White Teeth Character Analysis

After reading the novel White Teeth, by the Indian author Zadie Smith, one of the main characters, Archie, leaves me a deep impression. Archie is a white English man who attended the World War II, during the war he gets to know his best friend, Samad. And after the war, Archie returns to London and retired from the army. Honestly speaking, Archie is a soldier; however, he leaves readers the impression that is totally opposite to a soldier should be. He is indecisive, shortsighted and timid. All those attribute makes me loath Archie, but still that makes him who he is. And Zadie describes him in a way that can draw readers’ sympathy. Therefore, I decide that the best world to describe him is pathetic. Also, even though he does not appear so
They spent quite a long time there until they met a group of Russian soldiers who told them the war has already ended. They also found out that there is a secret Germany man hide in the church of the village, who is also referred as “Dr. Sick” (81). Samad and Archie know exactly that Dr. Sick is still considered as a Nazi, so they could become hero by killing him. So Samad used his poker skills to win Dr. Sick as the prize from the Russians, and they left the village with him. When Samad was trying to kill the doctor, Archie actually managed to take the doctor with him and walked into a gun spot where he told Samad is a better place to kill the doctor. Then, after one gun shot, Archie came back, bleeding and limping. The book does not provide any clues about what happened behind those branches, readers do not know whether Archie actually killed the doctor or not, but he did came with blood. But from things that happen after, we know that Archie did not kill the doctor. He rather shot himself to lie to his best friend, than killing that Germany doctor. In fact there is lots of ways to think about this scene. In my point of view, although it is generous of Archie for not killing this man, but he failed to be an honest friend or a loyal soldier. As a friend, he betrayed his best friend, Samad, who was faithful to him and believed in him wholeheartedly. I am not stating that Dr. Sick should be killed, but Archie did lie to Samad, and there is a possibility that his this action would cause serious consequences. Archie could totally keep arguing with Samad until they found a solution that both of them agree. Secondly, Archie fights for the English Army, he is obligated to fight against his enemy. If he is truly loyal and do not want to kill Dr. Sick, he could totally take him back to their campus and let his superior to decide. More importantly, he did think or speak