***THE NOVEL***
White Teeth

The question of the moral fiber of Archibald Jones is an interesting one. To some, he appears as a sort of bumbling dullard, wandering through life with no real conviction of character, no rules for life, no religion- no nothing. These people may have some affection for his character as a sort of silly old man, but don't really value him in the novel. I have a different view of old Archie- he's my favorite character in the whole book. When it comes to the question of the man's character and values, I feel that Archie is perhaps the most virtuous guy in the story. But it takes a while to get to this point; the opening scene finds the man attempting to kill himself. A real act of cowardice (displayed as courageous in Archie's mind) opens the novel:

"But dying's no easy trick. And suicide can't be put on a list of Things to Do in between cleaning the grill pan and leveling the sofa leg with a brick. It is the decision not to do, to un-do; a kiss blown at oblivion. No matter what anyone says, suicide takes guts. It's for heroes and martyrs, truly glorious men. Archie was none of these. He was a man whose significance in the Greater Scheme of Things could be figured along familiar ratios:
Pebble:Beach
Raindrop: Ocean
Needle: Haystack."

Ultimately, Archie does decide to kill himself... by gassing himself in his car. This hopelessness the man feels, the cowardice in dealing with his troublesome life- these things show lack of character in my opinion. However, Archie does not die. Archie lives. Archie is saved by (in my opinion) divine intervention, in the shape of a man named Mo. As a result, Archie transforms himself from a depressed and washed-up old character into a man with a new lease on life. He's alive!

"Later that morning, Archie did an ecstatic eight circuits of Swiss Cottage traffic circle in his car, his head stuck out the window, a stream of air hitting the teeth at the back of his mouth like a windsock. He thought: Blimey. So this is what it feels like when some bugger saves your life. Like you've been handed a great big wad of Time.....

Go straight past Go!, Archie-boy, he tells himself; collect two hundred, and don't for Gawd's sake look back."

This new and improved Archibald Jones is my favorite character because of his zest and appreciation for life and the people in it. His new wife Clara, his daughter Irie, his best friend Samad... I think Archie knows what to value and what to not obsess about. Samad is constantly stressed about his sons and their spirituality, their roots, to the point of splitting them up and sending one back to his homeland. This is insane to me; the work of a madman. Archie appears to have the concern of a potato in comparison, but if we look a little closer and dig a little deeper into who Archie is; where he's been, what he's lived through, who is is presently, I think we find a man with his values in the right place.