Introduction
This essay focuses on the archetype of a character in the novel ‘white teeth’ by Zadie Smith. Archetype is a certain example of anything in a book. For example the archetype of faith is Abraham (Lane 94). In the novel ‘white teeth’ I find Alfred Archibald Jones to be boredom itself. The character forms the major part of the novel. He appears in the very first part of the novel and the last part not to mention his constant appearance in between the novel. For a character that forms that major part of the novel, he should be more interesting which not the case is. The different character traits that the character posses support the archetype that he is ascribed with, the character traits are indecisive, mediocre and worthless. In almost all the part of the novel the character is very dull and does not contribute to any new ideas.
Indecisive
Alfred Archibald Jones is practically the representation of boredom in the novel. He appears most of the time in the novel but still goes unnoticed. He is protagonist in the novel the white teeth, that is he is the main character in the novel (Oxford 1427). He has several character traits that seem to conform to this. He is very indecisive; he is not able to make any concrete decision. He does not have prior knowledge of what he is to decide on. He relays on chances to make decision. Most of his decisions are not planned but he still sticks to them. The character in most cases cannot even express his needs. The character cannot make any decision and this bores the first wife to the extreme. His first wife Ophelia Diagilo is forced to leave him when she cannot take anymore of his lack of creativity. The ex-wife says that he did not marry him out of love but out of need to get married. He is not able to decide effectively after his wife left him. In most of his decision making, he relays on tossing a coin to make decisions and this is not reliable.
He is very mediocre. He settles for a girl who is half her age to marry after his first wife left him. His mediocrity does not allow him to get a woman of his age. He literally drives his first wife to insane with his level of mediocrity. The wife decides that she cannot take his mediocrity anymore and leaves him. Archie is not able to make both his wife love him. They just married him because they needed someone to marry. He completely fails to make his first wife fall in love with him and for that reason she leaves him. He does not bother to find someone of her age mate to marry but rather prey on a girl half her age and makes her his wife. Archie has failed in most of his life. He even failed to commit suicide. He is like a pebble in the beach. He is not easily noticed as he fits in the common Englishmen. He has nothing to stand for that can distinct him from the common people. Even his wife barely notices him. "No white knight, then, this Archibald Jones. No aims, no hopes, no ambitions. A man whose greatest pleasures were English breakfasts and DIY" (3.11). He has no ambition for himself. He does not want to identify with anything in the society. He is comfortable with his position in the society and sees no need for change. . Archie is just an ordinary Englishman who has nothing he believes in. his friend Samad at one point get irritated by the fact that he relies on flip a coin to make all decisions in life even the very important decisions in his life. He does not rely on any faith or any stand. “You don't stand for anything, Jones," continued Samad. "Not for a faith, not for a politics. Not even for your country. How your lot ever conquered my lot is a bloody mystery. You're a cipher, no?" (Zadie 5. 335). Samad calls him an idiot for not having any stand in life. He does not do any soul searching. He is comfortable with her position in life and does not intend to make it any better. The character provides a contrast to the incessant soul searching of the common Englishman. The man is very boring this is because he has no faith or anything to make a stand on. Most of his stands are determined by flipping a coin.
Worthless
He describes himself to be chaff which meant being worthless. "I'm a Jones, you see. 'Slike a 'Smith.' We're nobody . . . My father used to say: 'We're the chaff, boy, we're the chaff.' Not that I've ever been much bothered, mind. Proud all the same, you know. Good honest English stock." (Zadie 5.129). He is proud of being chaff. Only a common man can be proud of being chaff. He is very common in most of this activities and this is not very common with protagonist in novels. Archie’s best friend is Samad. They became friends when they participated in the Second World War. They meet at the age of seventeen. They frequently visit the same pub that is pub O’Connell. The narrator describe they friendship in the following way. Their friendship started as casual friendship and grew. They stack together in most of the scene that the characters appear. Archie is mostly boring and hence he needs Samad to spice up things. Samad needs him for his reason but for their reasons they stuck together as if they had been glued together. The two friends need each other to be complete. They both loved O’Connell’s pub for the same reasons. . Archie would never wish for anything to change between the two of them, to his lucky nothing changes as they seem to be super codependent
Conclusion
In conclusion, Archie is the true explanation in boredom. He is Mr. I am so boring. His characters best explains this. He is unromantic; he is not able to make his two wives fall in love with him. They just marry him because they need to get married and not on the ground of love. Even within the marriage he is unable to make them very happy. The first wife left him; this is a clear indication of being unromantic. He is not able to seduce a woman of her age after his first wife left him. Mediocre; he relays on coin to make all his decisions even the most important decision in his life. His first wife gets fade up with his mediocrity and is forced to live him. His mediocrity drives his first wife to insanity. After his first wife left him has is settles for a girl that he is twice her age. Indecisive; he is not able to take a stand on any matter in life. He does not relate with any religion hence decisions regarding religion also takes his form of decision making, that of tossing a coin. Finally he is worthless; he describes himself as chaff. His nature of being boring is further made clear by how he relates with other characters in the novel. His friend Samad tells him that he is an idiot for not having stand. He his glued to Samad because Samad spices things in their life up. Without Samad in his life, his life is completely uneventful. His wives fail to fall in love with him because of the complete boredom that he makes them go through.
Work citation
Lane, Robert D. Reading the Bible: Intention, Text, Interpretation. New York: Authors Choice Press, 2004. Print.
Oxford. Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, the. Oxford University Press, n.d.. Print.
Smith, Zadie. White Teeth: A Novel. New York: Vintage International, 2001. Internet resource.
