Multiculturalism and magic realism? Between fiction and reality E-Book

Sylvia Hadjetian

• Herausgeber: GRIN Verlag
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2008

Beschreibung

Thesis (M.A.) from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, University of Regensburg (Anglistik), language: English, abstract: Since the 1970s, there has been an increasing concern with the impact of colonialism and postcolonialism on British identities and culture and the influence that the former British Empire had and still has on people in the former colonies and in Britain today. Novels like Salman Rushdie’s "Midnight’s Children" or "The Satanic Verses", Hanif Kureishi’s "The Buddha of Suburbia", Meera Syal’s "Anita and Me", Timothy Mo’s "Sour Sweet", Sam Selvon’s "The Lonely Londoners" and Monica Ali’s "Brick Lane" along with films like "Bend it like Beckham" or TV series like "The Kumars at No. 42" and "Da Ali G Show" exemplify this rather new phenomenon and its world-wide success. They are representative of a large group of multicultural novels and productions created during the last few decades. Although multiculturalism is not new in the media, there has been a special boom of writers of the "empire within" during the last ten years.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. Great Britain and Immigration

2.1 Britain and Colonialism

2.2 White Teeth and Immigration

2.2.1 The History of Jamaica

2.2.2 The History of Bangladesh

2.2.3 The History of Jews in Britain

2.2.4 Reasons for Immigration

2.2.5 Effects of Immigration on Britain

3. Definitions and Theories

3.1 Postcolonialism

3.1.1 The Development of Postcolonialism

3.1.2 Different Aspects of Postcolonialism

3.1.3 Postcolonialism and Postmodernism

3.1.4 Postcolonialism and White Teeth

3.2 Multiculturalism

3.2.1 Definitions

3.2.2 Origins of Multiculturalism

3.2.3 Implementation of a Multicultural Policy

3.2.4 Multiculturalism:  A Blessing or a Curse?

3.2.5 The Current Situation of Multiculturalism in Britain

3.2.6 Multiculturalism and Postcolonialism

3.3 Magic Realism: Between Fiction and Reality

3.3.1 What is Magic Realism?

3.3.2 The Development of Magic Realism

3.3.3 Features and Effects of  Magic Realism

3.3.4 Magic Realism and (Post)Colonialism

3.3.5 Magic Realism and Postmodernism

3.3.6 Hysterical Realism

3.4 Edward Said’s Orientalism

3.4.1 Introduction

3.4.2 The Influence of Foucault and Gramsci

3.4.3 Definitions of Said’s Orientalism

3.4.4 West versus East

3.4.5 The Future of Orientalism

3.5 Homi Bhabha’s Concept of Hybridity

3.5.1 Introduction to Hybridity

3.5.2 History of the Term 'Hybridity'

3.5.3 Michail Bakhtin’s Influence on Homi Bhabha

3.5.4 Hybridity

3.5.5 Criticism

4. Multiculturalism in White Teeth

4.1 The Quest for Identity

4.1.1. Samad Iqbal

4.1.2  Alsana Iqbal

4.1.3  The Twins Magid and Millat

4.1.4  Irie Jones

4.1.5  The Chalfens

4.1.6 Different Ways of Living in Multicultural Britain

4.2 The Representation of London in White Teeth

4.2.1 Immigrants in Great Britain and its Capital

4.2.2 White Teeth: The Contemporary London of the 21st Century

4.3 Racism in White Teeth

4.3.1 Stereotypes

4.3.2 Racism: British People – "Immigrants”

4.3.3 Racism amongst "Immigrants”

4.3.4 The Impact of Racism on the Immigrants‘ Lives

4.3.5 Conclusion: Between Optimism and Pessimism

5. Magic Realism - Between Fiction and Reality

5.1 Magic and Unbelievable Elements

5.2 Realistic Elements and Historical Events

5.3 Style of the Novel

5.3.1 Narrator and Narrative

5.3.2 Structure

5.3.3 Language

5.3.4 Humour

5.3.5 Intertextuality

5.3.6 Title

5.3.7 Hysterical Realism

5.4 Conclusion: White Teeth and Magic Realism

6. Conclusion

7. Endgames

8. Bibliography

8.1. Text

8.2. Secondary Works

1. Introduction

Since the 1970s, there has been an increasing concern with the impact of colonialism and postcolonialism[1] on British[2] identities and culture and the influence that the former British Empire[3] had and still has on people in the former colonies and in Britain today[4]. Novels like Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children[5] or The Satanic Verses[6], Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia[7], Meera Syal’s Anita and Me[8], Timothy Mo’s Sour Sweet[9], Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners[10] and Monica Ali’s Brick Lane[11] along with films like Bend it like Beckham[12] or TV series like The Kumars at No. 42[13] and Da Ali G Show[14] exemplify this rather new phenomenon and its world-wide[15] success. They are representative of a large group of multicultural[16] novels and productions created during the last few decades. Although multiculturalism is not new in the media, there has been a special boom of writers of the "empire within"[17] during the last ten years.

