White Teeth - Author's Attitude

Author's attitude towards Irie

Ch 11 - The Miseducation of Irie Jones

In chapter 11, The Miseducation of Irie Jones, the author begins talking extensively about Irie, mostly about her physical appearance. Irie is not slim by any means and the author is quick to note that Irie Jones "was big." There is no effort made by the author in any way to understate the physical appearance of Irie with instead the opposite happening. The author mentions that Irie had a “substantial Jamaican frame” full of somewhat-inappropriate-for-a-description-of-a-teenager “pineapples, mangoes and guavas.” Zadie Smith takes on different approaches at describing Irie. Put bluntly, “the girl had weight; big tits, big butt, big hips, big thighs, big teeth.” And comically, “she was thirteen stone and had thirteen pounds in her savings account.” Ultimately, though, the author feels like the way Irie’s weight is (no pun intended) overblown. Irie’s mother, Clara, tells Irie that she’s fine—she’s just built like an honest-to-God Bowden. While this could be the case of a mother trying to lift up her daughter’s self-esteem, the author concedes that Irie is fine when she says “Irie didn’t know she was fine” without any sarcasm or irony being in the word ‘fine’. The author’s words are constantly putting down Irie without any real contempt or vitriol being present in her voice. The author is speaking about Irie in the way Irie sees herself in an attempt at showing that, while not completely off the mark as Irie is bigger than most girls, she’s not how she shouldn’t be physically. The author feels like Irie’s doubts about her physical appearance are normal and that she’s big, with no way around that, but that she’s making a big deal out of something she shouldn’t.