Outside Reading: Reflective Essay due 10/10/10

10/2/10

'Sweet Charity' by Zadie Smith

Reflective Essay

Zadie Smith started out in the same meager beginnings as another girl, Christine, whom she befriended. As they grew up, their lives took on completely different paths. Though Christine was the hard working one of the two, she was the one struggling to make ends meet while Smith luckily happened upon money. When Christine borrowed money from Smith when she was in a tight spot, Smith became falsely suspicious of Christine's intention to pay her back. Overall, this reflective essay is about Zadie Smith's experience with the “fatal underestimation of another's honesty”.

In the first half of the essay, Smith relates to the reader the major contrasts between herself and Christine. Christine was “determined to break what politicians call 'a cycle of urban underachievement'.” On the other hand, Smith spent “the summer of 1992 smoking weed.” Smith, herself, sees Christine in a better light than she sees herself. “Christine is one of many people to whom I am always surreptitiously apologizing for my obscene luck. Why do I have money when so many of my friends and family—all of whom have worked harder than I—do not?” The paradox between the different decisions they make in their lives and the lives they end up having is poignant.

The author's rhetoric is very casual. She creates a casual tone through many channels like syntax and diction. The syntax of the sentences make it seem as though Smith is talking to herself. “Can't have been an easy e-mail to write...Not such a lot of money. No skin off my nose.” Smith also uses syntax to create effects like emphasis on notable parts. “Not just nerds but black nerds, female viola-playing black nerds.” The repetition and structure of the sentence intensifies it. Short, choppy sentences like “We did our exams. We went to university. Christine fell pregnant” convey a casual passing of time. The essay also contains informal dialect from the Jamaican girls who harangued her, “BUT WHERE'D YOU GET THEM SHOES DOUGH?”, as well as informal e-mails without proper punctuation like capitalization. This makes the tone seem even more casual. The casual, informal tone of the essay makes it seem more personal. It causes the reader to feel as though they are in the mind of the speaker.

Though this essay was enjoyable, its tone would not be appropriate for an AP essay. The AP essay requires a more formal language than this essay has. It would be too casual to fare well. Choppy, unconventional syntax is used purposefully by Smith to create certain effects but it would not be fitting in the AP essay.