White Teeth, a 2000 novel by Zadie Smith, chronicles the lives of two World War II veterans and their families in late twentieth-century London. Samad Iqbal is an intelligent and voluble but underemployed waiter, and Archie Jones is a laconic and indecisive everyman, but they are drawn together by their shared experiences in the war, similar family situations, and mutual need for a balancing influence. As the three families become involved with religious fanatics, political intrigues and ethical dilemmas, it becomes apparent that the fate of a single mouse may rest in their hands.