Me Talk Pretty One Day By David Sedaris

Ashely LeBlanc Ms. Barbe English Composition 08/09/2024.

Speech and language are both weapons that can be used to unite or disperse communities. This is shown in both Trevor Noah’s, Born a Crime, and David Sedaris’, Me Talk Pretty One Day. Trevor Noah represents the bond a shared language can create in Born a Crime as his knowledge of 6 languages made him find where he felt accepted. While, Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, shows the opposite reaction as speech is the source of his isolation and the root of his insecurities. Personally, reading these two texts and the current behavior of humanity, I believe that language and speech are more used as a weapon rather than a common ground. Born during the ongoing apartheid in South Africa,

As Noah was observing his environment, an Indian kid named, Theesan Pillay, introduced himself as one of the few “anomalies” in his majority white class. Throughout their conversation, Noah explained his skills in languages. Impressed, Theesan brought him over to a group of black kids to show off once more. As Noah spoke, he became a common ground for all the kids around him, “speaking the same language meant that I belonged to their tribe.” After realizing this, Noah decided he needed to stay with the group that saw him for himself, asking to switch into another class. Though he was met with reluctance, he knew that he needed to, “be held back with people I liked than move ahead with people I didn’t know.” His new revelation made him realize who he truly was, and it was the community he grew up in, “the black kids embraced me.” Trevor Noah shows the power language has to make one unite with the group that would allow him to find self realization. A story with a similar root but different result is David Sedaris’ Me Talk Pretty One Day. Being born with a lisp, Sedaris was brought out of classes to work on

Mental patients need therapy. Normal people did not.” Alongside his own insecurities, his teacher announced it to the class, heightening his insecurities even more, “I imagined she addressed the room, saying, ‘David’s not here today but if he were, he’d have a speech therapy session at two-thirty.’” Sedaris had also observed the kind of kids that shared these sessions with him, none of them were popular, “Had I seen one popular student leaving the office, I could have believed my mother and viewed my Unfortunately, I saw no popular students.” The sight of seeing no popular kids made Sedaris realize how unconventional he was, making him feel more isolated. Sedaris already didn’t enjoy sports and instead indulged in more “feminine” extracurriculars, and went to an office of the, “SPEECH THERAPY LAB,” or what he saw as the, “FUTURE HOMOSEXUALS OF AMERICA.” To prevent as much damage that could be done, Sedaris’ solution was to avoid using words with the sound of “s” and then eventually stop talking all together, “I didn’t want anyone thinking I was trying to be a pet of the teacher.” Sedaris’ story shows how from the people he wanted