis', and so on. Clara's mother does not recognize her for marrying a white man because she does not want Clara's children to lose her dark skin and Jamaican heritage, even though her own father is white. Irie goes to a hair salon that caters to black women by giving them straight and less black hair, because she is desperate to get rid of her own afro.
The racial complex relationship with the culture, religion, family, and immigrant status often characterize the novel: Chalfens is ethnically Jewish but does not appear religious at all, but follows the principle of "Chalfenism". Magid and Millat, though they both belonged to the same Bengali Muslim family, ended up radically different - Millat, although raised in the West in England, became a fundamentalist Muslim, and Magid, was sent to Bangladesh to learn about his family culture. , educated at British universities and supports the Marcus eugenics experiment. Alsana, a devout Muslim, makes money by sewing underwear, whose function is against his morals. The Bowdens family, the Clara family, are Jehovah's Witnesses, a religion taught to Clara's grandmother by a Scottish white woman.
Characters of different races often have more in common than characters of the same race. For example, Archie and Samad remain good friends despite their different cultural backgrounds, while the twin sisters Magid and Millat never approve of each other's lives and Alsana and Samad have never had a fully happy marriage.
Assimilation
The second generation of Irie, Millat and Magid children are struggling to find a way to get into mainstream white British society. Irie chemically straightens her hair and wants a thin white body. Millat initially refused to follow Islam, his father's religion. The children are interested in Chalfens, who physically manifest their idea of ​​a white England. They were aligning themselves with the Chalfens though there were many clues that something was wrong with the family, especially Joyce's arrogant mother. The search for assimilation eventually alienates the children from their parents. In the end, Irie and Millat show signs of scolding assimilation and trying to navigate their place in the world as individuals.
Fundamentalism
Fundamentalism is shown in three different manifestations throughout the second half of the novel: KEVIN, FATE, and Jehovah's Witnesses. The various characters that join FATE and KEVIN are drawn by a sense of security inherent in fundamentalism or the joy of extreme action, rather than the group's own doctrine. Members of these groups often have ulterior motives: Millat's desire to participate in a hip-hop or mafia culture is fulfilled by his membership at KEVIN; Mo Hussein-Ishmael joins KEVIN for status; Joshua cares less about eliminating cruelty to animals than rebelling against his father, Marcus, and being close to an interesting Joely. To be fundamentalists, Millat and Joshua both must reject one element of their roots - their father. On the contrary, the character of Jehovah's Witnesses shows no ulterior motive: Hortense and Ryan Topps are committed to the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses and vigorously promote their message to the public with door-to-door canvassing, leafleting and hymn praise in public demonstrations.
Main characters
Alfred Archibald Jones
Archie is mediocre and indecisive, preferring to make the most important decisions with a flip of coins. Archie's ex-wife is Ophelia Diagilo, whom she considers crazy for her simplicity. She later married Clara, a Jamaican woman less than half her age, with whom she has a daughter, Irie. Archie's best friend is Samad Iqbal. The two men served together in World War II in the British Army and often visited the O'Connell pub.
Samad Miah Iqbal
Archie's best friend, a middle-aged World War II veteran with a paralyzed right hand. Samad was born in Bangladesh and met Archie when they became soldiers in Eastern Europe. He works as a waiter in an Indian restaurant, where he receives some tips. His wife is Alsana Begum, and his twin sons are Magid and Millat. More than anything, Samad wants his children to grow up to be a traditional and religious Bengali Muslim man. To ensure this, he tried hard, even sent Magid to be raised in Bangladesh (for all intents and purposes, this is a kidnapping). Samad is a religious and outspoken person, enjoying his control even though he is a loyal to destiny, and considers himself more worldly and intellectual than others to give him credit. Samad's plot revolves around the difficulties he finds adapting to British culture while still maintaining his Bangladeshi heritage, as well as raising second-generation immigrant children when they become the product of cross-cultural identity.
Clara Jones
Clara Jones, n. Bowden, was an awkward and unpopular Jehovah Witness who spent his teenage years searching the door from door to door. When he encounters the equally unattractive Ryan Topps, he abandons his religion and takes his rebellious course, though Ryan becomes his own persistent Jehovah's Witness. When Ryan and Clara crash into a tree on Ryan's scooter, Clara's upper teeth are knocked out. She meets Archie Jones and marries her, though she finds her unimpressive and she's more than twice her age. Archie and Clara have a daughter named Irie.
