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Humor In David Sedaris Me Talk Pretty One Day

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Humor is found in some of the most stressful times in life. David Sedaris does just that as he tells the story of how he learned the French language in “Me Talk Pretty One Day”. Sedaris faces both internal and external obstacles, but still manages to poke fun at the situation, himself, and one bucktoothed seamstress. Despite his humor, he still delivers a deeper point to this story. No matter the age, new and unfamiliar situations can be wrought with fear and anxiety. Determination and fortitude are essential to achieving a goal when your body is telling you to avoid the situation. David Sedaris successfully explores the theme of overcoming adversities in “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” because Sedaris shows that his own insecurities are at the root …show more content…

Even as his discomfort reached its pinnacle, Sedaris doesn't give up on his goal. In the midst of his struggles Sedaris is faced with an accusation that his work was, shall we say, less than acceptable. “Refusing to stand convicted on the teacher's charges of laziness, I’d spend four hours a night on my homework,” Sedaris says as he describes his determination. At this moment, the author could have decided to do the bare minimum to pass the class, but just passing the class wasn’t his goal. In this Sedaris shows us his moxie. He writes, “I suppose I could have gotten by with less, but I was determined to create some sort of an identity for myself .” This and his reaction to the accusation of laziness indicates that the author may have been contemplating giving up on his goals. At this point, the audience is wondering why he is enduring this hardship. But, by writing this he is demonstrating his integrity and commitment to learning the language. It leaves the feeling that he is focusing more on his target than the obstacles that lie in front of him. In his essay Sedaris also shows that enduring great struggle can have rewards of equivalent value. It is the journey itself that gives the destination its

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In relation to David Sedaris’s life in The Ship Shape, I am able to relate to his uncertainty with his parents. When I was younger, my mother married a man who fell into that category of false hope, everything he said would echo into a strange abyss and never come back. He would constantly spend our family’s money on himself and his friends. No matter what, In the end he was a nobody and no-one could make him a better person. In my time living as a kid in California, I experienced the betrayal and false hope, just as David Sedaris in The Ship Shape.

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“My only comfort was the knowledge that I was not alone. Huddled in the hallways and making the most of our pathetic French, my fellow students and I engaged in the sort of conversations commonly overheard in refugee camps.” (L. 105-107) To sum up, David Sedaris wrote the essay Me Talk Pretty One Day in 2005. He did this because he had chosen to learn French and came across a really mean teacher.

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He covets this method very much in his essay because it is the main connection to the argument he is trying to get across. On page 362 Sedaris proclaims “What I really hated, of course, was my mind. There must have been an off switch somewhere, but I was damned if I could find it.” In this statement David is making a remark that he had no idea how to make the demands coming from inside of him stop, drawing many emotional connections of sympathy and understanding of the complexity in his obsessive behavioral disorder. He also discusses how it never occurred to him that other people recognized his abnormal behaviors, such on page 363; “Because my actions were so intensely private, I had always assumed they were somehow invisible.”, and on page 369 when he mentions his roommate.

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