The Paradox of Nationality in Zadie Smith's "White Teeth".

The Britain of Zadie Smith's "White Teeth" is one of diversity and multiculturalism. What it means to be British, or any other nationality for that matter, is hazy and ill-defined. The novel explores possible criteria for defining nationality--official status, genetics, race, culture--but undercuts each of these criteria by demonstrating its insufficiencies. Smith offers two responses to this loss of national identity, one radically inclusive, the other radically exclusive, but undercuts each of these too. Ultimately, …

…idea that there are necessary and sufficient criteria for defining nationality, and proposes two possible responses--Alsana's inclusivism and the Chalfenist/Bowdenist exclusivism--before putting forward a third response: Irie's. Irie represents the synthesis of the extreme views of the other characters, and we see hope for this new idea of nationhood in her child, who, on a beach in Jamaica at the end of the book "feels free as Pinocchio, a puppet clipped of paternal strings" (541).