Summary

In “Smile, Beautiful,” while on a walk during the pandemic, Sedaris witnessed a man tell a woman with “a mask on” to smile (213). Sedaris was surprised the #MeToo movement had not taught him “that women hate being told what to do with their faces” (213).

Though Sedaris did not like wearing a mask, he was glad the mask hid his ugly teeth. In England, Sedaris did not feel as bad about his teeth, but America was “a hard place to be . . . self-conscious about your smile” (216). Whenever Sedaris saw someone with bad teeth, he wondered why they had not gotten them fixed. Once, while at a charity shop, he noticed the handsome clerk’s bad dentistry and offered to pay for his braces. He now realizes how he must have looked and sounded when he made the offer.

Sedaris hated his teeth so...