Post Colonial Narration of Zadie Smith's White Teeth
Zadie Smith's "White Teeth" is not merely a novel about multicultural London - it is a profound meditation on how history is constructed, contested, and remembered. Through the story of Mangal Pande and the generational conflict between Samad and his son Millat, Smith exposes the fault lines between colonial and postcolonial narratives of truth.
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Two Versions of History
At the core of the novel lies a fundamental tension: the colonizer's version of history versus the colonized's. Whenever Samad passionately recounts the heroism of his great-grandfather Mangal Pande, his friend Archie counters by reading aloud the colonizer's account written by the contemporary historian Fittchett. According to that version, Pande was "half drunk with bhang, and wholly drunk with religious fanaticism" (254) when he fired his shot, "stood trial and was found guilty" (255), and was subsequently executed.
Samad refuses to accept this narrative, dismissing it as "anti-Pande propaganda." Yet despite his resistance, "the story still clung, like a gigantic misquote, to the Iqbal reputation" (256). Against this colonial account, Samad insists that "Mangal Pande sacrificed his life in the name of justice for India, not because he was intoxicated or insane" (256).
This tension is partially resolved when Samad's nephew Rajnu discovers a book in Cambridge College in 1981 that records Pande's name in the history of bravery. The book states:
"Mangal Pande fired the first bullet of the 1857 movement. His self-sacrifice gave the siren to the nation to take up arms against an alien ruler, culminating in a mass-uprising with no parallel in world history. Though the effort failed in its immediate consequences, it succeeded in laying the foundations of the Independence to be won in 1947. For his patriotism he paid with his life. But until his last breath he refused to disclose the names of those who were preparing for, and instigating, the great uprising." (259)
For Samad, this discovery is deeply personal: "A great day for our family, Rajnu, a great day for the truth" (257)
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Mythmaking and Its Limits
Smith does not present Samad's version of history as entirely objective either. Samad attempts to mythicize his forefather in order to turn him into a hero worthy of pride. He is unwilling to accept the Oxford English Dictionary's definition of the word "Pandy" - meaning not just "mutineer" but also "traitor," "fool," and "coward" (251). Instead, he insists on telling the full story of the Indian Mutiny, claiming that full stories are "as rare as honesty."
Archie, ever the pragmatist, challenges Samad's selective memory, arguing that "the truth is the truth, no matter how nasty it may taste" and suggesting that Samad's real problem is his inability to "listen to the evidence." This ongoing debate between the two friends reflects Smith's broader point - that history is never neutral. It is always shaped by who is telling it, and why.
Samad's belief that "when a man has nothing but his blood to commend him, each drop of it matters, matters terribly" (255) reveals how deeply identity and ancestry are intertwined for him. He believes that the past determines the present, and that acknowledging Pande's sacrifice is not nostalgia but a moral necessity.
Millat and the Second-Generation Challenge
Millat, Samad's son and a second-generation immigrant, challenges his father's approach to history - specifically his reliance on "library books and debates and reconstructions" (433). Where Samad seeks validation through historical record, Millat seeks action. Inspired by his father's repeated retellings of Pande's execution, Millat wants not just to remember but to avenge.
Smith maps this generational conflict across three significant London locations: Trafalgar Square, where Millat confronts Havelock's statue; O'Connell's Pool House, where Pande's photograph is finally displayed; and the Perret Institute, where the next generation's radicalism takes shape. Each location represents a different relationship with colonial history - public forgetting, private remembrance, and active resistance.
The Story of Pande as Postcolonial Function
As scholar Claire Squires observes, "Smith plays with notions of how history is constructed in White Teeth, with the ongoing argument about the place of Mangal Pande in Indian history." The story of Pande serves two key functions in the novel. First, it operates as a piece of racial and colonial history, reminding readers of the violence and injustice of British imperialism. Second, it anchors Samad's identity as a postcolonial subject living in England - a man caught between the country of his ancestry and the city he now calls home.
As Matthew Paproth notes, "In White Teeth, Smith demonstrates the important but fractured relationship between past and present, as her characters approach their relationship with history from various perspectives."
Multiculturalism and the Novel's Broader Vision
Beyond the colonial narrative, White Teeth is a celebration of multicultural Britain. The friendship between Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal - an Englishman and a Bengali Muslim - forms the central axis of the novel. Their bond, forged during World War II, endures across decades and generations, symbolizing the possibility of genuine cross-cultural connection even amid historical wounds.
As critic Dominic Head observes, "Smith has found a way of harnessing the novel's capacity to embrace heterogeneity, and has used it to give convincing shape to her presentation of an evolving, and genuinely multicultural Britain."
Conclusion
White Teeth ultimately argues that history is not a fixed record but a living, contested narrative. Through Samad's passionate mythmaking, Millat's generational rebellion, and the novel's richly multicultural canvas, Zadie Smith challenges readers to question whose stories are told, whose are suppressed, and what it means to carry the weight of the past into the present.
For further reading, explore colonial memory and identity in White Teeth and a historical critique of colonial memory in White Teeth. Also explore postcolonial literature and identity via the British Library.
Recommended Reading: White Teeth by Zadie Smith — Study Guide — get the book on Amazon for deeper insights.