- Who is Zadie Smith, and why should we pay attention to her essay?
Zadie Smith graduated from Cambridge University, published her first book, “White Teeth”, and won a few awards for it when she was only 24 years old. According to Britannica, she typically writes about race, religion, and cultural identity using intelligent humor.
- In what ways does Smith “distinguish between joy and pleasure” and how do these distinctions match up with your own interpretations of the two experiences?
Smith says that joy is a widely misunderstood concept; many believe that joy is just pleasure but “further down the track” (329). In fact, Smith claims that there is very little pleasure involved in joy. She uses examples to explain her few moments of joy in life, most of which include drugs and being in love. But in these examples, there is a common theme: invaluable moments and people. Never again will she be sitting on top of a gate outside of a closed museum she is trying to escape with a romantic crush. Or never will she be high on ecstasy at the same nightclub with the same song blasting for four hours the same again. While joy seems to be irreplaceable, Smith describes pleasure as the small things in life that are easily replaceable, such as a new dress or a trip to the Bahamas.
- According to Smith, why is joy difficult to manage, and live with? Do you agree with her? Why or why not? Practice using a complete Quote Sandwich (utilizing a direct quote from the essay) within your response.
Smith says joy is difficult to manage because it is so intense with many different emotions that sometimes you don’t know what is happening. She often compares joy to the feeling of being in love or being on strong drugs, and that it occurs when there is hope that these feelings will last even though they never do. At a nightclub when the ecstasy sets in, Smith says, “I took the man’s hand. The top of my head flew away. We danced and danced. We gave ourselves up to joy” (332). When she uses the words “gave ourselves up” it makes me think of when you are truly living in the moment and not thinking of anything but the happy state you’re in. In turn this happy state makes me think of the phrase ignorance is bliss, where bliss is the feeling of “great joy” according to the Oxford dictionary.
- In a well-developed paragraph, respond to the following question: What’s the value of reading about, thinking about, and discussing joy?
The value of recognizing and discussing joy is to be able to realize when you are in these moments, and being able to differentiate between joy and pleasure. If someone strives to feel joy all the time, they will always come up short and feel as though they are missing something in their life. If someone strives to find the pleasures in everyday life, they will find success more often than not. Without knowing the differences between joy and pleasure, how will people know what they really enjoy, is it clubbing every night or is it the pleasure you feel from that first sip of coffee every morning. Smith highlights her ability to find pleasure in the little things, and for her it is any type of food and discussing people’s mannerisms in depth with her husband. In this ability she is able to find pockets of happiness everyday, rather than chasing an irreplaceable feeling of joy.
