Everyone questions and struggles with their identity at some point in their lives, but this struggle is most heightened during adolescence. In Zadie Smith’s White Teeth conflicts with one’s race, socioeconomic class, and other social identifiers are shown through the lens of multiple generations. The novel’s cyclical timeline allows the reader to see the root cause of the issues the teenagers face, . Smith shows how one’s family and their history shapes the following generations through the similarity between father and son in the Iqbal family, the dark history within the Bowden family, and the forced ideology in the Chalfen family. Zadie Smith utilizes Samad’s secret past to display how the Iqbal family and their history directly affect …show more content…
The theme of miseducation is brought up multiple times throughout the novel, and it can be traced back to the beginnings of Jamaican colonization. For instance, before raping Irie’s great-grandmother, Ambrosia, Sir Glenard says, “It will only take a few moments my dear. One should never pass up the opportunity of a little education, after all” (299). Under the veil of giving others the gift of education and civility, many, such as Sir Glenard, were able to take advantage of the colonized. What may have been intended to be a gift ended up just negatively affecting people such as Ambrosia. These memories, despite happening years ago, are still present in many lives, represented by Hortense’s claims that she remembers being inside her mother’s womb. Though European colonization happened long before Irie was born, she still lives within a community where the effects of colonialism can be seen. For example, when the headmaster of Irie’s school praises Sir Glenard for founding the school with the intention of mixing Caribbean and English people, it is revealed, “Glenard’s influence… ran through three generations of immigrants who could feel both abandoned and hungry even when in the bosom of their family in front of a mighty feast” (255). While Glenard’s intention with the school was to unite, his history of prejudice makes the community inherently divisive. Indirectly, colonialism still affects Irie—whether through her desperate attempts to straighten her hair or even the school she attends. It is easy to say that since colonization has happened many years ago, it is no longer relevant to the modern day, however, indirectly or directly, one can still see the effects of the centuries of history that still shapes many to this
Colonialism: Tragedy or Blessing? Although we may be too busy with our everyday lives to notice, much of our world is subjected to colonization. In “An American of Color” (1993) by Victor Villanueva and “Reading the Slender Body” (1993) by Susan Bordo, both authors analyze and discuss the effects colonization has on society, and argue that the colonized have begun to mimic or mirror the colonizers as well as becoming a subaltern or the lower rank. Villanueva and Bordo write about their experiences with postcolonialism and the impact it has on society, in which minorities and females are greatly affected.
Michelle Cliff’s short story Down the Shore conspicuously deals with a particularly personal and specific, deeply psychological experience, in order to ultimately sub-textually create a metaphor regarding a wider issue of highly social nature. More specifically, the development of the inter-dependent themes of trauma, exploitation, as well as female vulnerability, which all in the case in question pertain to one single character, also latently extend over to the wider social issue of colonialism and its entailing negative repercussions, in this case as it applies to the Caribbean and the British Empire. The story’s explicit personal factor is developed through the literary techniques of repetition, symbolism, metaphor, as well as slightly warped albeit telling references to a distinct emotional state, while its implicit social factor is suggested via the techniques of allusion, so as to ultimately create a generally greater, undergirding metaphor.
The discoveries of land or groups of individuals may involve what modern individuals call colonization. Colonization is the ability to formulate control or power that enables the person to dominate the area or individuals into a colony they wish to construct. This form of formulating new colonies was constantly used by many individuals during the early 1500s. Individuals like Christopher Columbus and Hernan Cortes are seen as heroic individuals of history due to their colonizing experiences and discoveries. Although both of these two individuals are seen as heroes to numerous groups, their values and beliefs allowed their colonization’s to have a few contrasts and similarities.
This demonstrates how the child’s Innocence can be subversive towards the racist ideologies that have yet to be instilled in to them. Arguably, Mr. Head intention of creating Nelsons perception of reality can be represented as the prior generation of America, attempting to keep itself alive through the new generation. This idea can be recognized in relation to Baldwin’s concept of parental intervention (Baldwin, 26). The idea is that the child’s elder(s) will instill their perceptions of reality in to them, in the attempt to prepare them to withstand the cruelties of society. Whereas the other reason (the racist one) is so the child could uphold their social norms, and to keep their vicious ideologies alive.
