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  • Essay / A Comparative Analysis of Zadie Smith and Anita and Me's White Teeth by Meera Syal

    Smith and Anita and Me by Meera SyalZadie Smiths White Teeth concerns three different cultures and three families spanning three generations. The characters include Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal, best friends who spend their teenage years together and raise a family in the Cricklewood neighborhood of London. The novel follows their experiences during the war and later, the exploits of their families as they grow and mature. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why violent video games should not be banned'?Get the original essayAnita and Me by Meera Syal is a semi-autobiographical novel about Meena Kumar, a young Punjabi girl growing up in Tollington, a small mining village. somewhere between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. It details Meena's desperate attempts to be accepted by local mob leader Anita Rutter, and her desire for a normal English life on fish fingers! Fried! And chips!, .Anita and Me and White Teeth are the first works of the authors, both Indians of English origin. They share a number of themes such as family relationships, history, language and dialect, place and religion. The family relationships in both novels are seen as intimate and caring, and the arrival of Meena's grandmother in Anita and Me demonstrates the ease and comfort with which the family lives: I knew Nanima was going to be fun when she leaned back into the sofa farting. and let out a howl of laughter. And similarly in White Teeth, the loving family arrangement is depicted in many places: a very happy marriage must be satisfied. She would challenge anyone to show her a happier marriage as her relationships in White Teeth could also be described as somewhat unconventional due to the nature of the interpersonal relationships between some of the characters in certain parts of the novel, for example the progressive relationship between twins Iqbal and Irie Jones. However, there are also differences between the texts when it comes to the relationships between members of a family. In Anita and Me, the reader focuses solely on the Kumar family, with particular emphasis on young Meena. Alternatively, in White Teeth there are three families to discover and the reader is not given priority for one person or family. Additionally, each White Teeth family is different in composition, culture, and beliefs. It could be said that the families of White Teeth show a good insight into London, where the novel takes place; whereas Anita and I's Kumar family are a minority culture in the small mining village of Tollington in the West Country. This is a stark contrast between the two novels and the characters found in them. Both novels explore the importance of family history and background, although the two families with a history behind them are not at all similar. The White Teeth Iqbal family is said to be descended from Mangal Pande, a well-known Indian radical who Samad holds deeply in his heart as a hero for his actions during the war. This is highlighted throughout the novel when Samad defines for his sons how important pride, honor and loyalty are, but it is also particularly demonstrated in his conversations with Archie and Mickey at the pool bar: I can think of no greater honor than fighting for your Country Mangal Pande was indeed a great man. The story has also been used to refer to an integral part of White Teeth. The novel's inclusion of a diagram of Irie Jones' family tree two-thirds of the way through the novel representsthe importance of knowing your roots and background. The chapters have been divided into parts titled Root Canals which express the author's feelings about heritage and culture. The title parts are important for two main reasons. First, Root Canals shows how history goes back a long way and can shape us into who we become, and that it is therefore imperative that we trace our root canals. Second, the titles are relevant to the title of the novel in its together: White teeth (because teeth have root canals), and emphasizes that no matter how different we are, we still have white teeth and root canals. .Anita and Me explains how Meena's parents came from India to escape persecution, and Meena's father tells her many colorful stories about his past and about Meena's family history, heritage and background : At the age of sixteen, two brothers were married to two sisters. I was one of those brothers. The other is your uncle Masi. The theme of history therefore raises the question of dialect, language and the feeling of belonging or alienation. The Indian aspect of Meena's home life is prominent in Anita and Me, with random Punjabi words inserted into normal English sentences, obviously to give the impression of a dual nationality household: jamardani! You look like a movie star, Kumar-saab! Meena betiThis method is a very effective way to personalize text. Additionally, Meera Syal used language and phonetics to describe the Tollington dialect in the novel. The Tollington dialect is a strongly Nordic accent. Phonetics is a particularly effective method used here: Ey, yowm on t corner, int ya? Meybbe, you won't tell them anything. Dialects can offer people a sense of acceptance and belonging. They are localized and reflect a certain area, in this case the area in question is a specific part of the north of England. In White Teeth, language is used extensively by Zadie Smith to emphasize the discourse of the novel. She does this using a number of techniques, but again primarily using slang and phonetics. The short, sharp and harsh London accent: Simproportant. Hifan is the Don. The softer, gentler Arabic: Radd-ul-mukhtar makruhand the casual, comical but serious Jamaican accent: If lissnin, pickney? Mr. Topps tries to explain what is very imperfect about the yew tree. It could be argued that the three cultures of White Teeth reflect London, where the novel takes place. London is a multicultural society and is home to a number of different dialects and languages, for example variations from South to North London, East to West London, immigrant languages ​​or the language of some specific areas of London, like Chinatown. Although it is possible to note similarities in the novels, it can also be said that they are different for a number of factors. First, they are located on opposite ends of the country, one in the north and one in the south. Lifestyles vary greatly across the country, so it can be argued that the families involved do not have much in common because they have been exposed to two different lifestyles. The novels use different language and tone due to their location, which therefore sets them apart. The scale in which the novels take place conflicts between the Kumar family in Anita and I from a small village and the Iqbal, Jones and Chalfen families in White Teeth from London, a large city. Second, Anita and I concerns a nine-year-old girl who belonged to the