White Teeth by Zadie Smith

“By Allah, how thankful  he is (yes, madam, one moment, madam), how gladdened by the thought that Magid, Magid at least, will, in a matter of four hours, be flying east from this place and its demands, its constant cravings, this place where there exists neither patience nor pity, where the people want what they want now, right now (We’ve been waiting twenty minutes for the vegetables), expecting their lovers, their children, their friends, and even their gods to arrive at little cost and in little time, just as table ten expect their tandoori prawns… - These people who would exchange all faith for sex and all sex for power, who would exchange fear if God for self-pride, knowledge for irony, a covered, respectful head for a long, strident shock of orange hair-“ (Smith, 172).

In this excerpt of Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, the author shows the irony in which blaming a place and culture for a person’s actions is not rational. Samad is set on the country and culture being the reason why a person is further from God, essentially he makes the culture and country his scapegoat for acting immorally. He describes the place to be demanding, selfish, impatient, and immoral. Yet, he himself acts immorally. Not only through his actions on a day-to-day basis, but Smith throws small snippets of his own impatience as he is going on this tangent. His thoughts come out every so often through parenthesis and italicized text, his own impatient and demanding thoughts while he is complaining about an impatient and demanding country. The author then shows the irony through this, as Samad seems to think he can do no wrong and will not take responsibility for his own actions and thoughts. Speaking of the irony the country has knowledge on, all the while being ironic himself.

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

“I’ve known Sam for years, and his wife seems a quiet sort. They’re not the royal family, you know. They’re not those kind of Indians’, he repeated, and shook his head, troubled by some problem, some knotty feeling he could not entirely unravel. Samad and Aslana Iqbal, who were not those kind of Indians (as, in Archie’s mind, Clara was not that kind of black), who were, in fact, not Indian at all but Bangladeshi.” (Smith, 46).

In this excerpt from Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, the author conveys society driven ignorance of color. Within society, there is a divide of color and not acknowledging that divide is almost as harmful as simply acknowledging it. In this excerpt, the reader can see how Archie ignorantly sees color, while portraying casual racism. Stating words such as “those” and “that” is descriptive enough in it’s actual meaning of generalizing a race to make a certain person or people stand out, who happen to be that race so they seem “different” from the rest, almost like they are not simply people. All people are different, not by race or any other physical identifier, but by personality. Smith showcases the white man taking that away from POC, not from malicious intent but from societal driven ignorance. Samad is Archie’s friend, just as Clara was Archie’s love interest. Yet, he still had to take their skin color away from the equation so that it would make sense for him to associate himself with them. Ultimately allowing himself to convey causal racism from societal teachings, thus acknowledging the divide of race while trying to ignore it.

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

"It was June. The King and Queen were at the Palace. And everywhere, though it was still so early, there was a beating, a stirring of galloping ponies, tapping of cricket bats; Lords, Ascot, Ranelagh and all the rest of it; wrapped in the soft mesh of the grey-blue morning air, which as the day wore on, would unwind them, and set down on their lawns and pitches the bouncing ponies, whose forefeet just struck the ground and up they sprung, the whirling young men, and laughing girls in their transparent muslins who, even now after dancing all night, were taking their absurd woolly dogs for a run; and even now, at this hour, discreet old dowagers were shooting out in their motor cars on errands of mystery; and the shopkeepers were fidgeting in their windows with their paste and diamonds, their lovely old sea-green brooches in eighteenth-century settings to tempt Americans (but one must economize, not buy things rashly for Elizabeth), and she, too, loving it as she did with an absurd and faithful passion, being part of it, since her people were courtiers once in the time of the Georges, she, too, was going that very night to kindle and illuminate; to give her party."
(Woolf, 5)

In this excerpt of Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway", the author gives a full example of the free and direct discourse she is using to allow the opinions of both herself and Clarissa about the mundane to come through. Woolf has a tendency to list and repeat when speaking through Clarissa, while her own thoughts come through in the version of parenthesis and commas. The paragraph starts with Woolf, setting up the scene. "It was June. The King and Queen were at the Palace." (Woolf, 5). It goes on with Clarissa, listing what she sees and the days current events. " And everywhere,- eighteenth-century settings to tempt Americans" (Woolf, 5). Woolf interjects again with, "(but one must economize, not buy things rashly for Elizabeth)" (Woolf, 5). The paragraph ends with Clarissa again, "and she, too, loving it as she did with an absurd and faithful passion, being part of it, since her people were courtiers once in the time of the Georges, she, too, was going that very night to kindle and illuminate; to give her party." (Woolf, 5). This interruption of text is to emphasize the mundane, and shine light on the boredom the author and character alike are feeling. The punctuation, as well as the diction and syntax all play a role in the emphasis on the importance of overbearing boredom in day-to-day life. This paragraph in particular exposes just that.