Zadie Smith's Speaking In Tongues

1316 Words6 Pages
Everyone yearns to impart their thoughts to the world, but the author Zadie Smith, in the essay, Speaking in Tongues demonstrates that this task is not easily undertaken. The narrator is evidently conflicted with herself after she recollects her vacuous decision to part ways with her voices. The accents that she acquired from her Jamaican mother and British father distinguished her amongs the other people in Cambridge. Still, Zadie Smith concluded that in order to fit in with the lettered people in Cambridge, she had to mimic their exact tone. Although she had the flexibility to speak in the voice of her childhood and the one she had learned in Cambridge for sometime, such ability came to a dire halt the moment she stopped practicing as she states, “But to live variously cannot simply be a gift, endowed by an accident of birth; it has to be a continual…show more content…
Her continuous exposure to individuals in Cambridge, drove her away from Dream City. Now she is nothing more than singular. Being able to speak from more than one perspective may allow one’s story to be understood and accepted by a wider audience, yet also enables an individual to “keep it real.” Being that his parents do not share the same racial background, from the very moment he was conceived, speaking in alternate voices was an innate trait the president of the United States possessed as the author emphasizes, “When your personal multiplicity is printed on your face, in an almost too obviously thematic manner, in your DNA, in your hair and in the neither this not that beige of your skin— well, anyone can see you come from Dream City”(Smith 256). The gift of speaking in tongues facilitated Obama to interact effortlessly with his audience. There was no apprehension that he would be placed in scenarios in which he would meet people from all scopes of the world. However, his ample
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    Identifying one’s self using one word proves difficult for many people. Both authors Zadie Smith and Kenji Yoshino believe that people have parts that constitute one’s identity. Zadie Smith in “ Speaking in Tongues”, argues that people are trying to identify with others by using multiple voices.On the other hand, Kenji Yoshino in “ Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights”, asserts that people strive to cover their racial identity in order to be accepted in society.Both authors have argued

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