Analysis Of Let It Snow By David Sedaris

In his article, “Let it Snow,” David Sedaris takes us into a personal perspective of his life. He tells a childhood story in a way that makes his readers feel emotionally connected to some of his exciting turned difficult encounters as a child. By sharing a time of the past, Sedaris not only explains the thrill of the accumulating snow, but he unleashes the blatant issues beyond the snow. Sedaris describes a fun day in the snow with his siblings; however, they return home to his mother having a breakdown. Sedaris writes that their “presence had disrupted the secret life she led while we were at school, and when she could no longer take it she threw us out” (quoted in Faigley 421). Sedaris’s article unveiled a darkness that lied far beyond the constant snow, all while maintaining an upbeat mood of the piece throughout its entirety, helping to build the anticipation as the conflict approaches. Sedaris begins his article on the fifth day of his vacation. By vacation, Sedaris meant that school was cancelled because of the accumulating snowfall. Everything was going well until his mother decided to “turn the table” on Sedaris and his sisters. “Get the hell out of my house,” she shouted (quoted in Faigley 73). Sedaris’s mother could not stand the thought of their presence being there any longer.

It is highly unlikely that they will freeze to death, but it goes to show how wild a child’s imagination can get when feared in a certain situation. Sedaris does well in portraying every character’s personality for the readers. Especially when he mentioned that his father “goes to work specifically to escape our mother, and between the weather and her mood, it could be hours or even days before he returned home” (quoted in Faigley 74). With the readers now knowing the effect his mother had on his father as well, Sedaris’s viewpoint revolves around his mother being the center of the family’s