Smile

The main focus of the book is the concept of the smile and how much Sarah felt she lost when she has lost the use of half of her face. All of this addresses the idea of human expression and how important it is when building connections and close relationships.

When Sarah was initially diagnosed with Bell's palsy, she started to realize just how valuable a smile is within society. She writes, "I never specifically prized my smile, but now I realized I used to have a rather nice one. Symmetrical and full. I began to feel what a loss it was not to be able to smile at strangers to indicate permission to speak, affinity, or understanding. I realized how we count on that subtle coding at least a hundred times a day" (71). Without having control of half of her face, she was incapable of relying on...