Part one of David Sedaris’ collection of essays details the parts of his childhood leading up to the point before the author first moves to france with his partner. The collection Initially introduces the author in his childhood. David was in 5th grade when he was recommended for speech therapy by his teachers for his lisp. David envies his speech therapist, and avoids the use of the letter “s”. Rather than help “improve” his speech, he just becomes self-conscious and feels like an outsider. Then, David’s father signs him up for music lessons with a midget. Reluctantly, David tried playing the guitar and, even with the aid of his self-proclaimed midget, discovers he has no musical talent. At this point, David decides that his music career is over. After his father’s failed attempt at forming a family jazz band, Sedaris reflects on his strong ability to relate with and enjoy his mother’s hobbies more often than his father’s. Not only does he discuss himself in comparison to his father, but in relation to his sister. Then, Sedaris, inspired by his sister to pursue an art career, goes through his twelve stages as a performance artist, fueled mostly on meth, until his dealer moves away and he realizes he will never be an artist. After this, Sedaris talks about his brother “The Rooster”, his foul language, and the subtly beautiful and unique relationship between his brother Paul and his father, explaining how from the outside, Paul might have been seen as disrespectful and obscene, but below the surface, he was a great man with just a foul mouth.
The next chapter introduces the reader to all of the Sedaris family pets, including all of deaths and misfortunes and replacement pets his family and parents endured. He names this chapter “The Youth In Asia” because when putting his own pet down, the doctor’s use of “euthanasia” reminds him of an old cartoon with two young boys in Asia. The next chapter in part one shows a shift from a focus on Sedaris’ life in relation to his family, to a focus on his professional life and the careers he undertakes. First Sedaris is offered a job as a professor for a writing workshop in Chicago, this was a nice job opportunity except that David had no experience in writing. He faked his professionalism throughout the semester and satirizes his attempts at conducting workshops and creating busy-work for his students. Following this is a brief story about a questionably lesson-teaching turd at a party, followed by a few sections based on his careers as a personal assistant to a stingy latin american woman, to his encounter with the Marxist head of a moving company, in which he begins his job as a furniture mover in NYC. Next comes sporadic sections on things such as David poking fun at today’s restaurants, an unwelcome nuisance for a visitor that befriended an old companion from North Carolina, and Sedaris’ social and societal critiques based on his reluctance to be a part of the technology age and the use of computers.
Part two begins with David recalling his first visits to Normandy with his partner Hugh, followed by his experiences with learning french; including his attempt at explaining Easter to his fellow classmates in Parisian French class, his purchase of a Walkman to aid in his pursuit of learning French, his hateful French instructor, and his challenges with remembering and mastering the task of gender assignments in regards to learning french. David then continues to contemplate and reflect upon his life in comparison to others, attempting to reach the marvelous excitement of his partner’s life, or measure his acuity and success using IQ tests or measuring it with crossword puzzles. He then discusses his admiration for different international and cultural idiosyncrasies, including his love for watching movies in france . Within and following this, he also critiques and analyzes global stereotypes, including assumptions of the average american made by the french, the ignoramus who assumed David to be a pickpocket, and the buzz of excitement surrounding the edge-of-your-seat-turned-uneventful near death experience of people at county fairs.
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At the end of this collection, Sedaris explains in detail the full vividness of his night time fantasies of different, unattainably marvelous versions of his life; eventually ending with a chapter again about how he and his siblings are able to put aside basic assumptions and logical stereotypes and judgements of his father’s actions, but rather understand and accept him for who he is. In creating this compilation of essays, Sedaris strings together a great number of personal narratives ranging and covering an overwhelming amount of topics, arguing multiple different claims, and providing a common premise for their combination. His purpose for this collection, although not explicitly stated, is centered around the idea of embracing individuality, acceptance, and understanding. Key ideas and concepts are also focused around overcoming cultural, social, and personal challenges and differences, and finally, finding meaning and accepting some of the most subtle, small, ridiculous, and flat-out weird “flaws” that we each have.
By using personal narrative as a driving force for his collection, Sedaris evaluates and reflects upon his life, judgements he or others have of himself, and overall social and cultural critiques (as well as certain “flaws” we deem unacceptable as a society). Sedaris is able to effectively convey the validity of his beliefs through the use of personal experiences in his life, something that makes the text and meaning behind it more personal and appealing to readers. Not only does his purpose become solidified and supported through his experiences, but his use of language, informal and relatable in nature, with his outlandish use of comparisons, dramatizations, satire, and repetitive use of satire; all of these things make Sedaris seem like an authentic person, with actual unfabricated thoughts and beliefs. Another aspect reflecting this “personability”, is the way in which Sedaris organizes his collection. The first part emphasizes David’s analysis and evaluation of himself, his family, his pets, and his career. The second part is focused upon what others perception of him, his family, what he perceives of others apart from his close friends/family, and pretty much anything and everything that can be misinformed, stereotype, or critiqued within society.
The minor themes that are encompassed in this piece include addiction, family, tenacity, hardship, adaptation, humor, and multiple others. These themes all encompass one major theme: acceptance. This means acceptance of yourself, i.e. Sedaris finding and accepting that he is gay, not a musician or artist, and accepting and embracing his own flaws like his lisp; acceptance is something that is repetitively conveyed throughout this collection and is evoked and promoted by Sedaris’ consistent, apathetic tone. Not once in this collection did Sedaris critique or seek pity for others nor himself, especially when faced with challenges or extremely strange situations, rather, this entire book is full of aspects and experiences in life of which Sedaris masterfully displays. The effectiveness and arguments raised and supported throughout this piece is successful solely because of the ability for sedaris to be authentic and accept all of it, the good, the bad, the ugly, the strange; the ability to accept and understand others is perhaps the most underestimated and important aspects of our society, and the title of the collection is another effective conveyance of that message, highlighting that one of the fundamental barriers in communicating and in language, is the ability and level of understanding or acceptance a person is willing or able to contribute, once again demonstrating how crucial it is to accept and seek understanding in everything you do, for everyone one that you meet, and finally, for every strange, unbelievable, boring, foreign, or whatever experience you have in life.
References
- The New York Times
- BBC News
- CNN
- The Guardian
- Associated Press
- Time Magazine
- Reuters
- NPR
- The Washington Post
- CNN World News
