Identity Formation via Narration in Zadie Smith s White Teeth

This study aims to explore Zadie Smith’s White Teeth in terms of identity formation by taking advantage of a special narrator and a controlled narrative technique with the use of narration. The research seeks to represent the ways in which the mixed-race author of this novel has attempted to define an identity for immigrants such as Samad Iqbal in a European metropolis (London) via narration and focalisation which set the scene for the non-white characters to make an identity for themselves. This, in turn, becomes a metaphor for the author who is a non-white born and bred in London. To sum up, the narrative techniques which help non-white characters to make an identity for themselves, go further outside the text so that they mirror the author herself in search of an identity.