By comparing White Teeth with at least one other appropriate text, explore the presentation of family and family relationships in postcolonial literature. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get an original essay The "metanarrative" of Zadie Smith's White Teeth differs from the straightforward linear narrative of other postcolonial texts such as Things Fall Apart and Disgrace. White Teeth's metanarrative presents the tensions and fragmentation of families in the postcolonial context with a gently humorous, unserious and perhaps optimistic approach, whereas these other texts are more ambiguous but moving. The chance events of White Teeth can sometimes become unrealistic, and Smith has been accused of neglecting plot characterization; however, in its three central families (the Joneses, the Iqbals and the Chalfens), it develops for its characters a powerful expression of postcolonial struggles. Family and history are two central relationships in the postcolonial genre. Things Fall Apart begins with an explanation of Okwonkwo's history as Umuofia's greatest wrestler and his attempts to distance himself from his father's reputation as an unserious and unsuccessful Igbo man. Achebe develops the importance of family history and relationships throughout the novel and uses this to lament the destruction of Igbo tradition with the arrival of the colonizers. The positive portrayal of Uchendu, a relatively distant relative in terms of the extent of support he provides to Okwonkwo during his seven years of exile, is a central example of the family values ​​celebrated in the traditional postcolonial novel from the perspective of " colonized.” Although the story of Okwonkwo's father is not central to the narrative (beyond explaining some of the qualities Okwonkwo possessed), Achebe uses the device to develop understanding of Igbo values ​​and advance the more conventional postcolonial theme of the destruction of the Igbo. livelihood of the “colonized” thanks to the arrival of the “colonizers”. White Teeth presents a less serious approach to family history as it is more of an inconvenience than the burden it has become for Okwonkwo. The meeting of Magid and Millat in a neutral room (a concept which in itself allows the author to develop several ideas about the hybridity of multicultural Britain by trying to find a place without "history"), is presented with unserious humor – “they take what was pristine and smear it with the stinking shit of the past, like excited children”. Profanities and images of “slander” and “excitable children” give an unserious connotation to the question of history and past conflicts. The innocence of "excitable children" prevents family histories from being seen as malicious burdens but simply as an element of the immigrant's dislocated existence in postcolonial society. The presentation of family has a different effect in Achebe's White Teeth and Things Fall Apart than in the novel. falls into the “post-post-colonial” genre. The “post-post-colonial” perspective and the conflicts of the “second generation” as recognized by Neena, “niece of shame”. In his words: “What are you afraid of, Alsi? He is from the second generation,” she underlines a family conflict different from traditional postcolonial texts. While Achebe uses the family as the central element of the rich culture of the “colonized” after several generations, Smith shows the identity conflicts created by the family. Due to the different situations of the two novels in terms of “colonizer-colonized” dynamics, thePresentations of the issues are inevitably different. However, the focus of the postcolonial theme is not specifically on the values ​​of the family but on the consequences of conflicting values ​​between the family and the individual. This is illustrated by Achebe presenting sometimes uncomfortable details of Ibo family traditions, such as having more than one wife and Okwonkwo's violence towards them, despite his generally positive view of Ibo values . Similarly, Smith does not present judgment on families in his novel but shows personal conflicts, particularly between his young characters and Samad, as dislocated in postcolonial society. In Disgrace, Coetzee presents abrasive attitudes by contrasting Lucy's acquiescence to the rape (accepting that "maybe this is the price you have to pay") and David's refusal to accept the situation (with his belief that their life in the Eastern Cape is "like a dog"). Questions of politics and morality underlie the conflict between David and Lucy, who are "so far and so bitterly separated", while Smith does not address these themes. Instead, she focuses on questions of identity and overcoming the dislocation and “double consciousness” of the second-generation immigrant. White Teeth presents the tensions and fragmentation of families in the postcolonial context through the contradiction of expectations and actions between generations. The Jones family has the least conflict; the connotations of the name itself as a stereotypical "average" British family underline this expectation. The discord between Clara and Hortense is a major conflict in the family and as Clara successfully overcomes the burden of her mother's expectations, she can be interpreted as a successful embodiment of the transition from authoritarian family expectations (due to her strict upbringing Witness of Jehovah). to a sense of independence in her marriage to Archie. However, some critics have considered Clara a major flaw of the novel, saying that Smith "privileges plot over characterization". Although Clara is not developed in detail and questions remain about the circumstances and satisfaction of her marriage, the conclusion – in which Irie marries Marcus because "you can only avoid your fate for so long" – may reflect a feeling of optimism in the novel and not underdevelopment. Smith perhaps suggests that family feuds in postcolonial confusion are not as important as they seem and that it may be more effective to accept challenges with regret, as Clara shows, because "they cannot no more escape their history than you do yourself.” can lose your shadow. » The nature of the Chalfen family may reflect an important postcolonial theme. The detailed family tree, “an elaborate illustrated oak tree that dates back to the 1600s,” expands on the contrasts of different families and postcolonial histories with the uncertain history of the Jones family. Although the Chalfens become amusing characters in the novel, the way they "refer to each other by nouns, verbs, and sometimes adjectives" has a quality similar to that of the island family and tribal values ​​of the Igbo. The focus on family relationships in both examples highlights the dominant elements of cultural and social expectations of families. The Chalfens become ironic as their apparent purity is undermined by the explanation that they are "the third generation [of immigrants], via Germany and Poland, née Chalfenovsky." Smith highlights the eclecticism of most families in postcolonial society through Alsana's critique that "one comes back and one comes back and it is always easier to find thegood Hoover bag than finding a pure person […] Do you think anyone is English? Really English? It's a fairy tale. The Chalfens' attempt to claim "purity" and be aware of their history is ironic because their family seems the strangest despite being the most "typical" in terms of lineage. Therefore, the postcolonial view of family in White Teeth values ​​variation and sees it as unavoidable. The diversity of the family and the emphasis on the lack of "purity" may be a more positive conclusion about the family than the distance that appears between David and Lucy in Disgrace or Okwonkwo's complete rejection of Nwoye in Things.Fall Apart. Irie's aspiration to be like the Chalfens ("she wanted their English. Their Chalfish. Her purity") is not only ironic but the essence of the struggle in the postcolonial theme to be "normal." In Things Fall Apart, Nwoye's conversion to elements of Christianity that challenge his native culture's doubts about the murder of newborn twins and the death of Ikemefuna shows a similar conflict in determining a personal identity. The nature of the conflict is contextually different in the two novels due to the shift from postcolonial to "post-postcolonial" context. Nwoye faces a different challenge with his family: moving away from being "normal" toward values ​​he finds more appealing. However, Irie struggles to resolve her family history as she moves from a temporary desire to travel to Jamaica with Hortense to living a "normal" life like "some families are all the time". In both situations, the relational tensions are similar, the generational conflict in families as social values ​​change becomes complicated with the addition of differences in cultural values. Things Fall Apart begins by addressing the fundamental aspect of generational conflict in the family as Okwonkwo strives to distance himself from his father's reputation. This struggle in itself is significant but presents itself in a more complicated form when Nwoye decides to convert to Christianity, which is not only a denunciation of a family history but also of the foundation of past values. However, it is unlikely that Achebe's primary intention was to examine the consequences of the arrival of colonizers on the family. Things Fall Apart considers the postcolonial from the consequences of an entire society and the Ibo people (as represented by Okwonkwo and his personal struggle throughout the novel), which contrasts with the family concerns that are so central to White Teeth. The central family conflict in White Teeth is based on the Iqbals and Samad's difficulties adjusting to British society as he laments: "You start to give up on the very idea of ​​belonging." Suddenly this thing, this belonging, it seems like a long, dirty lie.” The decision to separate Magid and Millat highlights the tensions of the postcolonial context on Samad and the ironies of hybrid society as Magid returns as "more English than the English." It is the affair with Poppy Burt-Jones and his recognition that he must make "a moral choice" that leads him to make the decision to send Magid to Bangladesh. The contrasts between Samad's expectations of his children and his own actions are fundamental to the presentation of the family as dysfunctional and contradictory in postcolonial literature. Samad's dislocation and dual consciousness as he does it knowingly (such as his assurance "for the pure, all things are pure") and unconsciously (such as his use of expressions such as "sometimes I don't know why I bother" which has distinctly “English” connotations) contradicts itselfis the device that creates much of the drama and humor in the novel. Magid's return as "more English than English", despite attempts to give him traditional values ​​with a Bangladeshi style. The upbringing and "problems with Millat" throughout the novel expand the tension between familial desire and the hybridity of the postcolonial context. Millat embodies the same flaws as his father as he struggles to define a sense of identity and is unable to let go of his sexual desires while seeking inclusive comfort from KEVIN. However, much of the tension in the novel is created when Samad attempts to transform Magid and Millat into "good Muslim boys". The family is shown to be dysfunctional in White Teeth and Millat's poignant criticism that Samad is a "hypocrite" is more moving than the generally humorous approach throughout the novel. Although the novel contains poignant reflections from Samad on his isolation and his children's situation, there is little dialogue from Magid or Millat. The lack of voice of these characters and the generally humorous tone that is often created by the absurdity of chance events such as the broken noses of the two twins may reflect Smith's unserious and optimistic attitude towards the tensions of the postcolonial family . endured by Samad and his contradictory values ​​such as his willingness to drink alcohol but his refusal to eat pork reflect the confusion of values ​​that emanate from the immigrant family in the postcolonial context. The description of Millat as "schizophrenic, one foot in Bengal and one in Willesden" highlights the confusion and division created by the family. Although “in his mind he was as much there as here,” the transformations and connotations of his “schizophrenic” character suggest an instability and uncertainty of his identity. A significant feature of the role of family in the conflicts endured by the main protagonists is that Smith does not explicitly "blame" families for the contradictory characters of their children. Millat does not seem to be a victim of his parents' “foreign” values. Even actions such as the burning of all his possessions due to his attendance at a protest in Bradford where, presumably, Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses was publicly burned do not suggest a cultural dislocation within the family. (Some critics may use the example of him claiming to Joyce Chalfen that Samad had "kicked him out" to show the consequences of cultural differences on the family, although this statement seems to be part of the humor of his manipulation of Joyce. for sympathy and). However, this presentation of discipline and general treatment of Millat is not based on the cultural expectations of the family as the postcolonial genre might suggest but on a disciplinary consequence of his actions, such as alcohol abuse, drug addiction and sexual promiscuity, which would be considered fair by most Eurocentric or other readings. The disgraced Lucy's pragmatism in accepting the injustice of the Eastern Cape for her survival and Okwonkwo's devastation at his perceived dishonor caused by Nwoye's conversion have distinct connections to the general presentation of the family in the postcolonial. These three texts embody the conflict between new and older generations as social and cultural values ​​evolve. Disgrace and Things Fall Apart are more austere presentations of the postcolonial genre, and the conflicts they explore are not definitively concluded but remain ambiguous. Things Fall Apart summarizes the conclusion of the postcolonial struggle in general and the cause of conflicts within the postcolonial family: "what is good in a.”