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.
OCLC Number
1521413272
Catalog Permalink
https://galileo-georgiasouthern.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01GALI_GASOUTH/1r4bu70/alma9916621315802950
Recommended Citation
Medlock, Amanda S., "The Miseducation of Irie Jones in Zadie Smith's White Teeth" (2018). Theses & Dissertations. 1806.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1806
Research Data and Supplementary Material
Yes