Zadie Smith, the author of White Teeth[18], not wanting to be part of this trend, just wanted to write a funny novel whose protagonists were not solely white. As White Teeth combines well multiculturalism, magic realism[19] and the search for identity, the novel has been chosen for this thesis.

For Smith, multiculturalism in London is nothing new; it is the norm or, as Zadie Smith explains herself: "I wasn’t trying to write about race. I was trying to write about the country I live in."[20] However, the book became one of the best novels dealing with multiculturalism[21]. It was translated into more than twenty languages[22] and it was adapted for the screen by Channel 4 for a television series[23]. The novel won several prizes and awards, among them the Whitbread First Novel Award, the Guardian First Book Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction, two Ethnic and Multicultural Media Awards and the Los Angeles Times Book Awards, to name but a few[24].

Zadie Smith was born in the north-west London borough of Brent in 1975[25]. Being the daughter of a black[26] Jamaican mother and a white English father, she grew up in the multicultural community of Willesden and still lives there[27]. Her novel is set mostly in this area which will be described in more detail in one of the following chapters[28]. White Teeth is the first novel from this young writer and has been praised by readers and critics alike for its themes, humour and magic, its various characters and the multicultural presentation of Britain’s capital.

The main protagonist of her second novel called The Autograph Man[29] is a Chinese-Jewish autograph dealer. The novel is set in London and New York and deals with identity, idols, pop culture and religion[30].

White Teeth, which appeared in the spring of 2000[31], is the story of three families from three different cultural backgrounds, the British-Jamaican Jones, the Bangladeshi Iqbals and the Jewish-Catholic Chalfens, set mainly in multicultural London and told mainly between 1974 and 1999 but also during the Second World War and before. All in all, there is a time span of 143 years in the novel[32]. The literary genre of White Teeth is magic realism[33]. As the plot of the novel is quite complex and long, a brief summary of it is necessary in order to familiarise the reader with the main events and the relation between the characters.

The English Archie Jones wants to commit suicide after the divorce from his Italian wife Ophelia but is saved by the halal butcher Mo. Afterwards, he meets the Jamaican Clara Bowden at a Jehovah’s Witness party and marries her a short time later. Archie’s friend Samad Iqbal from Bangladesh, whom he met in a British tank during the Second World War somewhere in Bulgaria, immigrates to London with his wife Alsana. Samad and Alsana have twins, Millat an Magid, and the Jones a daughter called Irie. The children become friends and share the experience of growing up as second-generation immigrants in  multicultural London. In the process of the plot, Magid is sent to Bangladesh in order to become a good Muslim, Irie falls in love with Millat who becomes a fundamentalist. The whole story gets even more complex when the white middle class Chalfens are introduced who behave like colonisers with their arrogance and intolerance. In the end, all three families are united by the project of the geneticist Marcus Chalfen and themes like history, fate, religion and identity are intertwined.

The first part of this thesis provides an overview of the former British Empire, the Commonwealth and the history of Bangladesh, Jamaica and the Jews in England as relevant to White Teeth. The role of the (former) centre of London[34], also important for the analysis of the novel, is presented as well. Subsequently, definitions and postcolonial theories shall be discussed which will be used in the following analysis..

