The Waiter’s Wife

Based on Samad’s placard, what is most important to him about his identity? How does that differ from what Alsana thinks he should want and how he should act?

The story is often ironic and tongue-in-cheek. How does the story use humor to highlight serious social problems?

How does the way characters speak—their diction—inform how they are perceived?

“The Waiter’s Wife” is excerpted from a longer text (Smith’s novel White Teeth). What unresolved aspects of these characters might be further developed in a longer work?

In what ways are Gender Roles and Expectations of masculinity examined and questioned throughout the short story?

Many of the characters have difficult relationships with both modernity and tradition. How does the story dramatize the tension between these values? Is one better or more important than the other?

Archie is mentioned frequently throughout the story but only appears at the beginning. How does he influence the story even in his absence?

At the end of the story, the perspective shifts to Clara, a secondary character whose internal thoughts and feelings have not been accessible to the reader until this moment. What is revealed in the final image of the story?