A Study On Identity Crisis And Hybrid Identity In White Teeth Based On Hybridity Theory

With the development of cultural and economic globalization, identity crisis has become an assignable problem that has produced a significant impact on people’s lives. Therefore, concerning this problem, the thesis attempts to conduct a research on Zadie Smith’s White Teeth. It mainly studies identity crisis encountened by immigrants and identical recognition under the influence of globalization and then seeks to provide a means by which people can make use of, so that they can deal with identity crisis successfully.By applying Homi Bhabha’s Hybridity Theory as theoretical framework, the author made a text analysis. The thesis points out that the traditional understanding on identity has changed due to cultural globalization. Nowadays plenty of scholars believe that identity is not an established notion. Instead, it is influenced by cultural globalization. As history and culture may have great influences on one’s identity, the thesis tends to analyze the causes of identity crisis from the perspective of immigration history and culture, and points out the impacts of identity crisis that has occurred in the three immigrant’s families:the Joneses, the Iqbals and the Chalfens in detail. By working on the division of the three families, that is, parents and younger generation, the thesis reaches the conclusion that the parents in the novel deal with identity crisis passively while younger generation copes with it in an active way.Through the comparison of "pure Englishness",Chalfens’ Englishness" and "new Englishness", the author of the thesis has realized that "pure Englishness" does not exist in the multicultural Britain today,"Chalfen’s Englishness" is actually spurious and new "Englishness" has become increasingly popular, so more and more people begin to accept it, because "new Englishness" is a real reflection of immigrants’identity in Britain, that is hybrid identity.The thesis tends to convince people that hybrid identity is feasible in today’s multicultural world and that it offers a solution to the identity crisis from her experience of Irie and provides some suggestions on the construction of hybrid identity with implications taken from the experience of Archie. An open-mindedness and making a compromise among different cultures, that can help people live better, are the keys to the successful building of hybrid identity.The thesis comes to conclusion that hybrid identity can help people stick to their original culture, keeping their spiritual belonging and passing it down to younger generations. Meanwhile, it allows them to take an active part in other cultures with an open mindedness. Only in this way, can people live in peace and the world realize a state of harmony.