The Purpose of Existence

It occurred to him that, for the first time since his birth, Life had said Yes to Archie Jones . . . Life wanted Archie. She had jealously grabbed him from the jaws of death, back to her bosom. Although he was not one of her better specimens, Life wanted Archie and Archie, much to his own surprise, wanted Life.

This quote appears in Chapter 1, “The Peculiar Second Marriage of Archie Jones,” as Archie Jones parks his car in front of a halal butcher shop and tries to commit suicide by gassing himself. The butcher, who is attacking the pigeons that infest his business, forces down the car window and saves Archie’s life. Now Archie sits in his car, gasps for fresh air, and experiences a moment of enlightenment. He feels as if he has been reborn, as if his life matters.

This quote personifies Life as a universal mother, jealously hanging on to her child. This personification implies that Archie is loved and wanted. Archie’s reaction of surprise is an indication that his sense of identity has just been altered. It raises the reader’s expectations and begins a line of suspense. The reader wonders how Archie’s new awareness of life will affect his future decisions and what further surprises Life has in store.

Our children will be born of our actions. Our accidents will become their destinies. Oh, the actions will remain. It is a simple matter of what you will do when the chips are down, my friend. When the fat lady is singing. When the walls are falling in, and the sky is dark, and the ground is rumbling. In that moment, our actions will define us.

The speaker in this quote is Samad Iqbal in Chapter 10, “The Root Canals of Alfred Archibald Jones and Samad Miah Iqbal,” and the quote reveals Samad’s philosophical nature even at a moment of great danger. The scene is set in May of 1945. Samad Iqbal and Archie Jones take refuge in an empty old church in a small Bulgarian village, where they have been stranded since their tank broke down. Some unknown villagers have already murdered their companions, and the two men realize they could be next.

Because Samad is a devout Muslim, he believes that Allah has a purpose for the human race and individual people, even if the people themselves are unaware of it. Therefore, even the smallest moments of decision are important because their consequences will reach into the future. Samad’s words come across as an admission that he feels afraid and an attempt to give himself courage. Samad is heavily drugged with morphine when he delivers these uplifting words.

In my desire to study the law, in my longing to improve the lot of my poor country—which is victim to every passing whim of God, every hurricane and flood—in these aims, what instinct is fundamental? What is the root, the dream which ties these ambitions together? To make sense of the world. To eliminate anything random.

In Chapter 14, “More English than the English,” Magid Iqbal writes from Bangladesh to Marcus Chalfen in London, trying to communicate his sense of purpose in his life. Chalfen is genetically engineering mice that can produce specialized cells. Marcus’s project, which will soon become Magid’s project as well, exemplifies human control over human existence.

Magid shares the need of his father, Samad, for a single answer to the question of why people exist. Magid is in Bangladesh because Samad sends him “home” to be traditionally educated in the Islamic faith. However, Magid does not share his father’s trust that God has everything under control. Instead, Magid believes humans must solve their own problems. Both Samad and Magid want to make sense of the world by eliminating anything random. Both men are afraid to admit the role of pure chance in determining the course of people’s lives. Both men need certainty and a sense of larger purpose.

A Chinese box of a mouse. No other roads, no missed opportunities, no parallel possibilities. No second-guessing, no what-ifs, no might-have-beens. Just certainty. Just certainty in its purest form. And what more, thought Magid . . . what more is God than that?

In Chapter 18, “The End of History versus The Last Man,” Magid Iqbal looks with pride at the scientific work of himself and Dr. Marcus Chalfen. The year is 1992, and Marcus is about to launch the FutureMouse project, in which the public will be able to observe the actual evolution of life-saving cells in a genetically engineered rodent. Magid has done public relations, correspondence, and scientific recordkeeping for this project, with his childhood friend, Irie Jones, doing much of the secretarial work. 

Magid’s attitude assumes that humans have the right and responsibility to determine their existence. He invests emotionally in this belief because he expects FutureMouse to make his career a success. Magid is carried away by his vision of a secure human future. His smug belief in his theories helps the reader recognize that Magid’s attitude is hubris, or excessive pride, in its purest form. The reader might predict that this hubris will lead to unexpected consequences.

It was the same now. Always the fear of consequences. Always this terrible inertia. What he was about to do to his father was so huge, so colossal, that the consequences were inconceivable – he couldn’t imagine a moment occurring after that act. Only blankness. Nothingness. Something like the end of the world.

Joshua Chalfen considers the consequences of his actions in Chapter 19, “The Final Space,” and is overcome with inertia, the inability to do anything at all. It is December 31, 1992. Joshua and other members of FATE (Fighting Animal Torture and Exploitation) are on their way to protest at the launch of FutureMouse, Dr. Marcus Chalfen’s genetic engineering project. Joshua and other FATE members, like the religious protestors at the event, believe that it is morally wrong for humans to tamper with nature. 

