White Teeth: Themes | SparkNotes

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

The Purpose of Existence

From its opening attempt at suicide to its finale of attempted murder, White Teeth questions the purpose of human life and suggests that the purpose will always remain mysterious. Pure chance, in the form of a butcher attacking some pigeons, is all that keeps Archie Jones from ending his own life. Archie’s existence improves dramatically when he rebounds from the suicide, but he does not convert to a religion or undergo a spiritual quest.

Samad Iqbal, on the other hand, never stops questioning the reason for his existence. Finding Allah’s purpose is a major goal of his life. Samad is guilt-ridden whenever he breaks Muslim rules. He deals with his guilt by making imaginary bargains with Allah: for example, he agrees to stop gambling for money if Allah will let him drink alcohol.

Because an omniscient narrator is telling the story, the reader can follow all the characters as they search for purpose and observe how diverse these humans are. The reader also follows the research of Marcus Chalfen—genetic experiments that attempt to put existence itself under human control. Nazi science is exposed as evil because it threatens the sacred mystery of life.

The Pain of Assimilation

Three of the four main characters in White Teeth are recent immigrants to Britain, and their experiences create the main conflicts of the story. Samad and Alsana Iqbal are from Bangladesh, while Clara Bowden Jones is from Jamaica. Both places are former British colonies, so the characters are educated in English and according to British values. To most British people, however, they are outsiders. The newcomers are cut off from their native cultures but not accepted in British culture.

The sense of rootlessness passes to the next generation, even though the children are born in England. Irie Jones and Magid and Millat Iqbal just want to be like the other kids, but they are always being singled out. This treatment is especially hurtful for Irie because she is an only child of mixed race. Magid and Millat are grounded in the Islamic faith and have a huge number of Bengali relatives. Irie’s Black mother and white father belong to no religion, and her mother rejects her Jamaican family.

Assimilation increases the distance between parents and adolescents. When Samad ships Magid “back home,” Magid is going to an entirely alien place. When Samad rants against sinful modern culture, he has no idea how much Millat indulges in that sin. Both Millat and Magid are born in Britain, so the generation gap between parents and adolescents is widened by a cultural gap.

The Burden of Racism

Racism, based on skin color and ethnicity, is a fact of life in the world of White Teeth. People openly use racial slurs and make racist assumptions. This behavior is true of people of color as well as white people. For example, Hortense Bowden opposes her daughter Clara’s marriage to a white man. When Alsana and Clara first meet, Alsana has to overcome her distaste for Black skin.

Racist slurs and code words dominate many conversations in this multiracial community, and the narrator often uses racist slurs for satiric effect. For example, Archie and Samad’s captain in World War II comes from a long line of British aristocrats who have died on foreign soil, killed by a long list of different types of natives, all described in offensive racial terms. Such dark comedy only heightens the reader’s awareness of the racism under which the characters suffer.

Many of the white people in the book approach race through the idea of “the white man’s burden,” a phrase from Rudyard Kipling that describes the responsibility of the English to “enlighten” people of color. Marcus and Joyce Chalfen embody these condescending racist attitudes. The descriptions of how the Chalfens act and talk are some of the funniest, and most painful, passages in the book. The Chalfens use social sciences jargon, such as “colour-complex” and ”opposing cultures” to express their racism in a polite and liberal academic manner.

The Power of Patriarchy

Samad Iqbal embodies the power of patriarchy, or rule by men, and Alsana Iqbal embodies the victims of that power. Patriarchy prevails in the cultures of Britain, Bangladesh, and Jamaica, but especially in the traditional Muslim culture of Bangladesh, the Iqbals’ native country. The twin Iqbal sons, Magid and Millat, acquire their father’s prejudices even as they suffer from them. In their tradition, fathers have total control over their children, even after the children are adults. Both Magid and Millat rebel against Samad’s bullying but still treat women in sexist ways.

Clashes between traditionalism and modernism within the immigrant community lead to deep conflicts within the Iqbal family. Although traditional culture, religion, and family values all consider patriarchy a fact of life, modern global culture challenges those elements of tradition. The conflicts become even deeper because of the inevitable differences between native-born adults and British-born children.

Once again, the device of the omniscient narrator allows the reader to get inside the heads of both the patriarchs and their victims. The reader also gets the bigger picture of patriarchy in society as a whole. In this world, there are bars like O’Connell’s, which admit people of any race as long as they are men. Both
Samad and Archie work for other men, in companies that employ mostly men. KEVIN, the extremist Islamic group, officially subordinates women, as do the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Men also run the FutureMouse project. Only FATE, the animal rights group, even pretends to have women in charge. Patriarchy prevails even when various manifestations of patriarchy conflict with each other.

The Promise of Feminism

The main action of the story takes place between 1975 and 1992, years in which feminism enters the public consciousness, and this social movement changes the women in White Teeth. One indication of the new order is a greater degree of sexual expression allowed to women. In her conversations with Clara Jones, Alsana Iqbal speaks frankly in a manner her husband would frown upon. Alsana’s niece Neena Begum, a lesbian, is even more outspoken.

The women become feminists gradually. During the 1970s Alsana, Clara, and Neena approach feminist ideas with caution. Neena sneaks feminist pamphlets and books to Clara, but not to Alsana. Clara and Alsana lead lives that are separate from those of their husbands, and Neena lives and runs her business almost entirely among women. Since all three women have jobs, they become accustomed to having their own money and living independently.

For the women, feminism begins to replace conservative religion. During the 1980s Alsana declares independence from her husband Samad after he sends their older son to Bangladesh without consulting her. She begins openly disavowing Samad’s religious beliefs. By the 1990s even Hortense, the most conservatively religious woman in the story, has begun embracing feminist ideals. Hortense wistfully tells her granddaughter, Irie, how she wants to be one of the anointed, helping the Lord make His decisions.

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