White Teeth is a well written book by Zadie Smith where Author portrays post colonial Britain and shares her ideas about the same. White Teeth is smart, tragic and funny book that declared the arrival of novelist in the city. In White Teeth, Zadie describes various elements associated with modern living. This paper intends to discuss how Zadie Smith’s White Teeth is connected with modernism along with further discussing various aspects and problems covered in the book associated with modern world. The paper further compares white teeth with the good soldier written by Ford Madox Ford.
Modern world that looks very bright from distance. From a distance people see modern world as a place where they can live healthy life style. People think of a modern world with private house, a place to work, a place to play and enjoy and live life with freedom & without worries. The author in her book described modern world as a place where all things are well planned, good infrastructure and all facilities are available for common people. She mentioned that the light is enough to attract people.
A coin has two sides which can be turned within seconds. Zadie Describes modern world in a similar manner. the author tries to describes how things becomes good to bad, smooth to hard or good to bad I no time just like a coin turned when thrown freely. The author describes how a perfect world can be not so perfect. Zadie very beautifully describes the problems associated with modern world in her book White Teeth (Smith).
Zadie expresses her anguish on several issues in this book. She discusses some big issues and then examines the same in context of modernism. Zadie chooses special words to express her ideas very warily. It has been observed that even eminent authors struggle with their words while portraying ghastly incidences of different wars. It appears that Zadie, in her book, struggles with the same mannerism. Zadie in her book, white teeth talks about some big issues like legacy of English imperialism and burden of exile.
Zadie examines postcolonial Britain and discusses several issues in the new era. She describes how the postcolonial society of Britain was a multi cultural society and people from several parts of the world migrated to Britain in order to look opportunities for them. People in these migrants belonged to different categories. These migrants were authors, painters, musicians, and laborers. These people contributed extensively in the making of new society and New Britain that emerged in a postcolonial period.
This description and portrayal of multicultural society by zadie is remarkable. One reason behind such beautiful portrayal by Zadie is the fact that she herself belonged to a multicultural family as her parents were migrated to England. The British society after postcolonial period was a blend of migrated people different parts of the world that considered Britain as their country and contributed in the making of the society. Zadie also gives some accounts of the daily life of families who migrated to Britain.
Daily life of these people tells a lot about their culture ad thoughts. Author mentions ho they used to live and developed in liberal atmosphere of Britain. Zadie also gives an account of religious fundamentalism in some sections of these people (Woolf). Some Pakistani and Bangladeshi muslims were involved in spreading hate against others. Their motto was to radicalize islam in a way that it attracts more followers. Emergence of this radicalism was not in the interest of newly emerged society of Britain.
Zadie uses strong words for such people and suggests a rotten apple theory. She says that their activities were creating suspicion among other English. These activities were a major issue of concern among British nationals as well as British administrative authorities. They were suspicious towards these people and it was a subject of their discussion in the corridors of British politics. A number of people from the English side raised their voices against such radicalization of the migrated people and their society.
Zadie earned some acclamations from people across the world for such realistic portrayal of Britain after a postcolonial era. It was her work that presented a true picture of the cotemporary Britain before the world. The book depicts some special moments, rituals, and characteristics of every society. Simon Hattenstone writes about zadie smith’s book in The Guardian,
“ a book about modern London, a city in which %40 of children are born to at least one black parent, a city in which the terms black and white becomes less and less relevant as we gradually meld into different shades of brown” (Hattenstone).
The book is about perpetuity and portrays the same through several examples. The author seems to be very realistic while expressing and portraying what she witnessed in the contemporary British society. Zadie, instead of hesitating in describing the reality of social issues, portrays everything that se her saw in the society where she used to live, where she grew up. Zadie’s account of contemporary British society that was made by the migrants from different parts of the world is unique and perhaps readers do not any similar portrayal by any other author.
Zadie’s work very clearly shows the two literary elements. First realism by which she presented the fresh earth hurl by people who come to bulldoze it. The author presented the foundation of world in pure liberal ideas and then further went on describing strong assumptions on language, selfhood, and freedom. Second element described by the author is travel or exploration. The author explores London b y describing crime taking place in the city, history of the place and other issues people faces while living in the city.
White Teeth is capable to generate perpetual emotions that are integrated with velocity. The novel is focused on continuous motions without staying for a moment; it is ashamed of stillness and silence. It depicts like a criminal is running continuously in order to protect himself from cop. It also reflects as an athlete is running to win a gold medal. Sadie has written a literary work that is all about the continuance of society and the book describes contemporary British society in very impressive ways. Zadie has proved that she is one of best postcolonial writers that our society witnessed.
Today’s society is a place that our ancestors were dreaming where it seems that all things are possible such as good education, good health, wellness and all luxury. Whereas in reality, there are still a huge number of people dying from hunger, people do not have enough cloths to cover themselves in winter, people do not have place to sleep and various other problems. Our modern society is certainly good for people who have wealth but worst for people who do not have enough money with them.
‘The Good Soldier: A Tale of passion’, is written by Ford Madox Ford. The story is knitted in the background of World War I wherein author describes story of a soldier. The background of the story takes us back to the era of world war. Narrator tells the story of a soldier and his family. The story is knitted around the human relations. The story tells us how relations keep us going and how it feels when things get shattered.
The good soldier is overall a tragic story that ends in a tragic manner. Plot of the story gives a message and that is to learn how to manage the relations. Sometimes it becomes difficult for people to keep their relations intact because they fail to understand the priorities and start imposing themselves on others. Such things are dangerous for any relation and may turn ugly at the end of the day.
After having observed the short and snappy analysis of zadie smith’s book, ‘white teeth’ it can be concluded that zadie has done a commendable job, her realistic portrayal of contemporary British society is a valuable task. The book presents true account of British society that was made by migrants who went to Britain from different parts of the world in the postcolonial era. The author portrays true account of the society and daily life of these newly British and describes their life and tradition in an impressive way.
On the other hand ‘The Good soldier: A Tale of passion’ is all about human relations, lust, emotions, traits, passion and tragedy. The story reminds us old times as the story in knitted in the background of World War I. The author appears succeeded in portraying some basic issues in an interesting manner.
Works Cited
Ford, Ford Madox. The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion. USA: Broadview Press, 2003.
Hattenstone, Simon. "The Guardian." 11 December 2000. guardian. 25 November 2013 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/dec/1>.
Smith, Zadie. White Teeth. London: Penguin UK, 2001.
Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. USA: Martino Fine Books, 2012.
