I could talk about what a complete mindfuck it is to lose the shelter of your marriage, but also how expansive the view is without that shelter, how bug the sky is.
-- Narrator (Some People Ask)

Importance: Toward the outset of her memoir, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Smith utilizes this moment to introduce her thematic inspection of marriage. She suggests that marriage can be both a source of comfort and a limitation. While she felt secure as an individual when she could define herself through the relationship with her husband, the divorce allowed her to experiment with and explore new facets of her identity. Losing the marriage creates the space for Smith to expand her life and reconsider her point of view.

This is where The Wife becomes more mother than wife.
-- Narrator (The Play)

Importance: Throughout her memoir, Smith utilizes the fragments entitled “The Play”, to examine her life through the third person point of view...