Plot Summary - White Teeth

White Teeth - Zadie Smith

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    A recently divorced, middle-aged man called Archie Jones attempts suicide in a parked car on New Year's Day 1975. Archie is saved by a local halal butcher. After being saved, Archie finds a mansion full of party-weary youth. Clara Bowden, a tall, beautiful Black woman younger than Archie, is one of these. Archie and Clara marry six weeks after their first meet.  Her mother, Hortense Bowden, a devoted Jehovah's Witness, brought Clara to London from Jamaica. Clara rejects Hortense's faith. Hortense rejects Clara for marrying Archie, a white man. Clara may not love Archie, but she enjoys his good deeds and life. Archie spends most of his time with his friend Samad Miah Iqbal at O'Connell's, an Arab-owned bar that is their home away from home, after his marriage.

    Archie and Samad were friends in a British Army tank battalion during World War II. Samad and Archie assisted in the capture and execution of Nazi scientist Dr. Perret. The two young warriors debated who should kill. Jones led Dr. Perret off the road. After a shot, Archie rejoined Samad. This horrific event forged a friendship that lasted over thirty years after the war. After moving to London from Bangladesh with his young bride Alsana in 1973, Samad comes into Archie's neighborhood.   

     The Jones and Iqbal families stay friends for 25 years. Alsana Iqbal and Clara Jones become friends because their husbands spend so much time together, morethan being friends,they were in bond,as brothers.Both Alsana and Clara give birth simultaneously. Magid and Millat are Alsana's twins. Irie is Clara's daughter. The three kids play, go to school, and compete.Samad falls for their music teacher in 1984, when his twins Magid and Millat are nine years old. As a pious Muslim, Samad feels guilty about this relationship. He believes he is not a good Muslim role model and sends the boys to Bangladesh for a conventional upbringing.Samad leaves Magid after much deliberation. Alsana is furious and silent for years after Samad makes this decision without consulting his wife. 

    Before entering high school, Millat, the London twin, had earned a reputation as a womanizer and tough guy. Irie Jones obsesses over Millat from puberty. Although Millat considers Irie his childhood buddy, she hangs around with him because she wants more. Irie and Millat get caught smoking after school. They must take extra tutoring as punishment. Joyce and Marcus Chalfen, old hippies, tutor them. FutureMouse, created by genetic engineer Marcus Chalfen, produces specialized cells at regular periods. The Chalfens control Irie and Millat. Joyce loves Millat and gives him big presents. Marcus makes Irie his secretary.    

     Separating his boys has unintended implications for Samad.Magid becomes pro-British, anti-religious, and scientific. Millat chooses religious terrorism over gangsterdom in London. KEVIN, an extremist group that burns anti-Muslim publications, recruits him. After Magid writes to Marcus from Bangladesh, Marcus Chalfen becomes a disciple. Joshua, Joyce and Marcus's oldest son, joins animal rights group FATE.  

     Magid returns from Bangladesh to Britain to assist Marcus on FutureMouse. Millat and Magid are utterly at odds. Millat's growing engagement with KEVIN worries Joyce Chalfen and the Iqbals. They decide that reconciling the twins is the best solution. Since Irie is both boys' childhood friend, she arranges their encounter. After a powerful sexual encounter with Irie, Millat kneels and prays for forgiveness. After being hurt, Irie flees to Magid and makes love to him.

      After learning she is pregnant, Irie realizes she will never know which twin is her child's father.   

    Marcus and Magid decided to publicly demonstrate FutureMouse's genetic progression on December 31, 1992. KEVIN, FATE, Muslims like Samad, and Jehovah's Witnesses protest these experiments and gather at the Perret Institute for FutureMouse's debut. The Iqbal and Jones families attend. At the head table is Dr. Marc Perret. Samad Iqbal realizes Archie Jones lied about shooting Dr. Perret in May 1945. At that moment, Archie sees Millat pull a gun. Archie again saves Dr. Perret by blocking Millat. Archie hits the table and breaks FutureMouse's glass box. The mouse enters an air vent.   

     Both Millat and Magid are punished for the murder attempt because eyewitnesses cannot distinguish the twins. Their sentence is community service. Joshua Chalfen becomes Irie Jones' lover. This story closes on 1999's New Year's Eve. Irie sits on a Jamaican beach with Hortense, her grandmother, Joshua, and her daughter. On the first night O'Connell's welcomes women in London, Archie and Samad play cards with Clara and Alsana.