Construction Of Englishness For Immigrants In Zadie Smith's Novels

As an influential contemporary British female writer,Zadie Smith has published five novels in succession,eleven short stories,and several non-fictions and collected essays.Among her novels,three of them,namely,White Teeth(2001),On Beauty(2005)and NW(2012),involve north-west London as well as the representation of Englishness and identity construction of immigrants.Previous studies concerning the three novels mainly focus on areas like multiculturalism,narrative techniques,diaspora,identity construction and space.Englishness is discussed under the framework of multiculturalism in White Teeth.However,this thesis is a focused study on the relation between Englishness and identity construction among immigrants in the three novels,i.e.,White Teeth,On Beauty and NW.Enlightened by Homi Bhabha's postcolonial theory,David Matless's ideas concerning Englishness,and Krishan Kumar's discussion of nationhood,this thesis explores the implication of Englishness and analyzes the connection between Englishness and immigration in the three novels,focusing on their dilemmas over their own national roots and Englishness in their construction of a new identity.The Chalfens are proud of their integration into Englishness in White Teeth,against which the identity construction of Ambrosia Bowden,Iqbal Brothers and Irie Jones exhibits a more complicated process with conflicts and difficulties.These conflicts and difficulties in terms of contradictions in the Belseys and the struggles of Carl Thomas's pursuit of middle class values are exemplified in On Beauty,exhibiting inharmony or even collision between the national roots and Englishness.NW further indicates that despite the efforts of taking in or sustaining Englishness,the construction of this Englishness presented in Felix Cooper,the Hanwells and Natalie Blake reflects the instability and the gap among immigrants.The thesis tries to reveal that there are three stages in the construction of Englishness for the immigrants in Zadie Smith's novels:the pursuit of Englishness,the conflicts between national roots and Englishness,and the efforts to establish a new and stable identity despite national roots for immigrants.This thesis endeavours to indicate that the development of English national identity involves the dynamic nature of"Englishness" and complexities in the process of its construction.