An Interpretation Of White Teeth By Zadie Smith From The Perspective Of Heidegger's Existentialism

Zadie Smith is an outstanding Jamaican English female writer.Her debut novel White Teeth has been highly thought of by literary critics and readers at home and abroad,followed by many awards,such as: Guardian First Book Award,Commonwealth Writers First Book Award,and Top Ten Books of the Year 2000 in The Times.So far,the novel has been published in many countries and regions and translated into more than 20 languages.Many scholars have studied and analyzed the work from different perspectives,such as feminism,post-colonialism and cultural studies.On the basis of previous studies,this thesis employed Heidegger's existentialism to interpret White Teeth by the way of close reading.According to Heidegger's theory of existentialism,the concept of “dasein” is human being,and the main crisis of the modern people is the alienation and fallenness of dasein.Heidegger paid attention to the reality of human beings.He believed that people lived in a ridiculous world and they were influenced by nothingness,so they could not dwell poetically.The modern people are lost in reality,being the state of alienation and falleness,and constantly experiencing the pain of alienation and fallenness,so they are not in their authentic being.But “being-towards-death” and “having a good consciousness” will call dasein back,so dasein can pursue the authentic self,and do their authenticity.This thesis includes five chapters.The first chapter mainly introduces the author,the text,Heidegger and the main thoughts of existentialism.The second chaptermainly describes dilemma faced by the three characters in the novel and analyzes their spiritual nothingness in the absurd world.The third chapter mainly analyzes alienation of dasein.The three characters experience the sense of isolation from society and estrangement from their families,and also experience the alienation of dasein.The fourth chapter analyzes Heidegger's two concepts of “being-towards-death” and “having a good consciousness”,and they can awaken “dasein”from the state of alienation to the pursuit of the authentic being,so dasein can follow the inner voice and unceasingly pursue their authenticity.Based on the above analysis,this thesis concludes that Smith's White Teeth has the characteristics of Heidegger's existentialism.Smith's work focuses on the inner world of the characters and deeply explores the spiritual world of human beings.Human beings live in a ridiculous world,facing loneliness,anxiety,helplessness and other living perplexities,and suffering alienation.The meaning of “dasein” in Heidegger's existentialism is helpful for us to understand Smith's exploration for the state of being.As dasein,human being is “being-towards-death” and“being-towards-end”.We cannot avoid death,but we can actively face our life by constantly pursuing our authentic self in order to achieve better self-fulfillment.The existential viewpoint expressed by Smith in White Teeth not only expresses Smith's positive philosophical attitude towards life but also has some enlightening significance to the contemporary people.