Joshua’s reluctance to hurt his father is an admission that his love of family gives purpose to his own life. Joshua feels shame over his inertia, as a sign of his weakness. A few minutes later, watching the New Year’s crowds, Joshua believes, for the first time in his life, that existence just happens and that it is out of an individual’s control. Joshua realizes that he has to let go of the fear of living.

The Pain of Assimilation

And that’s what it was like most nights: abuse from Shiva and others; condescension from Ardashir; never seeing Alsana; never seeing the sun; clutching fifteen pence and then releasing it; wanting desperately to be wearing a sign, a large white placard that said: I am not a waiter. I have been a student, a scientist, a soldier[.]

In Chapter 3, “Two Families,” the narrator describes the feelings of Samad Iqbal about his sense of failure. Like many immigrants, Samad loses social status when he moves to Britain. Back in Bangladesh, Samad was a university student and scientist, signs of his middle-class status. Here in London, he is a waiter, working at his cousin’s restaurant. His cousin’s rules require the waiters to share tips, but for one guilty moment, Samad considers pocketing his fifteen-pence tip instead. 

Samad’s loss of status makes him feel invisible, and waiters’ jobs require them to fade into the background. So Samad imagines himself wearing a large list of the ways he identifies himself. The sign goes on to read that he is a Muslim forsaken by Allah. Samad’s imaginary sign shows his tendency to feel sorry for himself, but his working conditions give him good reasons to feel sorry. Samad’s new life is one of hard work and deprivation.

Alsana held her face, and spoke quietly. ‘I am crying with misery for those poor families and out of relief for my own children! Their father ignores them and bullies them, yes, but at least they will not die on the streets like rats.’

These are the thoughts Alsana Iqbal expresses in Chapter 8, “Mitosis.” She describes one of the most important advantages that offset some of the pain of immigration: physical security. Alsana has just been listening to a news report about the assassination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the prime minister of India. When her husband comes home and finds Alsana crying, he berates her for crying over the death of the rich and mighty. However, Alsana cries because so many people will suffer in the riots and public violence that follow the assassination. Her tears remind the reader that many immigrants leave their homelands to escape such violence.

Alsana is speaking to Samad, her husband, and using the occasion to point out some of his faults. Samad is a traditional man who exercises his patriarchal power by bullying his family. The passage subtly points out that domestic bullying, unlike public violence, cannot be left behind in the old country.

But it makes an immigrant laugh to hear the fears of the nationalist, scared of infections, penetration, miscegenation, when this is small fry, peanuts, compared to what the immigrant fears – dissolution, disappearance.

The narrator compares the fears of immigrants to the fears of white nationalists who oppose immigration in Chapter 12, “Canines: The Ripping Teeth.” Willesden, the London suburb in which White Teeth is set, has a multicultural character, populated by immigrants from many different places. People in the neighborhood are now accustomed to interacting with each other, but there are still attacks on immigrants by angry young white men. The quote acknowledges that the young white men act out of fear.

The narrator pinpoints the worst fear of the immigrants in this multicultural world—that their own culture, the essential part of their identity, will disappear. The fear of dissolution is an essentially conservative and traditional reaction. In Willesden, children have names like Quang O’Rourke and Danny Rahman. These results of intermarriage contribute to the fear of losing identity. The narrator goes on to describe Alsana Iqbal’s fears that her sons will marry women who are not Bengali.

‘Who would want to stay? Cold, wet, miserable; terrible food, dreadful newspapers — who would want to stay? In a place where you are never welcomed, only tolerated. Just tolerated. Like you are an animal finally house-trained. Who would want to stay? But . . . suddenly you are unsuitable to return, your children are unrecognizable, you belong nowhere.’

This quote by Samad in Chapter 15, “Chalfenism versus Bowdenism” expresses the feeling of entrapment suffered by immigrants who have not assimilated, don’t want to stay in their new countries, but can no longer go home. Their experience forces them to redefine the meaning of home because they belong nowhere. Samad is speaking to Irie, the daughter of his best friend and the friend of his sons. Samad confides in Irie because she is the childhood friend of his twin sons, Magid and Millat. He is furious at Magid for wanting to be a lawyer and scientist and furious at Millat for joining an extreme Islamist group. Samad is especially worried because Millat has not been seen for three weeks.

Samad’s outburst betrays his frustration at his treatment in England and his degree of discomfort with English life. Enduring a cold climate with terrible food, only to have his children reject him, makes Samad’s years of sacrifice seem worthless and makes Samad feel more homesick.

The Burden of Racism

I don’t know them! You fight in an old, forgotten war with some Englishman . . .married to a black! Whose friends are they? These are the people my child will grow up around? Their children—half blacky-white?

In this quote in Chapter 3, “Two Families,” Alsana Iqbal attacks her husband Samad’s friendship with Archie Jones on the grounds of race, a reminder that racism is not only a Black and white issue. Alsana and Samad are both Bengalis, so their children will also be Bengalis. Racially mixed marriages are offensive to Alsana. She has acquired racial prejudice both from her Bengali culture and from the culture of British colonialism. White British people look down on both Black people and Bengalis for racial reasons, but the Bengalis hold themselves above Black people.

