On Beauty

On Beauty

In her novel, On Beauty, Zadie Smith explores the nature of beauty within an ethnically and culturally diverse setting. The Belsey family embodies this multi-cultural notion, as the father, Howard, is of British descent and the mother, Kiki, is of African-American descent. Their children, Zora, Jerome, and Levi, struggle to embrace their culturally rich background, as they, in many respects, distance themselves from their family's ideologies. Howard emulates this desire to establish a certain identity, yet within the Wellington community. Unlike his children, however, he asserts his identity by claiming values that differ from his own to be false. In doing so, he denies the internal beauty in others, as he is unable to appreciate values and beliefs that are incompatible with his own. Howard's myopic perception of beauty is further reflected by his impulsive desires, as he limits beauty to merely existing physically. The deterioration of his marriage further reveals Howard's superficial understanding of beauty, as his inability to connect with Kiki can be partially attributed to her diminishing outer appeal. Beauty's entrancing effect on various characters demonstrates its intrinsic ability to distort one's perception of it, as the artificial desires produced by physical attraction misconstrues beauty's true purpose: to enable individuals to appreciate the inner beauty in others.

One way in which Smith examines beauty is through the several metaphors she implements. The central message of Howard's teaching revolves around the metaphor, "never ever saying I like the tomato" (312). His reasoning stems from his fear of one's instinctive reactions, as they are ultimately responsible, according to Howard, for one's failure to address what specifically is "so beautiful about this tomato" (312). Howard recognizes the manipulative aspect of beauty, explain he stresses this inquisitive study of beauty. Howard notes physical beauty's memorizing effect upon the individual, explaining to Kiki how the "concern with beauty as a physical actuality...[is] clearly imprisoning" (207). noting one's susceptibility of associating aesthetic beauty with beauty in general. His relationship with Victoria supports this notion. He acknowledges that "he hadn't harboured any genuinely romantic feelings for Victoria...but he did realize, at this late stage, that he actually liked her" (390). Howard, for once, is not transfixed by Victoria's appearance and consequently, comes to appreciate her for something other than her physical appeal. Specifically, he mentions, "it seemed to be the first time she had spoken to him truthfully, or at least in a manner that he experienced as true" (390). Previous to this encounter, Howard is blinded by Victoria's outer beauty and, as a result, is oblivious to not only how Victoria feels, but also how Victoria makes him feel. He finally notices "something courageous there, flinty and proud" which in part, explains his newfound admiration for her (390).

Dialogue is another effective literary tool that enables Smith to portray beauty. While conversing with Carl, Zora mentions her father's affair and later justifies his actions, exclaiming: "what kind of a sophisticated guy in his fifties doesn't have an affair? It's basically mandatory. Intellectual men are attracted to intellectual women" (139). Smith, again, portrays Howard's attraction to his mistress, Claire, to be insincere