-the end of the novel is a contemplation of intellectual life in the western hemisphere, grabbing at the crux of the future of the study of english literature. the discipline of english as an institution is relatively new. for a long time, the study of literature wasn't in english. students read latin classics and tried to apply them to their own english texts. samuel johnson and his peers were beaten for failure to memorize texts. it was not reading for pleasure. it was not until 1833 that english lit became a discipline.
-on beauty asks what it means to be an intellectual. in "the anatomy lesson" section of the book, on pgs. 225-226, claire explains her motivation behind her affair w/ howard. claire says she instigated the affair b/t the two of them: ..."(claire) intervened in the most successful marriage she knew." claire has read all the classics expected of her. she is also trained in all the latest literary theory. what is an intellectual? who would make a better teacher, claire or zora?
-in the novel, beauty becomes de- reified (unconverted from a concrete thing). it's about taking women as objects and how horrible that is. zadie smith hates the objectification of women, but she also hates the fact that the left disallows talk about beauty on the other end of the spectrum. the biggest contradiction in the book is howard, who claims to be above any kind of mystical turning art into objects or celebrating geniuses, but the minute two good-looking women come on to him who are good looking, he sleeps w/ them (claire and victoria).
-the left believes that beauty is compromised due to all these political circumstances underlying the surface. at the end of the novel, zora gets her dad put on indefinite leave for sleeping w/ a student (she basically turns him in).
-on pg. 416, zora had been championing carl in his defense for being enrolled in the english class w/o having the money to pay for the class. monty was trying to get all of the non-paying students kicked out of the class. besides all his right leanings, monty was also sleeping w/ chantelle, and wants to cover his ass by kicking her out of the university. at the same time, carl fell in love w/ victoria and not zora, to zora's dismay. zora calls him out for not sleeping w/ someone "classier" and carl tries to tell zora that howard has slept w/ victoria as well. victoria desperately doesn't want him to b/c jerome lost his virginity to her. thus, both father and son have slept w/ the same woman (gross). jerome figures this out all on his own.
-"you people don't believe like human beings man — i ain't never seen people behave like you people ... my daddy's a worthless piece of shit too, but at least i know he's a worthless piece of shit ... you got your college degrees, but you don't even live right," rants carl to jerome and zora and everyone like them. this is a vital moment in smith's novel where she criticizes the very people she works alongside. carl functions to point out the moral failures in the upper class intellectual elite.
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