The focus of the main part of this paper is on life in multicultural London for first and second generation immigrants as it is presented in the novel. The main aspects analysed in these chapters deal with identity, the location of the novel and racism. Another aim of the thesis is a comparison between the fictional world of White Teeth and reality as another chapter is going to deal with the question of magic realism and the novel's position between two worlds.

In a summary of the most important aspects, the writer of this paper hopes to convince the readers of the fascination felt when reading the novel and when plunging into the buzzing streets of contemporary multicultural London.

2. Great Britain and Immigration

Immigration to Great Britain is not a new phenomenon. The flow of ethnic groups, from which the present British population originates, has a long history and the country has seen waves of immigration of different ethnic groups for centuries. Invaders like the Anglo-Saxons and Normans successively populated the country as well as the Irish, for example, as a result of the famines in Ireland in the 19th century. This has to be kept in mind when talking about immigration to Britain – the population as it is composed today is the result of centuries of immigration.

The success of the novel considered in this thesis cannot be understood without any knowledge of the history of immigration and certain ethnic minorities[35] in Britain, especially since the end of World War II[36], as the themes dealt with in the book are closely interlinked with that period of British history. This chapter will give an overview of selected aspects of this phenomenon[37].

2.1 Britain and Colonialism

Because of its period of colonial expansion, Great Britain has had, for several centuries, a tradition of immigration which is nowadays shown in its multicultural population[38]. But what happened during the period of colonialism so that it resulted in cultural pluralism in Britain?

Colonialism refers to the seizure of foreign territories by imperial powers like Britain. The inhabitants of these countries are either expelled or suppressed, the land populated with colonisers and the economy exploited. The political power of the colonisers expands to their colonies and the colonisers decide on political issues, the education system and culture. The traditions of the local people are often forbidden or alienated.

Britain expanded its territories and colonies overseas from the 16th century with a climax at the end of the 19th century[39]. Independence began mainly after World War II when most British possessions were decolonised and founded their own states afterwards[40]. As a consequence, the Empire[41] came completely to an end in the 1960s[42]. But most of the former colonies now belong to the Third World[43] and are members of the Commonwealth of Nations, a voluntary association of 49 independent states which has evolved from the former British Empire[44]. Its aims are to aid these countries, the promotion of international understanding, mutual co-operation and consultation among governments and scientific co-operation[45]. Although there are no obligations concerning the education systems in the former colonies, there is a common tradition of the English language instruction at school[46].

2.2 White Teeth and Immigration

As White Teeth is mainly the story of immigrants from the former colonies Bangladesh and Jamaica, which are both today Commonwealth member states, and of Jews from Poland, the following chapter deals with a short overview of the history of these countries and Jews in England as relevant to the novel.

2.2.1 The History of Jamaica

Irie, one of the main characters of the novel, is half-Jamaican and half-English. Her Jamaican mother Clara, the island, its history and people play a crucial role in White Teeth. Jamaica is the third largest island in the Caribbean Sea with approximately 2.6 million inhabitants and its capital is called Kingston[47]. The island became independent on August 6 1962[48]. Queen Elizabeth II is head of state in Jamaica[49] and due to the British influence during colonialism, its official language is English[50]. Jamaican Common Law is also influenced by the British system[51]. Over 97% of the population are Blacks and mulattos; the remainder are mainly Indians, Whites and Chinese and the majority of Jamaicans are Protestants[52].

The island was discovered by Christopher Columbus on 3 May 1494[53] but conquered by the English under Admiral Sir William Penn in 1655[54]. It became one of the largest American markets for the slave trade at the end of the 17th century but the slaves were liberated in 1834[55]. After several mutinies, it became a crown colony[56] at the end of the 19th century[57]. The constitutions of 1944 and 1953 set up complete self-government and in 1958, Jamaica joined the Federation of the West Indies[58] but opted out in 1961[59]. On 6 August 1962, the country became an independent member of the Commonwealth[60]. 

