White Teeth

by

Zadie Smith

Irie is the daughter of Archie Jones and Clara Bowden Jones. She is described as an overweight, unconfident teenager who harbors an unrequited crush on Millad Iqbal. Tormented by her own racial identity—she attempts to straighten her hair in an effort to meet white, Western ideals of beauty—Irie is quiet yet intelligent and bold, and she’s intent on figuring out her own place in the world. She eventually decides to become a dentist, at the suggestion of Marcus Chalfen, though she is also deeply interested in her own family history and briefly lives with her grandmother, Hortense Bowden. Near the end of the novel, Irie becomes pregnant by either Millat or Magid Iqbal, and she eventually gets into a relationship with Joshua Chalfen, with whom she raises her child.

Irie Ambrosia Jones Quotes in White Teeth

The White Teeth quotes below are all either spoken by Irie Ambrosia Jones or refer to Irie Ambrosia Jones . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Family Ties Theme Icon
).
Chapter 11 Quotes

It worked like this: someone (whoever had actually bought a pack of fags) lights up. Someone shouts “halves.” At the halfway point the fag is passed over. As soon as it reaches the second person we hear “thirds,” then “saves” (which is half a third), then “butt!,” then, if the day is cold and the need for a fag overwhelming, “last toke!” But last toke is only for the desperate; it is beyond the perforation, beyond the brand name of the cigarette, beyond what could reasonably be described as the butt. Last toke is the yellowing fabric of the roach, containing the stuff that is less than tobacco, the stuff that collects in the lungs like a time bomb, destroys the immune system, and brings permanent, sniffling, nasal flu. The stuff that turns white teeth yellow.

Related Characters: Irie Ambrosia Jones , Millat Iqbal
Related Symbols: Teeth
Page Number: 242-243
Explanation and Analysis:

All in all, then, the headmaster was wrong: Glenard could not be said to have passed on any great edifying beacon to future generations. A legacy is not something you can give or take by choice, and there are no certainties in the sticky business of inheritance. Much though it may have dismayed him, Glenard’s influence turned out to be personal, not professional or educational: it ran through people’s blood and the blood of their families; it ran through three generations of immigrants who could feel both abandoned and hungry even when in the bosom of their families in front of a mighty feast; and it even ran through Irie Jones of Jamaica’s Bowden clan, though she didn’t know it.

Related Characters: Irie Ambrosia Jones
Page Number: 255
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

The Chalfens had no friends. They interacted mainly with the Chalfen extended family (the good genes that were so often referred to; two scientists, one mathematician, three psychiatrists, and a young cousin working for the Labour Party) […] Bottom line: the Chalfens didn’t need other people. They referred to themselves as nouns, verbs, and occasionally adjectives: It’s the Chalfen way, And then he came out with a real Chalfenism, He’s Chalfening again, We need to be a bit more Chalfenist about this. Joyce challenged anyone to show her a happier family, a more Chalfenist family than theirs.

Related Characters: Irie Ambrosia Jones , Millat Iqbal, Marcus Chalfen, Joyce Chalfen, Joshua Chalfen
Page Number: 261
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

O what a tangled web we weave. Millat was right: these parents were damaged people, missing hands, missing teeth. These parents were full of information you wanted to know but were too scared to hear. But [Irie] didn’t want it anymore, she was tired of it. She was sick of never getting the whole truth. She was returning to sender.

Related Characters: Irie Ambrosia Jones , Clara Bowden-Jones, Millat Iqbal
Related Symbols: Teeth
Page Number: 314
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire White Teeth LitChart as a printable PDF.
White Teeth PDF

Irie Ambrosia Jones Quotes in White Teeth

The White Teeth quotes below are all either spoken by Irie Ambrosia Jones or refer to Irie Ambrosia Jones . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Family Ties Theme Icon
).
Chapter 11 Quotes

It worked like this: someone (whoever had actually bought a pack of fags) lights up. Someone shouts “halves.” At the halfway point the fag is passed over. As soon as it reaches the second person we hear “thirds,” then “saves” (which is half a third), then “butt!,” then, if the day is cold and the need for a fag overwhelming, “last toke!” But last toke is only for the desperate; it is beyond the perforation, beyond the brand name of the cigarette, beyond what could reasonably be described as the butt. Last toke is the yellowing fabric of the roach, containing the stuff that is less than tobacco, the stuff that collects in the lungs like a time bomb, destroys the immune system, and brings permanent, sniffling, nasal flu. The stuff that turns white teeth yellow.

Related Characters: Irie Ambrosia Jones , Millat Iqbal
Related Symbols: Teeth
Page Number: 242-243
Explanation and Analysis:

All in all, then, the headmaster was wrong: Glenard could not be said to have passed on any great edifying beacon to future generations. A legacy is not something you can give or take by choice, and there are no certainties in the sticky business of inheritance. Much though it may have dismayed him, Glenard’s influence turned out to be personal, not professional or educational: it ran through people’s blood and the blood of their families; it ran through three generations of immigrants who could feel both abandoned and hungry even when in the bosom of their families in front of a mighty feast; and it even ran through Irie Jones of Jamaica’s Bowden clan, though she didn’t know it.

Related Characters: Irie Ambrosia Jones
Page Number: 255
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

The Chalfens had no friends. They interacted mainly with the Chalfen extended family (the good genes that were so often referred to; two scientists, one mathematician, three psychiatrists, and a young cousin working for the Labour Party) […] Bottom line: the Chalfens didn’t need other people. They referred to themselves as nouns, verbs, and occasionally adjectives: It’s the Chalfen way, And then he came out with a real Chalfenism, He’s Chalfening again, We need to be a bit more Chalfenist about this. Joyce challenged anyone to show her a happier family, a more Chalfenist family than theirs.

Related Characters: Irie Ambrosia Jones , Millat Iqbal, Marcus Chalfen, Joyce Chalfen, Joshua Chalfen
Page Number: 261
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

O what a tangled web we weave. Millat was right: these parents were damaged people, missing hands, missing teeth. These parents were full of information you wanted to know but were too scared to hear. But [Irie] didn’t want it anymore, she was tired of it. She was sick of never getting the whole truth. She was returning to sender.

Related Characters: Irie Ambrosia Jones , Clara Bowden-Jones, Millat Iqbal
Related Symbols: Teeth
Page Number: 314
Explanation and Analysis: