David Sedaris Me Talk Pretty One Day - Admission/Application Essay Example

David Sedaris’ Me Talk Pretty One Day What intrigues me most of all literary works is David Sedaris’ I Talk Pretty One Day. David R. Sedaris (b. December 26, 1956) is an American author, radio contributor, humorist and comedian. Sedaris’ success is underscored by him selling over 7 million copies of his books in 2007 alone. As a piece of literature, I Talk Pretty One Day is a collection of essays that are divided into two sections and published on May 2, 2000. The first part touches on the life of Sedaris before he lived in Normandy and at the time he did occasional part-time jobs in New York and interacted with a companion of his from his childhood.

The second part deals with the point in Sedaris’ life when he moves to Normandy with Hugh, his partner, though he is contending with language barrier therein. By reading Sedaris’ work, one gets great insight into language. The issue of language barrier appears readily as a reality the moment Sedaris goes to Normandy. Sedaris is having great difficulty in interacting with the society in Normandy since there mutual intelligibility between the Normandy people and himself is very low. It is for this reason that Sedaris has to attend language classes under the tutelage of Agent Samson.

Secondly, the strong acculturating force of language does not escape Sedaris’ work, for instance, the desire to learn French and to do proper assignation of gender in French nouns drives Sedaris to Hollywood cinema classics in Paris. This acquaints Sedaris with the French culture even further. Sedaris’ work portrays the American society as being close to that of France. Sedaris sees France as a platform for viewing observations of his own homeland, the US. In this work, Sedaris emerges as a humorist par excellence.

This distinguishes him from other writers (Sedaris, 86). Sedaris’ unique point of view in reflecting many truths of this world is that there could be more to life than an impeccable paycheck. This does not only add to Sedaris’ uniqueness but also strikes as a sense of commonality between Sedaris and myself. I have always viewed the value of life as not being equitable to the abundance of one’s possessions.

I came to appreciate this as a fact when I fell ill. No matter how much money my parents had at their disposal, this money did not play any role in alleviating my pain. Inner strength and the comfort of friends went a long way to help me outlive the experience. Works CitedSedaris, David. I Talk Pretty One Day. Esquire, 133.5 (2009): 86. Print