first generation born in England wherethe novel unfolds, and so she knows the English way of life. Instead, White Teeth focuses on Samad, a much older Indian immigrant who is less familiar with English culture because he spent his early years in another country, another continent. Such differences between the two mean that they are presented through different points of view and aimed at different types of readers and, therefore, cannot be too closely related. Also, regarding points of view, Zadie Smith and Meera Syal gave contrasting approaches to the text through the narration of the plot of their novels. While White Teeth is written in the third person and allows the reader to act as a spectator and see everything, Anita and Me is in the first person and is therefore more narrow and personalized, and possibly presents the reader with a biased account of the events. in the novel. Finally, religion is one of the major differences between the novels. White Teeth contains Jehovah's Witnesses, Muslims and Atheists. Anita and I only depict one religion, that of Hinduism. However, they are similar in that they both present religion as a way of life, Hinduism in Anita and Me and Islam in White Teeth. Religion is a way of life in each novel and both depict an atheist family in addition to the religious Iqbal and Kumar families, the Rutter family in Anita and Me and the Chalfens in White Teeth. White Teeth shows a range of devotion and commitment to religion, from the Lord choosing me among Jehovah's Witnesses, to the occasional visit to the Iqbal family mosque, to blatant ignorance from the atheist Chalfen family. Anita and I places less emphasis on religion than White Teeth, and some might argue that Marcus Chalfen's infatuation with FutureMouse in White Teeth makes science almost a substitute for religion and places it on a more equal footing. equality with Christianity, Islam or one of the others. major religions of the world. Both authors use language and language to distinguish the novels from other contemporary literature. Similes and metaphors are a good way to add an individual touch to a novel. George Orwell once said that a newly invented metaphor aids thought by evoking a visual image. The text of White Teeth is littered with similes and metaphors to add a descriptive touch to the novel: face long as fuck. Bouncing off the walls like a broken horse stored in genes like baldness or testicular carcinoma. And helps readers' imaginations by using vivid imagery, as Orwell suggests, to provoke a reaction. Similarly, Anita and Me is full of similes and metaphors, which reflect the colorful nature of the Indian culture in which Meena grew up: like one of the ornamental statues I had seen on my aunt Shailas' shrine. They had their arms wrapped around each other and their heads raised in silent moans, as if screaming at the stars, cracks appearing that would eventually split this summer's blue porcelain bowl, ten cruel fingers and angry. The language of the two novels is idiosyncratic. Both authors use language in an individual and offbeat way, far from the common style presented by many contemporary writers. They seem to be moving away from the usual archetypal contemporary novel that audiences are starting to tire of. White Teeth is full of semic language. A number of words appear in the text which have a double meaning, which makes the novel more personal as it allows the reader to apply their own understanding of a word to the text, and therefore offer their own interpretation of the plot and characters involved. The .Semic languagecan also be found in Anita and Me. This is probably more evident in Anita and Me than in White Teeth because the novel is seen through the eyes of a child, and a child can give a word a completely different meaning than an adult. Children quite often perceive the meaning of a word differently than adults. Anita and I's diction varies between characters and reflects each character's background and personality. Meena's language was specifically chosen by Syal to depict the thoughts of a young girl, while the character of Mr. Kumar, her father, has a more mature tone and the expressive vocabulary makes it seem like he has been well educated at one point. in the past. The language used by Meena's mother describes a strict but loving parent; and the language used to describe her is appropriate: polite, even serene. In White Teeth, the use of diction was also adapted according to the character. The younger characters in the novel tend to use swear words and slang to form the basis of their conversations: fucking awesome!, fuck you, okay! , while adults use a much more mature and expanded vocabulary to demonstrate their worldliness. A good example of this can be found in Marcus Chalfen and the way he uses his language. As a scientist, there are a lot of scientific words and expressions that seep into his usual speech: We are still conducting our studies. and this work is pioneering. This is something that deserved public money and public attention, and it is work whose importance outweighs, for any rational person, the realm of physics: relativity, quantum mechanics . A striking similarity between White Teeth and Anita and Me is that both use the same style. writing. This is contained in realism. Both novels seek to provide a convincing illusion of life as we normally imagine it. Such an approach to literature allows the writer to create a very complete impression of what it must be like for a certain person occupying a certain position at a certain moment in time. Zadie Smith uses realism in White Teeth to address primarily ethical issues. The main ethical problem he exposes is that it is a very controversial issue. Should science be allowed to use animals for research, whether for cosmetic or medical purposes? This is a somewhat controversial issue in today's society, and so it seems that Zadie Smith has achieved successful realism and reflects the context of modern society. Similarly, in White Teeth, Meera Syal uses realism to explore issues of racism. It is an unfortunate reality that racism exists, and Meera Syal uses her novel to demonstrate how difficult things were in small villages during the sixties and seventies. It was especially around this time that ignorance led to racism: the dog's name Nigger in the novel is a prime example of this, as is that damn stupid wog. Issues addressed in the novel also include the social inequality found in a small mining village. Another similarity between the two novels in terms of literary structure is that, in addition to containing realism, they are both didactic novels. In short, these are novels with a strong underlying moral or religious theme. This explanation of a novel is particularly appropriate for describing White Teeth and Anita and Me, because the two themes previously mentioned in this essay run through them like deep veins, they are always there even if you can't see them. The religious theme, which seeks to teach the reader a lesson, turns out to be the most predominant in White Teeth..