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.