White Teeth Immigrants

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Recommended: Multicultural literature

The plight of the immigrant is one that has been discussed in length time and time again. As has been all over the media, the issue of immigration has come to a head in recent times in America, and has been a hot button topic all over the world for centuries. In White Teeth, Zadie Smith illuminates on typical immigrant issues with comedic flair. It is prudent to consider, however, how realistic this portrayal is. This essay will look at situations that White Teeth presents, and compare the fictitious situations to real ones, with the United Kingdom being the focus of the analysis. From abusive relationships to depression and around to familial relations, I want to ask the question of how typical it is, sending off children to live in the home …show more content…

Alfred Archibald Jones, the first character that we get a glimpse of in the novel, is your typical white guy. He is of European descent, and is likely there to provide contrast to the other, more ethnically diverse characters in the novel. His best friend, Samad Miah Iqbal, is starkly different. Samad is a dark-skinned, far from mild-mannered Bangladeshi who is not afraid to correct you about where he’s from. He is the epitome of someone who is proud of their heritage, but who is also paranoid to the extreme about losing his culture to the whiteness of England. These two are the heads of their respective households, and their wives are arguably more interesting than they are. Clara, who is married to Alfred, is an immigrant from Jamaica. She is many times over more interesting than her husband, and strives for a different life than her Mother wanted for her. She, unlike Samad, is one generation removed from the intense fear and paranoia. Lastly, Alsana, who is married to Samad, is also Bangladeshi. She is unhappy with her husband like most wives seem to be in this book, and she defies stereotypes by being incredibly feisty and talkative. Though she comes from a society that dictated who she would marry before she was even born - something that seems archaic, foreign, and even alien in today’s societal norms - she is not powerless. She spends eight

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