White Teeth

White Teeth is an award-winning novel by Zadie Smith, published in 2000. The novel, which was developed into a four-part miniseries for British audiences in 2002, follows two men from different backgrounds who meet and become friends during World War II.

Plot Summary

White Teeth opens on New Year’s Day, 1975, with the attempted suicide of a middle-aged Englishman named Archie Jones. Following his failed marriage, and in despairing of his generally mundane existence, Archie flipped a coin and decided to take his life. His attempt is interrupted, however, and Archie experiences a change of heart. Elated by the prospect of a second chance, Archie makes his way to an “End of the World” party staged by a hippie commune. Here, he meets and falls in love with a 19-year-old Jamaican immigrant named Clara Bowden.

A flashback shows that Clara’s mother, Hortense, is a devout Jehovah’s Witness, and Clara was raised in anticipation of the coming apocalypse. As a teenager, Clara rebelled against her childhood faith and began dating a boy named Ryan Topps, who introduced her to the commune crowd. When Ryan converted to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, however, the couple broke up. Feeling adrift, Clara marries Archie just six weeks after they meet.