Isolation in the Inheritence of Loss and White Teeth

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to be less of a “whore” and to become a conservative woman, which is in contrast to what he found attractive about her in the first place. This isolation is what drives Millat into a corner. Either he keeps all of his former friends and his family and ignores all of the teachings of KEVIN, or he converts completely and does not allow “worldly desires” to possess him. No matter what he does choose, however, it would only leave him to be more isolated than before. No longer would he be able to live a life with a foot in both worlds.

Millat also becomes isolated from himself: “In fact, the problem with Millat’s subconscious (and he didn’t need Marjorie to tell him this) was that it was basically split-level. On the one hand he was trying real hard to live as Hifan and the others suggested.” (Smith 366-367) At this point in the novel, KEVIN is all that Millat has to rely on. In order to conform to the values of KEVIN, Millat cut off all ties with his friends, lovers, and family. Because of this, Millat relies heavily on KEVIN ‘s ideals to give him support and to become a guideline for who he should be. However he finds that he becomes increasingly isolated because of this. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get rid of his western influence on him: “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.” (Smith 368) Millat is unable to rid himself of this single pervading thought. It is firmly rooted into his subconscious, which is why it becomes “split-level[ed]”. His desire to be a perfect KEVIN member and his desire to become a gangster both conflict with each other, leading Millat to become increasingly isolated from himself and also isolates him from other KEVIN members.

This increasing isolation of others and of himself leads Millat to internalize all of his emotions to the point where it becomes so pent up that only an extreme action would be able to vent it all out. “Worst of all was the anger inside him. Not the righteous anger of a man of God, but the seething, violent anger of a gangster, a juvenile delinquent, determined to prove himself, determined to run the clan, determined to beat the rest.” (Smith 369) Millat’s isolation leads him to travel down a road that no one else dares to go down, which is the extreme route. Up to this point, besides handing out pamphlets and giving out public speeches, KEVIN had not committed any terrorist acts. Although things were building up to that point, once their leader had been arrested (Smith 414) KEVIN suddenly realize the consequences of their actions and how it may negatively affect others. They suddenly want to hold plan B, which was to take the passive aggressive route and read scriptures aloud in front of the conference. He turns away from his friends and family, turns away from the choices of KEVIN and decides that the only way for left was terrorism. Millat’s anger, which was not KEVIN’s “righteous anger of a man of God” in which he could justify jihad, finally bursts out in the form of a gangster shootout, something that various forms of isolation had brought out and emphasized.

Both Jemubai and Millat go through intense isolation. They experience isolation from others as well as from themselves. It is through the prolonged isolation from their families and friends that they commit extreme actions.

Works Cited

Smith, Zadie. White Teeth. New York :Vintage International, 2000. Print.

Desai, Kiran. The Inheritance of Loss. New York: Grove Press, 2006. Print