1. Who is Zadie Smith, and why should we pay attention to her essay?

Smith is an author, essayist, and short story writer. After writing her first novel, she got awards. This shows she has credibility because she is a popular author.

1. In what ways does Smith “distinguish between joy and pleasure” and how do these distinctions match up with your own interpretations of the two experiences?

Zadie Smith says the difference between pleasure and joy is that joy is a more extreme version of pleasure. Pleasure is something small happening and joy would be something big happening. She also says Joy has only happens a few times in your life. She also talks about joy as a bad thing, while pleasure is better. She says how joy is paired with pain because you know that thing will end. I agree that joy is a more extreme version of pleasure, but I do not think joy is always a bad thing because it will end. If you have a pet and it makes you happy, you are not constantly thinking about how they will most likely not live as long as you.

1. According to Smith, why is joy difficult to manage, and live with? Do you agree with her? Why or why not? Practice using a complete Quote Sandwich (utilizing a direct quote from the essay) within your response.

Smith says that Joy is difficult to manage because you are not able to have joy by thinking about it. You are only able to have joy when you are actually in the moment and even then, experience pain knowing it will end. She also says that joy comes with pain, making it not as good as pleasure. Smith says, “Occasionally the child, too, is a pleasure, though mostly she is a joy, which means in fact she gives us not much pleasure at all, but rather that strange mixture of terror, pain, and delight that I have come to recognize as joy.” In other words, having joy, does not only come with happiness, but it also comes with pain and worry. In a way, I think, joy can come with worry that it will end, but I think sometimes when we have true joy, in the moment, we are more focused on the happy times, instead of it ending.

1. In a well-developed paragraph, respond to the following question: What’s the value of reading about, thinking about, and discussing joy?

The value of thinking about what joy does for you is that it will help you understand it, leading to you understanding more about being happy and feeling joy. I think joy is a more extreme version of happiness, but everyone has different opinions of it. Because everyone having different opinions on it, reading and discussing the meaning of it can lead to understanding others better.

1. How does Smith’s essay overlap or connect or contradict previous readings from this semester?

It connects with empathy because everyone thinks of empathy different. Smith gave many examples that some people may not think of as joy. Bloom gave examples of how what people think of as empathy may not truly be a good thing, while other people may think empathy is always good.