Term of Award
Spring 2018
Degree Name
Master of Arts in English (M.A.)
Document Type and Release Option
Thesis (open access)
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Department
Department of Literature and Philosophy
Committee Chair
Joe Pellegrino
Committee Member 1
Gautam Kundu
Committee Member 2
Hans-Georg Erney
Abstract
In this essay, I will discuss Carter G. Woodson’s notion of the “mis-education” black Americans face and its applicability in British novelist, Zadie Smith’s, debut novel, White Teeth. This novel shows how mis-education affects four generations of female Caribbean migrants. My analysis emphasizes how this mis-education shapes the life of Smith’s character, Irie Jones. Throughout the text, Irie suffers from low self-esteem due to her cultural rootlessness. I attribute this rootlessness to the mis-education inherited from her female predecessors. Ultimately, I explore how instead of defeating this familial baggage, she falls victim to it.
Recommended Citation
Medlock, Amanda S., "The Miseducation of Irie Jones in Zadie Smith's White Teeth" (2018). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1806.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1806
Research Data and Supplementary Material
Yes