2.2.2 The History of Bangladesh

The Bangladeshi Muslim Samad and his wife Alsana, also from Bangladesh, along with their twin sons, who were born in London, are major characters in the book. Concerning the history of Bangladesh, one has to look first at India and Pakistan. From about 1940 on, the Moslem League in India Worked for the creation of Pakistan[61]. This was especially the case in the mainly Moslem-inhabited parts of India and their aim was achieved against the strong opposition of the Indian National Congress on 15 August 1947 when India was partitioned[62]. The principally Hindu West stayed with India and the mainly Islamic part of Bengal[63] came to Pakistan[64] and formed East Pakistan[65]. Starting in the mid 1960s, people became dissatisfied with the central Pakistani government in West Pakistan and demanded independence[66]. With the help of India, East Pakistan, which was then called Bangladesh, seceded from Pakistan as an independent republic on 16 December 1971 and was recognised by Britain on 4 February 1972[67]. It became a member of the Commonwealth on 18 April 1972[68]. The official language is Bengali[69] but English is used for business. The state religion is Islam[70] and the capital is Dacca[71]. The country is often the victim of monsoons, tropical tornadoes and floods[72]. The inhabitants are mainly Bengalis and head of state is the president[73]. The country has an important port in Chittagong[74].

2.2.3 The History of Jews in Britain

Jews[75] from Eastern Europe, also play an important role in White Teeth as the only white family is Jewish-Catholic. They started to arrive in 1700[76] and after 1850, immigration was increasing from Eastern Europe although they had to endure periods of anti-Semitism in England[77]. However, the Jewish Relief Act in 1858 guaranteed them full emancipation[78]. The first mass emigration from Eastern Europe took place between 1881 and 1914. Many Jews wanted to leave the Russian Empire[79] after Czar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881 and pogroms started in Eastern European countries against the Jewish population[80]. Most Jews went to the British capital and began moving to north-west London[81] by the 1870s and later on to the East End[82]. Because of the high immigration by Jews, the Aliens Immigration Act of 1905 was introduced to restrict the numbers[83]. Due to anti-Semitism in central Europe, even more Jewish immigrants came to Britain during the Second World War.

2.2.4 Reasons for Immigration

Britain and especially London, the former centre of the Empire, became multicultural mainly by the arrival of immigrants who left their countries, mostly for political, demographic or economic reasons, in the search for freedom and a better standard of living[84]. Some general push-factors[85] are political suppression, war, persecution, poverty, bad working conditions and natural disasters[86]. Pull-factors[87] include religious and political freedom, a larger job market, better living conditions and financial gain[88]. People from former colonies were especially attracted by London and Britain in general as they had already a special cultural, political and economic relationship to it.

The immigrants in White Teeth came to Britain mainly after World War II and reasons for immigration after 1945 were various.In the aftermath of the war, Britain itself encouraged labourers from overpopulated and underemployed Commonwealth countries to immigrate because it needed cheap workers to fill the heavy labour shortage in semi-skilled and non-skilled vacancies, to rebuild the war-shattered economy and to reconstruct the country[89]. Most of the immigrants worked in the National Health Service, public transport or in the manufacturing service[90]. Many of them got only low-paid manual jobs[91] and became victims of discriminatory practices[92]. Their influx was increasingly made difficult, when the voices against such immigrants grew stronger.

2.2.5 Effects of Immigration on Britain

British society has undergone a considerable change of its composition in the past fifty years. One of the major reasons for the relatively sudden commencement of colonial immigration was the changing relationship between the centre of the former Empire and its periphery[93] due to the process of decolonisation and labour shortage in Britain. Unexpected high numbers of immigrants came to Great Britain from the 1950s onward[94]. The traditional population, which had been rather homogeneous until then, was confronted with people from former colonies and whose identities seemed anything but British. Since then, the proportion of non-white Britons in the population has risen steadily. Unfortunately, the rise of foreigners has from its start on been regarded as a problem[95]. This problem is called "an inheritance of empire"[96]. The Empire is said to be "striking back"[97] and haunts Britain with its legacy. The negative reception which the immigrants experienced can be explained by Britain’s imperial past and the British feeling of superiority[98]. The Empire affected Britain’s identity and society as it helped to define Britishness[99] and the British were proud of it[100]. Due to "the voyage in"[101] of thousands of immigrants, the national self-image of a white British nation became more and more problematic. At present, British self-understanding is undergoing a shift away from the traditional viewpoint to an awareness of changed circumstances.

