Author(s): Maha Samih Alanbagi

Abstract: Zadie Smith's novel, White Teeth, stands as an exciting and keen exploration of cultural identity, migration, and the complexities of multicultural existence in late 20th-century London. This paper argues that Smith's central cultural theme revolves around the dynamic tension between cultural inheritance and adaptation, the construction of hybrid identities, and the persistent, often fraught, compromise of belonging within a diverse, postcolonial capital. Through the interconnected lives of the Jones and Iqbal families – Archie, the characteristically indecisive Englishman; Clara, his Jamaican wife; Samad, the fiercely traditional Bengali Muslim; Alsana, his pragmatic cousin/wife; and their second-generation children Irie, Millat, and Magid – Smith meticulously dissects the promises and drawbacks of multiculturalism. The novel foregrounds hybridity not a smooth but proved to be a chaotic ongoing process. Characters struggling with the weight of history, religion, and national origin, trying to reconcile parental expectations with the realities of contemporary British life. Smith exposes the generational conflicts that arise as children navigate between ancestral roots and the dominant culture, often forging new, syncretic identities that defy easy classification. At the same time, White Teeth offers a sharp critique of simplistic multicultural ideologies, revealing how concepts of "Englishness" and "otherness" are constructed. Smith employs irony, humor, and expansive narrative scope to demonstrate that cultural identity is inherently fluid, performative, and shaped by chance encounters, historical accidents and the relentless passage of time itself. Thus, this paper contends that Smith's profound cultural theme in White Teeth presents multicultural London not as a harmonious quite place, but as a vibrant, chaotic space where identities are constantly remade, traditions are both preserved and overthrown, and the quest for belonging remains a complex, and difficult human struggle. The novel suggests that true understanding lies in embracing the chaos and living with cultural coexistence, symbolized by the shared, imperfect humanity represented in the "white teeth" of its diverse characters.

Keywords: Immigrants, families, identity, belonging, postcolonial, religion, multicultural

Article Info: Received: 15 Jan 2025; Received in revised form: 12 Feb 2025; Accepted: 15 Feb 2025; Available online: 20 Feb 2025

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.101.42