Abstract
Zadie Smith’s White Teeth (2000) is a complex and paradoxical work since it presents a portrayal of England in the late twentieth century employing characters from various racial and religious groups. The novel focuses on the relationships between three families: the Bangladeshi and Muslim Iqbals, the English-Jamaican Joneses, and the Jewish-British Chalfens. It depicts a multicultural society, yet it also reflects on the oppression experienced by certain characters, who are marginalized due to their differences from mainstream society. This raises the question whether Smith’s novel celebrates or criticizes the discourse of multiculturalism. This study considers the novel’s attitude towards multiculturalism through the representation of oppression. It aims to explore the theme of oppression with regard to the issues of race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation because these intertwined categories determine an individual’s sense of self and the social relations between different groups. In light of Tariq Modood’s conception of multiculturalism, which underlines the importance of some principles, such as the recognition of the other, positive difference, equality, and a more inclusive version of national identity, this study argues that the novel does not seem optimistic in its treatment of multiculturalism because various kinds of oppression, such as racial discrimination, violence, stigmatization, and indifference, haunt the lives of the marginalized or disempowered characters and trigger counter-attacks from the oppressed group. While impeding the other’s integration into society, this situation also poses a threat to the social order. This reveals that a multicultural society, which embraces all differences and cherishes this diversity, is a dream difficult to be realized in England as portrayed in the novel.
Highlights
Zadie Smith’s debut novel White Teeth (2000) is a complex and paradoxical work because it portrays the lives of three families from different backgrounds: the Bangladeshi and Muslim Iqbals, the EnglishJamaican Joneses, and the Jewish-British Chalfens
In light of Tariq Modood’s conception of multiculturalism, which emphasizes the centrality of recognition, positive difference, equality, and an inclusive Englishness, this study argues that White Teeth does not seem optimistic in its treatment of the “Happy Multicultural Land” (Smith, 2000, p. 465) due to the oppression that haunts the lives of the marginal characters, which, in turn, precludes the other’s integration into the wider society and triggers counter-attacks from the oppressed group
The fictional world of White Teeth is imbued with various instances of oppression including racial discrimination, violence, humiliation, and indifference among others in both the colonial period and the late nineties
Summary
Zadie Smith’s debut novel White Teeth (2000) is a complex and paradoxical work because it portrays the lives of three families from different backgrounds: the Bangladeshi and Muslim Iqbals, the EnglishJamaican Joneses, and the Jewish-British Chalfens. When cultural differences are recognized by the state and respected by the members of the majority, cultural diversity will not be seen as a disturbance, and citizens will be able to “conceive a common good” (Uberoi & Modood, 2013, p.132) This entails a change of both the nation’s identity in terms of its history, language, traditions, institutions, and people’s sense of national identity, which will be re-shaped in parallel with institutional and legal arrangements. Modood discusses multiculturalism with respect to ethnic and religious minorities in his work, he draws parallels between an ethnic minority and other disadvantaged groups such as women and gays He notes that equality is “about celebrating previously demeaned identities”, so it is not “peculiar to race/ethnicity” Conflicts in a society cannot be resolved if certain groups, such as women and homosexual individuals, continue to be regarded as others
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