A Study Of Tension In The Novel On Beauty

On Beauty is generally renowned as the representative work of contemporary British writerZadie Smith. It focuses on the stories of two families, the Belsey and the Kipps, and theirdifferent, yet increasingly intertwined lives. In the Belsey family, the husband Howard and thewife Kiki represent the two sides of one world: one is white and the other is black; one is aBritish while the other is an American; one betrays the family and the other choose to be tolerant.The same family combines the ethnic conflicts, international variations and family conflictstogether. Based on the idea of tension, the thesis studies the contradictions and conflicts in thenovel. Tension is a force generated by two confronted parties. Throughout the course of literaryactivities, in the unity consists of a variety of literary elements, the two parties concerned do noteliminate their antagonistic relationships, instead, they compare, reflect on and impact with eachother, so that they can evoke strong emotions in the readers and make the readers switch sides.Containing conflicts is the most important feature of tension.On the basis of this understanding, the thesis is intended to analyze the racial conflicts,international variations and family conflicts in the novel. Black people who are at the edge of thesociety, confront with the white people, and gradually get into the mainstream of the society.Different values collide between British and Americans and between Haitians and Americans.The family conflicts overlap between the disloyal husband and the tolerant wife, and between therebellion and matureness of the children. Various independent and overlapping conflicts andcontradictions generate huge tension in the text. However, instead of a collapse, the two partiescompromise and make up with each other, which is the core value that the author means toexpress.