Obama By David Sedaris Analysis

B: Obama!!! - David Sedaris

Prejudices and stereotypes are an exceedingly present, characteristic and ongoing issue in the society. They can be attributable to numerous factors such as unrepresentative experiences with individuals from certain groups, erroneous observations and the media. However, many of these prejudices and stereotypes are, naturally, false and puffed up. The U.S.’s presidential election in 2008 was instrumental in proving this as the first black man, Barack Obama, was elected as a president. In the essay “Obama!!!”, written by David Sedaris in 2013, the problem regarding prejudices, stereotypes and preconceptions is illuminated and clarified.

The tone and style of the essay are characterized by informality, a personal approach

Which, of course, I must be […]” (ll. 108-112, p. 8) and “He’s an older guy, pale, his eyes made small by thick-lensed glasses” (ll. 141-142, p. 9). In the first example, the sentence lacks a complete main clause consisting of a subject and a verb, and in the second example, the sentence lacks a conjunction such as “and”. These lacks make the sentences incomplete. Besides, Sedaris makes use of certain phrases that are instrumental in making the language of the essay informal, for example: “pretty much” (ll. 38, p. 7), “town slut” (l. 151, p. 9), “huge asshole” (l. 154, p. 9) and “big butts” (l. 105, p. 8). The informal language creates a relaxed atmosphere which allows the reader to identify with the author. Furthermore, it makes the text easier to comprehend. Moreover, the essay is accompanied by a personal and subjective approach which manifests itself through the fact that the essay primarily is based on Sedaris’ own personal experiences, viewpoints and thoughts: “My first boyfriend was black […] ” (l. 103, p. 8) and “[…] I’m more afraid of conservatives than I am of black people” (ll. 115-117, p. 8). The personal approach in the essay is instrumental in establishing the form of appeal,

Throughout the essay, the prejudices between the Americans and the Europeans are described after which the accuracy of most of them is rejected. This is, among other things, seen in the following example where Sedaris denies the accuracy of his father’s perception of the European’s attitude and behavior towards Americans: “In my experience, people were curious. They had plenty of questions, but I was never insulted or singled out in any way” (ll. 68-71, p. 8). Furthermore, Sedaris emphasizes the falseness of the Europeans’ prejudices against the Americans by emphasizing the skin color of the U.S.’s then new president, Barack Obama, several times: “Barack Obama, who is black, is arriving now with his black wife and two black children, a group that will form America’s first black First Family, which is to say, the first group of blacks elected to the White House, which is white and not black like them” (ll. 220-226, p. 10). In addition, it is highly probable that Sedaris is trying to bring the skepticism towards homosexuality into focus as well given that he mentions the problematic regarding homosexuality numerous times, e.g.: “States vote to take away my marriage rights […] it tends to hurt my feelings” (ll. 260-263, p. 10) and “Of