Me Talk Pretty One Day
http://www.macobo.com/essays/epdf/Me%20Talk%20Pretty%20One%20Day%20by%20Sedaris.pdf
Diction
Sedaris uses a light, informal tone, reminiscent of someone complaining about his rough day to a sympathetic friend. Specific words include 'nerve-wracking,' 'rattle-off,' 'kill some time,' and 'jotted down notes.' This contributes to the mood of the casual, common narrator being abused by his violently-tempered teacher.
Syntax
Sedaris illustrates the students' shabby command of the French language by mixing up the grammatical structure of their sentences. He does this mostly for humorous effect, and to further give light to the bullying nature of the teacher. For instance, "Sometimes me cry alone at night" does both in way of supporting the essay.
Details
The comments from the teacher flush out her abusive personality, as does the narration about her comments. "The teacher killed some time accusing the Yugoslavian girl of masterminding a program of genocide" illustrates how quick to fight she is. Her sarcasm is also evident in quips like "How very interesting. I thought that everyone loved the mosquito, but here, in front of all the world, you claim to detest him. How is it that we've been blessed with someone as unique and original as you?"
Another relevant detail that supports the inhuman characteristics of the teacher is the fact that the narrator never mentions her name; it's as though she doesn't have that most basic feature that identifies her with others.
lol. There is imagery when the teacher crouches low for an attack. This might go well with your details about her.
ReplyDeleteGood breakdown. Your analysis is accurate, and the syntax part is great.
This is very insightful into the piece. Maybe you could wrap it up a little at the end. If you analyze the different parts of the text maybe you could take our a meaning and wrap it in a nice little bow for us as readers of your work.
ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job with this response. You've structured it informally, but I think the piece nonetheless functions well. Good job.
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