Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris is an excellent piece of
writing that gives an account of his time in Paris learning French as a
middle-aged man. He describes all his obstacles to learning and the acquaintances
he makes along the way with fantastically descriptive language, effectively
engaging the reader’s sense of humor. While he does utilize a number of the writing
techniques mentioned in The Nuts and
Bolts of College Writing, Sedaris completely disregards others.
Perhaps the most obvious deviation from the rules mentioned in The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing is Sedaris’ utter lack of parallelism in verb tense. For example, I have bolded and noted the tense of the verbs in the following sentences:
I’ve moved (present perfect) to Paris with hopes of learning the language. My schools is (present) an easy ten-minute walk from my apartment and on the first day of class I arrived (past) early, watching as the returning students greeted (past) one another in the school lobby. (p. 11)
Another frequent technical infraction is Sedaris’ use of the passive voice instead of active voice. Harvey says, “…Good writers see their words from the readers perspective, because clarity, like beauty , is in the eye of the beholder”(10). Even though Sedaris is writing an informal essay that is meant to entertain, in my opinion, his overuse of passive voice, nominalizations, and linking verbs weakens the flow of his personal account. For example, he uses the passive voice in the sentence “Vacations were recounted, and questions were raised…”(Sedaris,11) where he could have said “They recounted vacations, and raised questions,” keeping a stronger narrative voice.
Lack of concision is another downfall of Sedaris’ essay. As Harvey says, “…Being concise isn’t really so hard. It usually works by process of elimination: we watch what we say, ask ourselves whether what we’ve said is essential to what we mean”(1). If Sedaris had taken out “causing me to feel not unlike Pa Kettle trapped backstage after a fashion show” (11) from “As an added discomfort, they were all young, attractive, and well-dressed, causing me to feel not unlike Pa Kettle trapped backstage after a fashion show,” he would impart the same information more concisely, but it would sacrifice the element of humor that is so signature to his style. Although I do agree with Harvey that college writing should be concise and to the point, I feel that Me talk Pretty One Day does not have to follow this rule strictly because it is an informal paper with the purpose of describing the feelings and experiences of the author for the amusement of his audience.
One strong stylistic aspect of the essay, is Sedaris’ use of punch lines. Harvey gives instructions on how to form a punch line: “Start with material that is familiar, scene setting, or unsurprising, and end with material that is new or detailed or surprising” (27). Sedaris does just this when describing his experiences in class: “It sounded like a translation of one of those Playmate of the Month data sheets, the answers always written in the same loopy handwriting: “Turn-ons: Mom’s famous five alarm chili! Turn-offs: insecurity and guys who come on too strong” (12). He talks about something that is familiar to most readers (playmate of the month sheets) and turns it into something unexpected and funny. Sedaris' use of punch lines makes the reader want to keep reading and find out what somewhat ridiculous detail will be thrown in next.
Sedaris’ purpose in writing Me Talk Pretty One Day is to amuse instead of inform or defend, and with that in mind, I believe that his stylistic choices regarding concision and the use of passive voice are acceptable; And while there is no excuse for such amateur errors as poor parallelism in verb tense, Sedaris aims to write an informal and humorous account of an experience in Paris learning a new language and in my opinion, with great success.
