MARXISM AND WHITE TEETH

In the novel White teeth (2000) by Zadie Smith, Marxism plays an important role. According to Marxists, “Reality itself can be defined and understood; society shapes our consciousness; social and economic condition directly influence how and what we believe and value” (Bressler, 192). This quote can be related to the novel. First principle is “reality itself can be defined and understood” (Bressler, 192); reality means a person’s religion, its roots and its ethnicity which cannot be changed. In the novel we can notice different kind of people from different religion and they have their own roots which are unchangeable. For example, Samad is Bangladeshi and from Muslim religion, we can never forget that he is from Muslim religion. His roots are from Muslim religion. So as the gender of the person is the reality of the person and can be understood. Society also shapes the gender roles. Second principle is that “society shapes our consciousness” (Bressler, 192) which can be related to the situation in the novel, when Archie’s boss showing his desire that Archie’s presence is not required in the official dinner, is shaping Archie’s self-consciousness. In this situation Archie’s economic condition is not good which enforces him to take the Luncheon Vouchers from his boss and agrees to the deal that he will not attend the official dinner. His boss does not want Archie and his wife to attend the dinner with the Sunderland team; we can notice Archie’s boss desire in this line “we put down the names in a hat and yours came out” (Smith, 62). Archie replied to his boss that “Right you are, Mr. Hero” (Smith, 62). As we can notice that he prefers to take the food stamps which mean Archie has realized his low economic condition and responsibility towards his wife and his new born baby. Thus, social and economic condition directly manipulates Archie’s judgment and importance of things.