Introduction Zadie Smith is an English writer popular for her novels, essays, and short stories. Her novels have received awards and praise from many publications and organizations, including Time magazine. Her writing style is uniquely reflective and witty, and she incorporates a variety of techniques to keep the reader engaged. This paper will focus on her non-fiction essay work and an analysis of her writing style. Patterns A few patterns emerge when reading Zadie Smith’s non-fiction essays. Smith appears to be interested in reflecting on the past and using these reflections to create new ideas or overcome personal biases. These biases include not only the biases of the reader but also of herself. For example, in her essay for The New Yorker , titled “Some Notes on Attunement,” she explores how her perception of music changed over time. She describes her state of mind in a very informal way, even ending one of her paragraphs with a risqué statement such as this: “What did we need with white women?” (“Some Notes on Attunement”). Of course, this is not meant to be an inflammatory statement, as it only describes the opinion she had about music during her childhood. The article gradually transitions from her having no interest in white women singers to her being openly annoyed by them. However, out of nowhere, she gains a deep appreciation for the experimental musician Joni Mitchell, whom she was once so annoyed by that she openly expressed those feelings. The article proceeds to analyze this situation, with Smith eventually finding it useful to stop trying to understand new forms of art and instead try to just experience them. Smith sums up this idea by saying this: “Put simply: you need to lower your defenses” (“Some Notes on Attunement”). She finishes the essay by talking about how different people have different sensibilities and how it would be interesting to experience her work through the perspective of other people. This idea of reflection and self-reflection on her and other’s beliefs are echoed in her essay titled “F. Kafka, Everyman” (Smith 57). It seems clear that to Smith, it is important to challenge the beliefs of her readers and herself to achieve new and more truthful ideas about a topic. Image Zadie Smith projects an image of a witty, smart, and slightly irreverent person. Her writing is interspersed with asides and tangents related to the topic at hand. These techniques are used both as a way to break up the pace of the essay and as a literary device that creates a more personal connection between the reader and the writer. For example, in “Some Notes on Attunement,” she repeats the words of her roommate—”You don’t like Joni?”—multiple times throughout the text to signify how these words followed her long after she had heard them (Smith, “Some Notes on Attunement”). This technique lets the reader peek inside her thought process, subsequently creating a deeper connection with the text. Moreover, Smith often uses the words of her friends and even strangers she has encountered to create an informal tone to the text. In “F. Kafka, Everyman,” for example, Smith uses the following words she heard from a stranger: “But you’re quite wrong! I knew Mr. Kafka in Prague—and he was never late” (57). These words serve to add some levity by creati