This concept is commonly seen in childhood, as children do not yet grasp the concept of race. Janie’s childhood is a prime example, as she states that, “Ah was wid dem white chillun so much till Ah didn’t know Ah wuzn’t white till Ah was round six years old” (Hurston 17). Janie was unaware that she was different from the white children she was surrounded by, showing that race did not play a part in the children’s decision to play together. Although race was unimportant to her in childhood, once she discovers her race, the harsh reality of the world sets in. She must face ridicule from black students at school for living in a white family’s backyard (Hurston 18).
This is seen In a Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass An American Slave when Fredrick “...went to live with Mr. and Mrs Auld, she very kindly commenced to teach me the A, B, C. After I had learned this, she assisted me in learning to spell words of three or four letters. Just at this point of my progress, Mr. Auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me further, telling her, among other things, that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe to teach a slave to become educated. ”(Douglass 78) With Fredrick education is seen as a way for slaves to gain knowledge and understanding, which can help them to escape from slavery. This is also seen the same way in A Lesson Before Dying.
People who come from different ethnic backgrounds, for example, children of immigrants, can be viewed as not ‘truly French’, regardless of their nationality and whether they were born in France. Religion has also become a racial indicator as certain religions are associated with specific ethnicities. Religion and cultural identity are closely linked and religious faith is often another way to convey or express one’s cultural background. In this way, religion contributes to the separation of the population and lack of integration in France, as it is emblematic of cultural differences. These differences between various ethnic groups causes a lack of identification, creating a cultural rift.
You have not mentioned Zink—I’ll look into that book. But first! I must start Zadie Smith's _White Teeth_. Did you read that short story in _The New Yorker_? Hoy shit, it blew me away.
In their writings, authors Doris Pilkington and Katherine Boo depict stories of families struggling to survive. “Rabbit Proof Fence” depicts Kundilla and his tribe encountering the white raiders again. “Behind the Beautiful Forevers” shows a day in the life of young Abdul Hussain in the impoverished town of Annawadi with his family. Although both excerpts capture and convey the challenges each family faced, I believe that Pilkington is more successful in doing so because of the many strategies and techniques she includes in her writing. Pilkington’s writing is more successful in conveying challenges because of the tone that she uses to convey the feeling in the air.
This paper will show the pros and cons of colonization and how it changed the world forever. When it comes to who benefited from colonization, the Europeans were the main ones. They gained wealth, land, power, and colonies that helped them better establish their nation. Two
To first make an argument about race in Quicksand, by Nella Larsen, you have to think about all major factors that come into play in this novel. One of them being the time period, which in this case is the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance, also known as the “New Negro Movement”, was a movement that was really just to establish who African-Americans really through one thing and one thing only; art. This novel really talks about in detail all of the problems/concerns that people, negros specifically, had to face during this time period. Helga Crane, a young negro woman is the main character of Quicksand and the story with her is basically she is trying to find her rightful place in society.
White Teeth by Zadie Smith is not actually about teeth. The title has a deeper meaning. The characters in the book are of many different races, religions, and nationalities. One thing that people have in common no matter what color their skin is is white teeth. The name of the book is a metaphor for all the characters having something in common despite their differences.
In The Legacy, Basil Davidson discusses the legacies of colonialism in Africa and gives an insight on modern Africa and the successes and downfalls that it possesses. Moreover, he states that many of the issues seen in modern day Africa are not new and have their roots in the long years of European colonialism that profoundly shaped and continues to shape the continent. Throughout the documentary, various themes regarding postcolonial Africa are mentioned in depth. A few of the themes that Davidson highlights are modernization, ethnicism, corruption, inequality, dictatorship, and neocolonialism.
Moreover, Western civilization became the ideal civilization, and became way superior to African “civilization.” As a consequence, African tradition became perceived as primitive, outmoded, and sadly not welcomed by the rest of the world. Unfortunately, a lot of Africans experienced a trend of a dying out culture. (2) It can be implied that even the Africans’ self-perception dropped because the only lifestyle they knew was suddenly taken away from them and they were taught that it was substandard. Therefore, the indigenous inhabitants of the colonies, the Africans, had to adapt to a new, “superlative” culture and view it as more sophisticated than theirs.