My favorite character from Sedaris' essays is his younger brother, Paul. Paul does not feature heavily in any of the essays early in the book. If you just started the book and are reading the essays in order, I highly recommend skipping to the middle for a minute to read "Rooster at the Hitching Post." It is about Paul's wedding and is my favorite of all Sedaris' essays. But since most of you probably haven't read that far yet, I'll focus on "The Ship Shape" for my post today.
I think Sedaris does a very good job of displaying some of the more selfish parts of our nature that most of us are afraid to admit we have. He's great at describing that little-voice inside of you that wants to be better than everyone else, wants to flaunt what you have and generally wants to take pleasure in feeling superior to those around you. Like on page 24 when he was "drunk on the power of new home" and asked the waitress for another Coke without saying please. I think we all feel "drunk with power" at certain points of our lives, even though generally the power we actually have is not that great. So it manifests itself in little ways, like being able to "demand" a Coke from a waitress "without saying please."
At this point in the post I realize I have not yet included the two literary terms that are required. I now need to use these terms fairly quickly and this low-pressure writing situation is suddenly feeling more highly-pressured. My pulse is rapidly rising. The room is spinning. I feel faint. What two literary terms could I ever use to discuss David Sedaris!?
Antihero - Sedaris is generally the protagonist of his own pieces. He uses many of his essays to point out his own foibles. Whether his is discussing his speech impediment, shallowness, greed or laziness, Sedaris constantly points out all his personal qualities that clash with what the typical nature of a hero is supposed to be.
Symbol - In "The Ship Shape," the new home his parents are considering purchasing becomes a symbol to show young Sedaris' shallowness and greed. He feels the new house will make him a better person. He says, with the new house "my classmates would court me, hoping I might invite them over for the weekend". The house becomes a symbol for the powerful, popular person Sedaris wants to be.
I am interested to see how Paul will play into the essays. I haven't read that far into the book yet, so I will be looking out for when he becomes more of a central figure.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reminding me about the literary terms; I totally forgot!
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting you call Sedaris an anti-hero. I guess when I was reading I thought of him more as a confused boy who is embarrassed of his family, just like every other boy, and not actually selfish. Your examples certainly do illustrate a selfish side to him, but I guess I just didn't take it as strongly/negatively as you did. I just thought it was a bluntly honest portrayal of thoughts we all have. You're clearly the better person.