Third Space And Fluid Identities In Zadie Smith's White Teeth

The English writer Zadie Smith emerged on the stage of literature at the age of 24. In 2000, she published her debut White Teeth which was an instant success. It won several important literary awards and established her statue as a significant writer in contemporary English literature. Soon after that, two more novels, The Autograph Man (2003) and On Beauty (2005), and one essay collection, Changing My Mind (2008), were published by Smith.White Teeth gives a panoramic portrayal of the lives of migrant people in multicultural London. Set against the background of the World War Two, the novel seriously deals with such grand issues as inter-cultural clashes, inter-racial conflicts, inter-religion dissension, and the global diaspora problem. Overall, it reveals the living condition of human beings in specific circumstances, representing the diversity of culture in the postmodern era.By drawing upon Homi Bhabha's idea of the third space, this thesis aims to analyse different strategies immigrants adopt so as to find their identities. The main body consists of three chapters. The first chapter analyses the frustrated act of adopting cultural purity. The second one discusses the conflicts in the third space, revealing the fluidity of identity. The last chapter focuses on the journey Irie takes in order to find her identity, which further demonstrates the fluidity of identity. This study argues that through her characters'pursuit of identities, Smith expresses her own way of thinking about cultural identity. She calls into question the homogeneity of identity and celebrates the third space in which identities are presented as fluid and are continuously negotiated.