White Teeth

“What is past is prologue.” — William Shakespeare (Epigraph in White Teeth)

Part One: Archie 1974, 1945

The novel opens with Archie Jones, a middle-aged Englishman, attempting suicide in his car on New Year’s Day 1974. He fails when a halal butcher interrupts him. The narrative then shifts to 1945, revealing Archie’s wartime experiences and his marriage to Ophelia, a Jamaican woman, which ends in divorce.

Part Two: Samad 1984, 1857

Samad Iqbal, Archie’s Bengali Muslim friend, struggles with his identity in England. Flashbacks reveal his great-grandfather Mangal Pande’s role in the 1857 Indian Rebellion. In 1984, Samad and Archie’s lives intertwine as they navigate fatherhood and cultural displacement.

Part Three: Irie 1990, 1907

Focus shifts to Archie’s daughter Irie, who grapples with her mixed-race identity. Parallel stories explore the Jamaican background of her mother Clara. The Chalfen family, upper-middle-class intellectuals, become central as their son Marcus conducts genetic experiments that impact the other characters.

Part Four: Magid, Millat, and Marcus 1992, 1999

Samad sends one twin son, Magid, to Bangladesh to preserve his Islamic roots, while Millat grows up rebellious in London. Both become involved with Marcus Chalfen’s controversial genetic project. Tensions escalate as Millat joins a radical Islamic group opposing the experiments.

Part Five: The Final Space

All plotlines converge at a scientific presentation where Millat attempts to assassinate Marcus. In a chaotic climax, Archie accidentally saves Marcus, while Irie becomes pregnant with either Millat or Magid’s child. The novel ends with the characters’ futures left open-ended.

Key Ideas

• Exploration of multicultural identity in modern Britain
• Intergenerational conflicts between immigrants and their children
• The tension between tradition and modernity
• Fate versus free will in shaping personal destinies
• Satire of scientific arrogance and religious fundamentalism

Notable Adaptations