White Teeth Lesson Plan

How does Irie's body image define her actions and her identity?

Good responses will cite Irie's thoughts or actions as they relate to either the way she feels about her body or the way that she wants others (particularly Millat) to feel about her body. Irie clearly takes drastic measures to make herself look "beautiful" in the hair-straightening episode. She seeks to adopt standards of beauty that are more like what she believes Millat would want, i.e. more white. Her response to the ad for weight loss and the class discussion of Shakespeare's Sonnet 127 bring the question of race into sharp relief.

"A little English education can be a dangerous thing." What does...