White Teeth

By Zadie Smith

Well,' said Joyce, released by Marcus and planting herself down at the circular table, inviting them to do the same, 'you look very exotic. Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking?' 'Willesden,' said Irie and Millat simultaneously.

'Yes, yes, of course, but where originally?' 'Oh,' said Millat, putting on what he called a bud-bud-ding-ding accent. 'You are meaning where from I am originally.' Joyce looked confused. 'Yes, originally.' 'Whitechapel,' said Millat, pulling out a fag. 'Via the Royal London Hospital and the 207 bus.'

White Teeth is the story about Archie and Samad and their friendship. They are in their 50's and have been friends since they served in World War II together.

Archie (Alfred Archibald Jones) is a working-class Englishman. The story starts with Archie trying to commit suicide after his wife has left him, but is rescued by a local ritual butcher for which Archie is grateful. He had changed his mind, but was too far gone to come to his own rescue. He then goes on to marry the much younger Clara, a beautiful, but toothless, woman of Jamaican decent, who gives up her boyfriend Ryan to marry him. Together they have a daughter named Irie, the Jamaican word for "no problem".

Samad Iqbal is an Allah-fearing Bengali Muslim, who came to England in the great wave of immigrants in the 1970s. He is working as a waiter in a touristy Indian restaurant in Leicester Square. His grandfather was the famous Mangal Pande, a Bengal leader who first died fighting the English in India in 1857. Samad is married to Alsana who, like Clara, is much younger than her husband. They have twin sons, Magid and Millat.

We follow Archie and Samad through their marriages and the problems that arise as they bring up their children. All three children experience what it is like growing up in two cultures, being pulled in different directions. They are drawn to assimilate into British culture but also faces the direct prejudices of outright racists, and the oblivious racism of the average Englishman. This causes some of them to be drawn to isolationist religious and racist movements or radical activism. In fact, several of the characters in this book are involved in religion and politics at the extremes. There are Jehovah's Witnesses, Islamic Fundamentalists and Animal Rights activists.

Samad, distressed at the materialism of London, sends Magid back to Bangladesh, much against his wife’s wishes, in order for him to become spiritual and an orthodox Muslim. Ironically he instead comes back more English than the English while his twin brother, having lived all his life in England, is leaning more towards the fundamentalist Muslim movement.

Then Joyce and Marcus Chalfen come on the scene with their own ideas about raising the Jones and Iqbal children. They take to the new family members with great enthusiasm. Even Magid, on his return to England as a young man, becomes friends with Marcus Chalfen.

The story ends with the launch of FutureMouse, a genetically engineered mouse by Marcus Chalfen to be launched on 31 December 1999. His experiments with mice attract the attention of a radical animal rights group, a militant Muslim organization and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. These groups, ignorant of each other’s determinations, converge on the opening of his public presentation and exhibit.

On the whole this is a very good book. The story deals with origins and conflicts, and that whatever our background, conflicts can ensue when we are trying to find our origins. It also deals with conflicts between religion and science, between East and West, and between sons and fathers – so I am sure we can all find something to relate to in this story. It is an interesting plot, but unfortunately, there are too many threads left dangling, which I think is the reason I lost interest in the story about ¾ through the book. It went really quickly too - it was literally from one page to the other. The ending is also a bit confusing and too farfetched, in my opinion.