Jesus Shaves Sedaris

David Sedaris tells an anecdotal story about his childhood struggle with a speech impediment in his essay, “Go Carolina” from his book, Me Talk Pretty One Day. His witty and good natured humor is apparent throughout the essay but is significantly emphasized in regards to his sexual identity which he chooses to take a comedic approach towards as he writes about his childhood experiences. Sedaris’s use of humor, anecdotal evidence, military diction and hidden dark tones all add depth and interest to his story by grabbing the readers interest and revealing depth of character through the images he creates with his descriptions.

Sedaris (1999) uses humor to describe a time where he set off to learn a new language, and quickly found that he was in over his head. As an older learner, he came to this place in life with not only experience, but also insecurities. He realized after his first class that

David Sedaris talks about his account when he moved to France to learn French and how his fear went beyond the classroom when doing everyday things. One way this key point supports the story is when David Sedaris talks about how he would avoid going into the grocery stores or coffee shops because he was afraid he would have to speak French.

Sedaris uses many different rhetorical strategies in his essay “Now We Are Five”. In this article his purpose was to inform the audience about how his life was affected by his sister's suicide. It discusses how his life was before her death and after her death. “Now We Are Five” is written with a tone that is longing and serious to signify the effect her death had on Sedaris. Sedaris uses pathos, anecdotes, antithesis, and hyperboles to give this essay voice.

In the article, “Me Talk Pretty One Day” by David Sedaris (1999), the author describes what it was like learning French while living in France. Sedaris moved to Paris in order to learn the language and immerse himself into the culture. He thought this would make learning the language easier. During his time in France, Sedaris experienced intimidation, abuse, and joy. Learning a foreign language as an adult is difficult because of the feeling of intimidation by younger classmates, a hostile learning environment presented by the teacher, and an inherent cognitive disadvantage.

The subject of Sedaris’s comparison and contrast in this essay is to show the aspects of both Hugh and the author’s childhood, that would cause the author to feel proud using his friend’s stories as his own. For instance, the author states that, “When I was young I went to the theater at the nearby shopping center and watched a movie about a talking Volkswagen… Like me, Hugh saw the movie by himself on a weekend afternoon. Unlike me, he left the theater two hours later, to find a dead man hanging from a telephone pole at the far end of the unpaved parking lot” (Sedaris 182). The quote above indicates that the author is being naïve and childish. No boy or child who is as young as he was should feel pleasure in seeing a dead person.

The first dilemma that Sedaris faces is experience of moving to France. Even though he is concern about his move to a foreign country, he did not allow the fear to overtake. Sedaris began the story with the statement of him learning to speak French in France. Here is a perfect example, some people believe this fact to be true. They think that if they surround themselves by people that only speak the language will be forced to engage in conservations. By speaking the language daily, one would become fluent in speaking the language.

This essay “Me Talk Pretty One Day” about the author David Sedaris stands one of his phenomenal pieces that he got us used to. He indicated several techniques throughout his essay that included more meaning and humor to his selection. It’s much easier to be anything other than being humorous and comedic on paper, however David Sedaris continues to be a brilliant author in his selection for the language techniques that he uses to deliver the smile upon our faces; the extensive imagination to the scenes of his story. David develops his thesis through delicate humor and entertaining anecdote of his French course and his “know-it-all” professor who finds enjoyment of belittling her students.

Even though Sedaris describes the teacher as a terrifying wild animal he still has a humorous tone around it which makes it reliable for the reader since most people have found themselves in an analogous situation. Towards the end of the essay, we get the feeling that Sedaris' French has improved. The teacher's insults do not seem to bother him that much anymore. By the teacher being so strict to everyone, do the insults not seem to be that serious and maybe not something she means entirely. Suddenly he could understand every word of the teacher's sentence. Even though she had just insulted him he feels like it was a victory for him. He cannot speak the language but it is a step in the right direction.

