Structure

Zadie Smith’s Intimations is a collection of essays. It contains six essays in total, with one of the essays, “Screengrabs,” actually consisting of several stories – literary snapshots – describing a particular moment or encounter.

Smith’s essays are not long, but each contains a clear beginning, middle, and end. Smith’s structure within each essay is thus highly consistent and allows for quick reading. Once the reader has become accustomed to the structure, it becomes easier for them to identify Smith’s main message in each essay. For example, the essay titled “Peonies” is Smith’s first in this collection, and very clearly follows a given structure. First, Smith describes a moment or encounter in her daily life, which in this case is the moment she stopped to observe some tulips in a park in the middle of her busy life. Next, Smith elaborates on the moment...