The British immigration policy since 1945 was subjected to many changes during the following years.In 1948, the British Nationality Act came into existence which provided the free entry to people from the former colonies to Great Britain but it was reconsidered in the 1950s and in 1962, a law that restricted entry was passed, followed by a second one in 1968[102]. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, many different Race Relations Acts[103] were passed in order to control immigration and to fight against discrimination. This led to a near standstill of immigration but the number of non-white inhabitants did not decline due to the fact that more than half of them were children and grandchildren of first generation immigrants born in Great Britain. But it was these immigrants who started the transformation of Britain and especially of London into the multicultural society it is nowadays.

3. Definitions and Theories

Before going on with the main part of this thesis, some important concepts and definitions shall be presented which are crucial in understanding the following analysis of the novel. As many countries like Britain, the USA and France, which had a colonial past, have developed into multicultural societies in the period of postcolonialism, the concepts of postcolonialism and multiculturalism shall be discussed as they go hand in hand[104]. Besides that, two of the most important and influential theorists of postcolonial studies, Homi Bhabha and Edward Said, and their ideas shall be presented.

Although the field of theories and ideas concerning postcolonialism is large, the following chapters can only give a very short and general overview of the most influential representatives and concentrate on the ones who are more relevant to the novel.

3.1 Postcolonialism

Postcolonialism[105] is a literary, cultural, political and intellectual movement of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Its theories and representatives form a vast and still relatively new field of studies from which just a very small part can be presented in the following chapter[106].

White Teeth can be read as a postcolonial novel as it speaks of race and multiculturalism in postcolonial London[107]. Its characters are concerned with questions of history, inheritance and identity which are commonly found in postcolonial literature[108]. Therefore, postcolonialism shall be presented in the following chapters.

3.1.1 The Development of Postcolonialism

As (post)colonialism has influenced and still[109] influences the majority[110] of the countries in the world, it is not surprising that a huge number of different theories exist that vary from their point of view, their cultural background and country of origin[111]. Therefore, it has become difficult to define the term and it is easier to regard it as a collective term for many different ideas.

But this field of study is not so popular for its variety of theories but rather because of the impact colonialism still has on the contemporary world. This field of study is a reaction to colonialism and wants to distance itself from this period[112]. Postcolonialism still exists and aims for a world-wide emancipation from colonialism as the prefix post already implies[113]. This prefix reflects the period after colonialism as the Latin word post means 'after' or 'afterwards'. The term with a hyphen is a temporal marker of the decolonising process and refers to the time of independence from the colonisers[114]. However some critics regard the term without a hyphen as a sign for a process which already started during colonialism, namely the constant attempt to come to terms with the colonial system[115]. Without hyphen, it is more sensitive to the long history of colonial consequences[116].

Postcolonialism in general deals with the coming to terms with colonialism, with the differences between the former metropolitan centre and its periphery as well as with the efforts made by the former colonies in the struggle for independence[117]. The consequences of colonialism and the colonial heritage like European languages, education systems, ways of thinking as well as cultural elements are also dealt with in many postcolonial theories as "the country over which the breath of the West, heavily charged with scientific thought, has once passed, and has, in passing left an enduring mark, can never be the same as it was before"[118].

Although more and more works on this topic are published nowadays, some of the theories dealing with postcolonialism date from further back. It can be said that this field of studies, which developed in the 1960s and 1970s with a climax in the 1980s, was influenced by poststructuralism[119] and showed affinities to postmodernism[120]. Edward Said’s Orientalism[121] was published in 1978 and he was influenced by the French philosopher Michel Foucault[122]. Another early theorist is Franz Fanon[123] who published his first works in the 1960s[124]. Together with Said, the literary critics Homi K. Bhabha and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak[125] belong to the most influential in this field of study[126].

