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Chapter 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in White Teeth, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Family Ties
Race, Racism, and Multiculturalism
Female Independence
The Influence of History
Summary
Analysis
Nothing ever seems to change in O’Connell’s, which seems to be both outside of time and history and integral to Samad and Archie’s own history. It is the place where Samad and Archie celebrated fatherhood and Archie’s remarriage, among other notable events; it is also a place that they know inside and out, and they consider themselves “historians” of the place. Ali, Mickey’s father, set up the restaurant, which Mickey took over after Ali died (from a heart attack, which Mickey’s family decides is the result of the “unholy consumption of pork products”: as a result, pig is banned from O’Connell’s). Mickey has set up an underground gambling room with two tables, the “Death” table, for those who want to play for money, and the “Life” table, for those who do not. Archie and Samad play on the “Death” table.
Samad and Archie live cyclical lives, playing out many of the same events and behaviors time and time again: for example, Samad returns frequently to the story of Mangal Pande, while Archie resorts to coin flips to make difficult decisions. Similarly, O’Connell’s is a place in which Archie, Samad, and the other patrons repeat the same actions over and over—gambling, drinking, eating, and meeting to discuss their lives. Although the two consider themselves to be “historians” of the place, the way that it never changes suggests that sometimes, history is a similarly rigid pattern of repeating events.
Themes
Samadd wants Mickey to hang up a portrait of Mangal Pande, but Mickey is hesitant. Samad becomes furious, and to appease him, Mickey agrees to hang it up for a week. Samad knows that only he and an obscure historian, A. S. Misra, believe in the worth of Mangal Pande, but he thinks that Pande has been misrepresented in history; the English adjective “Pandy” refers to Pande, who is defined in the dictionary as a “traitor,” a “fool,” and a “coward.” Samad disagrees vehemently with this assessment, and he attempts to stage Pande’s revolt in O’Connell’s, playing out the story for the restaurant’s patrons.
Samad clings to the story of Mangal Pande because it allows him to connect to his heritage and family background, even in British society, where he is an outsider. It also provides him with a sense of identity, allowing him to think of himself as the descendant of a great hero (though in day-to-day life, he is only a waiter and an ex-soldier, and he did not accomplish anything particularly heroic during the war).
Themes
Samad describes Mangal Pande’s story: in 1857, a new kind of British bullet was produced for use by Indian soldiers, who discovered that the bullters were covered in pig grease, which was considered “monstrous to Muslims.” Mangal Pande, an unknown sepoy (a soldier under British command), stepped “forward from the throng to make a certain kind of history.” Archie believes that Pande was a drunken fool who shot at his lieutenant and missed him; he stood trial and was found guilty and executed. Samad, though, believes that Pande “sacrificed his life in the name of justice for India.” Archie thinks that Pande started the Indian mutiny too early and caused unnecessary deaths, but Samad hangs onto the arguments of A. S. Misra, an author Samad’s nephew discovered as a Cambridge student. Samad traveled to Cambridge to discuss the book, which—though an insignificant piece of scholarship—argues for Pande’s status as a hero.
Samad’s obsession with Mangal Pande also speaks to his conflicted relationship with British culture and society. Pande stood up against his British oppressors—or so Samad believes—while Samad feels that he is anonymous, insignificant, and inferior in British society. With Pande as an ancestor, though, Samad feels that there is rebellion in his blood, which gives him a sense of purpose even as he struggles to define his own role in contemporary England.
Themes
Archie believes that Pande might have been “bullied” into starting the mutiny, but Samad believes that when a man’s beliefs are attacked, “he will kill.” Archie looks at Samad cryptically, saying, “there will be people he will save.”
This moment foreshadows Archie’s later revelation that he did not actually kill Dr. Perret as Samad believes, but spared him instead. Archie sympathizes with Mangal Pande, who he believes was forced to fire the shot at his lieutenant, just as Samad tried to force Archie to kill the doctor. Additionally, Mangal Pande, like Archie, was unsuccessful in killing himself. Pande’s story seems to be connected to both Archie and Samad’s lives, even though they have opposite views on what that story means.
Themes
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