Alsana Begum
Alsana Iqbal, nÃÆ' Â © e Begum, is the young wife of Samad Iqbal, who was promised to her before her birth. They have twin sons, Magid and Millat. To help pay the bills, she sews clothes at her home sewing machine for the S & amp; M called Domination in Soho. Though charismatic and judgmental in nature, he thinks marriage should be dealt with silently. However, he has a volcanic temperament and generally wins the fight with Samad by injuring him.
Irie Ambrosia Jones
Irie - whose name means "OK, cool, peaceful" in Patois - is the daughter of Clara and Archie Jones. Irie has been friends with Magid and Millat Iqbal since birth. After struggling with her sexuality and racial identity, Irie finds an answer in her grandmother, Hortense Bowden. He decides to enter the field of dentistry and, despite his best efforts to prevent it, ends up with Joshua Chalfen. After sleeping with Magid and Millat, Irie gave birth to a daughter whose father was never known, because the twins had exactly the same DNA.
Millat Zulfikar Iqbal
Millat, born 2 minutes slower than his twin sister, Magid, is the youngest son of Samad and Alsana. After Magid was sent to Bangladesh, Millat came alone as a troublemaker, cigarette drinker, and female rebel. However, Millat ultimately rejects this lifestyle for fundamentalist Islam, becoming KEVIN's main driving force. At the FutureMouse conference, he tries to shoot Dr. Perret, but instead shoots Archie on his thigh. Millat may or may not be Irie's baby father.
Magid Mahfooz Murshed Mubtasim Iqbal
Magid is the eldest son of Samad and Alsana, and Millat's twin brother. Magid is intellectually adult prematurely and insists on dressing and acting like an adult, even at a very young age. Magid hated his legacy and wished he and his family were more "normal" and English. Samad basically abducted Magid and sent him to be raised traditionally in Bangladesh. For his father's unhappiness, Magid became a British intellectual wearing a shirt, secular. When he finally returned to London, he joined FutureMouse Marcus Chalfen program. Magid is fascinated by the certainty of the offer of genetic engineering fate, and by having the power to choose the path of another creature, because he was chosen for him. Magid may or may not be the father of baby Irie.
Marcus Chalfen
Marcus Chalfen is a Jewish genetic engineer and husband of Joyce Chalfen. The controversial FutureMouse experiment involves genetic changes in mice so that it develops cancer at specific times and places. Marcus lost interest in mentoring Irie when he started to fit Magid.
Joyce Chalfen
Joyce is a horticulture, writer, and wife of Marcus Chalfen. He has four sons, all of whom adore him. Joyce is a natural nanny and constantly feels the need to take care of things and people. From the moment they meet, Millat goes to Joyce, and she feels the need to raise her and fond her needs.
Joshua Chalfen
Joshua is the son of Joyce and Marcus Chalfen. Initially interested in his studies at Glenard Oak School, Joshua rebelled against Chalfens (especially his father) by joining animal rights groups, FATE. Joshua had a crush on Irie and, later, on Joely. He remains at FATE largely as an excuse to stay close to him.
Television adaptation
A four-part television adaptation of the novel was made and broadcasted on Channel 4 in 2002. The film was directed by Julian Jarrold, starring Om Puri as Samad and Phil Davis as Archie. Each episode focuses on the male main character when he finds a turning point in his life: "The Strange Second Marriage of Archie Jones", "The Temptation of Samad Iqbal", "The Problem with Millat", and "The Return of Magid Iqbal" ".
See also
- Hysterical realism
- Mangal Pandey
- Metafiction historiography
References
Further reading
- Squires, Claire. White Teeth - A Reader's Guide (New York: Continuum International, 2002).
- Bentley, Nick. "Zadie Smith, White Teeth ", 2008. In Contemporary British Fiction , pp. 52-61. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-2420-1.
External links
- White Teeth on IMDb
- Zadie Smith discusses White Teeth on the BBC World Book Club
- Official website for movie adaptation (with trailers)
- Description of White Teeth at Random House.
- Section extracted from White Teeth
- White Teeth . Interview with Zadie Smith
- White Teeth by Zadie Smith. Exploring the cultural implications of Zadie Smith's debut novel by Stephen Moss.
- Reviews about White Teeth in The Guardian , by John Mullan.
- Articles in The Guardian on TV adaptation White Teeth
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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