She wore her sexuality with an older woman's ease, and not like an awkward purse, never knowing how to hold it, where to hang it, or when to just put it down.
Interpretation
The quote highlights a woman's confidence and comfort in her sexuality, contrasting it with the clumsiness of those who struggle with it.
In this quote, Zadie Smith illustrates the ease with which some women embrace their sexuality, portraying it as a natural and confident part of their identity, akin to an older woman's poise. It contrasts this with those who feel awkward or uncertain about their sexual expression, likening it to managing an uncomfortable accessory, which implies that, for some, self-acceptance and confidence in one's own sensuality can be a journey of understanding and comfort.
In practice
During a women's empowerment seminar, you might use this quote to discuss the importance of embracing one's sexuality.
Because immigrants have always been particularly prone to repetition - it's something to do with that experience of moving from West to East or East to West or from island to island. Even when you arrive, you're still going back and forth; your children are going round and round. There's no proper term for it - original sin seems too harsh; maybe original trauma would be better.
You know, you don't expect everyone to be as educated as everyone else or have the same achievements, but you expect at least to be offered at least some of the opportunities, and libraries are the most simple and the most open way to give people access to books.
He did not consider if or how or why he loved them. They were just love: they were the first evidence he ever had of love, and they would be the last confirmation of love when everything else fell away.
We cannot be all the writers all the time. We can only be who we are. Which leads me to my second point: writers do not write what they want, they write what they can.
I think of reading like a balanced diet; if your sentences are too baggy, too baroque, cut back on fatty Foster Wallace, say, and pick up Kafka as roughage.
I never attended a creative writing class in my life. I have a horror of them.
I don't even know how to speak up for myself, because I don't really have a father who would give me the confidence or advice.
When I was in high school I got involved in the fringe theater scene in Chicago, and I met some openly gay people. I could see that it got better, that they were happy and loved and supported. I saw with my own eyes that it got better.
The worst thing to call somebody is crazy. It's dismissive.
If after having been exposed to someone's presence you feel as if you've lost a quart of plasma, avoid that presence. You need it like you need pernicious anemia.
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Laila has moved on. Because in the end she knows that’s all she can do. That and hope.
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