Alsana’s frank comment shows how much racism is taken for granted in the world of White Teeth. She assumes that growing up around Black people will drag her children down. In time, Alsana overcomes her prejudices enough to become friends with Clara, Archie’s wife who is a Black Jamaican woman. Their children grow up together, but race continues to adversely affect both families.

Archie went very red, unsure which item Samad was referring to. His hand wavered across the box of wires and bits and bobs. Samad discreetly coughed as Archie’s little finger strayed toward the correct item. It was awkward, an Indian telling an Englishman what to do—but somehow the quietness of it, the manliness of it, got them over it.

This passage from Chapter 10, “The Root Canals of Alfred Archibald Jones and Samad Miah Iqbal,” shows how racism affects the friendship of Samad Iqbal and Archie Jones. During World War II. Samad and Iqbal are privates in the British Army. They are trying to fix their radio. Because the scene is a flashback, the reader already knows that the friendship between Sammy and Iqbal lasts for decades. The passage shows that they started on an unequal footing because of race. 

The passage reveals the social barriers between English people and native-born people of the British colonies. Samad coughs discretely because he dares not presume to correct Archie. Archie is embarrassed to appear ignorant in front of a native. British colonial attitudes shape the type of racism that Samad experiences in England. In the war, Archie is socially superior to Samad, even though Samad is better educated and from a better family. In England, Archie has a skilled job, and Samad is a waiter.

‘And you know, the exciting thing is, this could be a kind of guinea-pig project for a whole range of programmes,’ said the headmaster, thinking aloud. ‘Bringing children of disadvantaged or minority backgrounds into contact with kids who might have something to offer them. And there could be an exchange, vice versa. Kids teaching kids basketball, football et cetera. We could get funding.’

This quote from Chapter 11, “The Miseducation of Irie Jones,” shows the headmaster of a school considering the possibilities of a new school policy for dealing with minority students. A parent-teacher patrol group catches students smoking. The guilty students include Irie Jones, who is half Jamaican, Millat Iqbal, who is Bengali, and Joshua Chalfen, who is white. The new policy calls for alternatives to punishment, so Millat and Irie get assigned extra tutoring from Joyce and Marcus Chalfen, Joshua’s parents. Joshua gets no extra tutoring because it is assumed that the two minority students got him into trouble. 

The headmaster’s words illustrate the unconscious racism of people in positions of authority. The term guinea pig implies that Irie and Millat are somewhat less than human. The headmaster lumps disadvantaged and minority students into one group and assumes white students have more advantages. The headmaster also assumes that minority students are better athletes. The reference to funding is a reminder that White Teeth is often satirical.

She had read up on the subject. And it appeared Millat was filled with self-revulsion and hatred of his own kind; that he had possibly a slave mentality, or maybe a colour-complex centred around his mother (he was far darker than she), or a wish for his own annihilation by means of dilution in a white gene pool, or an inability to reconcile two opposing cultures[.]

This satiric passage from Chapter 14, “More English than the English,” describes Joyce Chalfen’s theories about the behavior of Millat Iqbal. Joyce volunteers to tutor Millat, becomes infatuated with him, and showers him with so much attention that she alienates her son, Joshua. She worries about Millat’s mental health and concludes that he sleeps with white women because he hates himself. Joyce is looking for excuses for Millat’s behavior and is in denial about how much Millat has taken advantage of her attention.

The passage exposes the racism of Joyce Chalfen and other social scientists who claim to improve human life. The term his own kind implies inferiority. Colour-complex is jargon that allows the user to make judgments based on skin tone. The reference to genetics shows that Chalfen’s theories are nothing more than Nazi science, with the underlying assumption that a white gene pool is superior. The passage shows that benevolence also implies superiority and often has a racial bias.

Irie’s child can never be mapped exactly nor spoken of with certainty. Some secrets are permanent. In a vision, Irie has seen a time, a time not far from now, when roots won’t matter anymore because they can’t because they mustn’t because they’re too long and they’re too tortuous and they’re just buried too damn deep. She looks forward to it.

This passage from Chapter 20, “Of Mice and Memory,” describes Irie Jones as the mother of an interracial daughter. Irie’s daughter has two possible fathers: the Bengali twins Magid and Millat Iqbal. Irie herself has a white father and a Black mother. Now, in the year 1999, Irie sits on a Jamaican beach with her Jamaican grandmother, her white lover, and her mixed-ancestry child. Irie is a universal mother figure in this scene. Her daughter is the granddaughter of the novel’s two main characters, Samad Iqbal and Archie Jones.

Irie envisions a future that is interracial, not merely multicultural, and acknowledges the pain of the past. Irie knows what it is like to feel threatened and isolated because of race and does not want her daughter to feel that fear and pain. The words can’t and mustn’t show Irie’s awareness that her daughter will suffer unless society moves away from racism. The phrases that include too are admissions that Irie’s vision is not likely to come true.

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