Analysis Of Zadie Smith's Essay 'FYB'

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In her narrative essay, “FYB”, Zadie Smith expresses her belief that if one gets out of their tunnel vision and redirects themselves to chase after happiness, one can arrive at their beach. The idea of a person’s “beach” being hard to discover may be observed through Smith’s personal background, as it is almost mythical for this English writer living in Soho, Manhattan to come by a beach.

What interested me in Smith’s text was the idea that when you finally arrive at your beach, “sooner or later you will be sitting on that beach wondering what comes next”. Overall, I interpreted one’s beach being defined as a person’s happiness. It is something we all have the potential to posses but at times is very hard to actually acquire. Once we …show more content…

That everything irrelevant to achieving my goal should be “removed from the visual horizon”. In order to find my beach, I have to “pursue happiness actively” and find the mindset that will allow me to do this. To find my beach, Smith tells me to go out into New York City and obsess over how I can find a way to be happy. Be ruthless. Think you’re limitless. In “FYB”, Zadie Smith uses the beer ad as an analogy to the mindset of Manhattanites, claiming they all are ambitious to find their oasis in the Big …show more content…

There we saw people ranging from six months to sixty years old splashing around in the water, sinking their toes in the ripples and laughing in the peak of the day’s heat. I saw the potential that this two-avenue-long pool had in becoming a person’s beach for a glimpse of time. Smith’s concept of one’s beach always being in immediate reach resulted in Michelle and I taking off our shoes, sitting on a bench and enjoying the 88°F weather with our toes immersed in 70°F water. During these ten minutes where I sat on the bench, conversed with my friend and watched people play and walk through the park, I had found a beach for

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