But besides these critics, there are also, as mentioned in the introduction, more and more authors from the former colonies or with a (post)colonial background, who have a great influence on world literature and are on the way to change it by creating characters with (post)colonial lives or problems just like the writers themselves had or still have. With works like The Empire Writes Back[127], it becomes clear that authors from the other side of the world try to influence the European literary canon[128] which has been dominant until now.

3.1.2 Different Aspects of Postcolonialism

       Postcolonial literary theories and postcolonial writers differ from their field of interests and from country to country[129]. Some emphasise the (anti-)colonial discourse[130], others the phenomenon of transcultural hybridity or on the effects of colonialism on both the coloniser and the colonised and problems of the individual in a constantly changing environment[131]. Another important aspect is the independence of the colonies which has started a global migration, especially from the Third World countries whose citizens emigrate in particular to the former centres of the empires, where they become ethnic minorities[132] and change the centres in a multicultural sense. As a consequence, the conflicts that were found in the periphery before are then brought to the centres which become then postcolonial[133]. Other theories try to explain historical and other conditions of its emergence as well as its consequences for the contemporary world.

      As can be seen by these various aspects of postcolonial studies, it is difficult to give one definition for postcolonialism that shares all thoughts or, as Ashcroft and his colleagues say in connection with their book The Empire Writes Back: "This book is concerned with writing by those peoples formerly colonised by Britain, though much of what it deals with is of interest and relevance to countries colonised by other European powers, such as France, Portugal, and Spain"[134]. Although these countries share the same experiences, are labelled postcolonial, "emerged in their present form out of the experience of colonisation and asserted themselves by foregrounding the tension with the imperial power"[135], it becomes soon clear that no definition of postcolonialism for all former colonies is possible due to the "special and distinctive regional characteristics"[136] of each single theory and country. Theories and definitions defer as colonialism and its effects are not uniform due to different colonial practices and processes of decolonization.

Another aspect why the definition is not easy is that the expressions 'postcolonialism' or 'postcolonial literatures' are ambiguous and signify, very generally speaking, either the conceptual or the temporal difference to colonialism in spite of the neocolonial conditions in some of the cultures concerned[137]. Postcolonial theories analyse on the one hand the colonial presentations of selves and others and their links to colonialism and on the other hand the postcolonial representations and the influence the colonial heritage has on them[138].

To conclude, postcolonialism can have two meanings. Firstly, it refers to all nations and cultures which have been influenced and changed by colonialism "from the moment of colonisation to the present day"[139]. Secondly, it refers to theories and "cross-cultural criticism"[140] that deal with colonialism, resistance and independence of the former colonies. These critical approaches are often but not exclusively written in countries that were once colonies and by people who have a connection with colonialism or postcolonialism.

3.1.3 Postcolonialism and Postmodernism

3.1.3.1 What is Postmodernism?

Postcolonialism is often linked with postmodernism which is a key term in many cultural theories. It came into existence in the 1930s and 40s and was at its height at the end of the 1960s when changes in art, literature, music, dance and architecture took place[141]. The term stands for a variety of concepts that question the existing norms and values by refusing constant innovations compared to Modernism[142] and by showing a new interest in traditions and history[143]. The separation between Modernism and Postmodernism is not easy as some critics declare Postmodernism the continuation of Modernism and others as its opposite. Postmodernism expresses a mixture and pluralism of styles and literature becomes a playful element in which reality and fiction are no longer separable[144].

3.1.3.2 The Crisis of Authority

There are some characteristics, themes and styles that postcolonialism and postmodernism share such as globalisation and identity, to name but a few. Their characteristics can be summarised as "crisis of authority"[145] in European forms. The following quotation clarifies this:

Decentred, allegorical, schizophrenic ... however we choose to diagnose its symptoms, postmodernism is usually treated, by its protagonists and antagonists alike, as a crisis of cultural authority, specifically of the authority vested in Western European culture and its institutions. That the hegemony of Western civilisation is drawing to a close is hardly a new perception; since the mid-fifties, at least, we have recognised the necessity of encountering different cultures by means other than the shock of domination and conquest.[146]