Speaking In Tongues Zadie Smith Analysis

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Malcolm Forbes once said “diversity: the art of thinking, independently together.” This conveys the idea of Zadie Smith’s personal narrative Speaking in Tongues about embracing ones equivocal character. Smith applies the use of symbolism, ethical appeal and conflict of man vs. self to persuade her audience to have a flexible way of communicating. She interprets that fitting in society does not mean to lose one’s language, or cultural background, rather fitting in can simply mean to have a flexible viewpoint towards one’s belief and Embracing the spectrum of speaking in tongues which can lead to a rewarding experience. Smith describes different writers in order to relate to various types of readers by using the same technique she tries to convince …show more content…
Smith uses this city to symbolize a place with different sides of people. “.. Where you could jive like a street hustler and orate like a senator.” She mentions this city to get her readers to realize that having a contrasting voice is normal. This does not mean that one is in the middle, deciding or figuring out where they belong, this simply means that one will always have different ways of interacting with people. For example a person in the Upper East Side would not often speak the way they would in downtown, Brooklyn but the same person would change their way of communicating while interacting with people from that borough. “What kind of a crazy place is that? But they underestimated how many Americans, in their daily lives, conjure contrasting voices.” Smith identifies this city as something that one dreams of, because in reality people will always judge you for not being true to yourself, and speaking differently each time. However by stating that people in this city are similar to most of the Americans, she tries to convince her audience that possessing different ways of speaking is acceptable in society. Even though Smith dreams of dream city she also believes it is a place with no freedom. “You have no choice but to cross borders and speak in tongues.” Stuck between her opinion, she misleads the audience, leaving them wondering what is actually the dream, is it one where everyone sticks to their own kind or where everyone speaks everyone
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Speaking In Tongues Zadie Smith Analysis

reversed the trend and granted African Americans with anti-discriminatory legislation. Because of this, almost every minority within the country has followed the Civil Rights Movement as a guide for achieving equal treatment. In her essay, “Speaking in Tongues”, Zadie Smith outlines the differences of those with a single voice, or the native dialect, versus people who utilize a multitude of voices. Furthermore, this relates to the Civil Rights Movement because the leaders who were “lettered” had their own…

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