Zadie Smith is not only a novelist, but also a writer of essays, plays, and short stories. Smith has won many awards even with just her first novel, so she is a very credible source when it comes to her experience in writing. We should regard her works with respect, and it is important to pay attention to her opinions since she is so critically acclaimed. Her awards list is incredibly impressive, including her variety of works for the past twenty two years.
Smith states that pleasure is more common, where she likely experiences some form of it each day, where she has only experienced joy around six times throughout her life. With her two provided examples about food and faces, and her time in a nightclub on hallucinogens, she does depict her separation of the two terms quite well. The pleasures of taste or small occurrences that make Smith temporarily happy, is her way of describing perhaps one or two of the five senses humans have. I interpreted her explanation for joy as an immersement in essentially all five senses. The way that she details, almost excessively, her experience at the Fabric club incorporates the various angles of the emotions she was feeling at the time.
Joy is a difficult emotion for Smith to manage in her life due to the different sides of it. She depicts it as more than just enjoyment, but she throws the words terror, and pain in along with it. I truly disagree with this statement because this insinuates that joy can be miserable. She attempts to forget the joy she felt at the time, as she feels this emotion is a problem. Smith believes that, “…the memory of it would dement and destroy everything else” (331). She does make a strong point by stating that the experience will ultimately overshadow all other events to follow, as I have interpreted this. Something can be said here about comparing joyous occurrences to those we have later on, potentially not living up to that euphoric adventure the first time around. Although, I disagree with Smith’s opinion on whether joy is difficult to manage or not. I see joy as feeling content, and happiness simultaneously, not pain and terror. I would accept a little chaos, but I feel as though joy comes from creativity and energy. Smith does not accurately explain why she feels like joy includes suffering and fear, since her nightclub example is hypocritical. She later states that it is no longer joy in the morning, so why then use this example if it has no long-lasting effect on your life?
To completely comprehend joy as an emotion is nearly impossible since everyone perceives it quite differently. Previously, I had never considered there to be additional views regarding joy, though after reading Smith’s work, I am curious to find out more about how others interpret joy. There is undoubtedly value in reading about, thinking about, and discussing joy due to its presence in each of our lives. People can gain joy from reading, seeing other people, discussing controversial topics with others, playing games, participating in sports, and much more, but each individual may choose to categorize these experiences as joy or not. I also believe it can be stated that joy can be beneficial to our well-being as a whole, what would a life without joy look like? I propose that many would be depressed or otherwise despondent. Discussing joy with one another may be helpful in checking in on someone with both their mental and physical health. Perhaps the topic of joy should be more prevalent in society, so that people feel more comfortable discussing this somewhat complex emotion similar to that of happiness.
“Joy” overlaps with many of the topics previously read and discussed in class, for the second essay, it relates to the emotions of empathy, and with the first essay, joy is a pivotal factor in relationships even if it was not the most prominent factor. Including “The Hawk” we can notice the joy that the ex-football star experiences with a supportive community. When creating relationships or other human connections, joy can be a contributing factor, centered around whether or not you enjoy another’s presence. Clearly, we as humans do not actively seek out people who we dislike, or despise being around, thus we surely must find those that make us happy in order to form a bond. Empathy implies the need to be kind, generous, and forgiving of others. Therefore, joy may be involved when trying to support another human that is currently lacking this emotion. Whether or not we notice it, joy may be more important than we thought. It is integrated into all sources though we may not recognize this even after extensive research and analyzing.