“Me Talk Pretty One Day,” by David Sedaris is a clever reminiscent essay that revealed three important lessons. First and foremost, life needs people who can exhibit perseverance in any situation like David Sedaris and other classmates proved throughout their challenging French class. This essay demonstrated that education is meant for everyone regardless of their age. David was forty years when he decided to go to college, which for some may seem old. Ultimately, I realized that a teacher played a key role in ensuring that Sedaris and his classmates became fluent French speakers. During our assignment, I identified with the author’s claim, “the end justifies the means” (Sedaris, 2002). David Sedaris wrote this essay in attempt to show that in any process, the results matter more than the challenges experienced. The teacher was harsh throughout his development, but the most important thing is that the class managed to learn the French language at the end. I continue to believe in my early claim because the author tried to demonstrate that success comes for those who endure the obstacles that may come their way.

Sacrificed the truth, beauty and the right to think, happiness and comfort is just indulgent, it is the discomfort brought by the misery, responsibility and the bonding give us the weight of life. The world is full of people who try hard to gain happiness, and we all have at least one time the idea of living in a perfect world, a world without pain, without misery, without getting old and without cancers. We always ignored the importance and the beauty of uncomfortableness, just as a quote in this book said, “Stability isn’t nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand”. After read this book, I started to be more objective at those bad things I used to hate, to understand the significance of art and to be grateful to this imperfect world we are

Joy-Hulga does not hope well for the people around her. For her, life is beyond hope, or belief in anything. In her mind this indifference makes her vastly superior to those around her. O’Connor depicts Joy-Hulga as person deformed physically and spiritually. Although she is highly educated, she lives an unproductive and unhappy life. A state she blames on a weak hart and a missing leg. Conditions that can be seen as allegorical to her presumptuous, embittered nature. She is joyless, relegating herself to the company of individuals who she feels cannot, “understand her, because of her superior intellect. She expects that they are inferior because of their “simple ways”, their religious beliefs, and their lack of education. For Joy-Hulga Hopewell believing in nothing is her accomplishment, accomplishment as a philosopher.

After the Moroccan woman asks what Easter is, the class beings to attempt to explain to her the holiday. Given the language barrier, the class had great difficulty articulating exactly what Easter was, giving “bits of information that would have given the Pope an aneurysm” (Sedaris 490). This hyperbole was written to signify how poor the class was doing in giving respectfully religious and adequately crafted information about the purpose of the holiday, so much so that it would have been “fatal” for the Pope, who represents and preaches the religion. By including such a hyperbole, the author provides the reader with a vivid description of such problems the class encounters with the language barrier, which is another cultural isolator that

Addie Bundren, the novel’s seminal character, lived a sad life. She recalls that “I could just remember how my father used to say that the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time” (169). Although Addie remembers hating her father, she adopts his philosophy. She says, “I knew at last what he meant” (175) and this understanding guides her life of sorrow and sadness. She feels no comfort or joy in her husband and merely exists with him, “I did not even ask him for what he could have given me: not-Anse. That was my duty to him, to not ask that, and that duty I fulfilled” (174). Even her children have no special place in her heart, “I gave Anse the children. I did not ask for them” (174). The children merely take from her and she finds no satisfaction in mothering. The only excitement she finds in life is in her affair with

Humour and satire are two concepts that are both wide ranging and diverse, from dark, to light hearted, with each producing a different effect. Humour in the main, is something that is used to please the audience, its function is to invoke laughter amongst its audience. Satire is used to create a comical critical view of the subject at hand, this can range from a light hearted comical way, to a judgemental way, with each style giving the text a different meaning, however this does not mean that satire cannot be humorous, which can evident in the use of parody and irony within texts. Within literature both concepts play an important role to how the text is viewed, humour can include word play, grammatical jokes, to even inside jokes with the author and reader, and with satire, including that of irony and parody, with each style and type delivering humour in its own unique way. These differing styles of humour can be found in a variety of forms including Jasper Forde’s The Eyre Affair (2001), with its silly atmosphere, word play and grammar jokes, and the use of light hearted satire and parody to brighten up the text, and Julian Barnes A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters (1989), where there is a more serious atmosphere, with a more critical, satirical eye on history and characters, as well as using irony to achieve its comical effect, and the position of the world. Each text is humorous and satirical in its own right, and with each author using different techniques to