Analyzing David Sedaris 'Chipped Beef'

Chipped Beef Throughout society, the contrast between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have nots, the elites and the ordinary, have been a constant source of discussion and philosophy. In Chipped Beef, by comparing fantasies of wealth with truths of reality, David Sedaris argues that the intrinsic values of relationships vastly outweigh the extrinsic value of material things. One of the primary ways in which Sedaris proves the value of intangible things is by comparing the perspectives of family between the fantasies of wealth, and reality. In his childhood fantasy of wealth, Sedaris approaches the ideas of his family with a very different tone than he does in his description of his actual life. When talking about the qualities of

By comparing their familial attractiveness, Sedaris makes it clear that in this life, he values not the relationship that he has with family, but qualities that family has given him. He has inherited a lot more than skull shape from his father, but he specifically chooses those words to emphasize his shallow interpretation of the meaning of family. This idea is further developed by a similar statement, in which Sedaris’ braggadocio further exemplifies this parental relationship. He continues his description of his family’s talents, by boasting “because we are so smart, my parents and I are able to see through people as if they were made of hard, clear plastic.” (1) In addition to putting value in the things his parents have given him, rather than the relationship they have, Sedaris’ diction borders on patronizing. He specifically uses the word “we” in order to subliminally

As the piece opens, a young Sedaris in a fantasy world contemplates his dirty money, saying “I’m thinking of asking the servants to wax my change… It’s important to have clean money — not new, but well maintained.” (1) Although the situation is obviously exaggerated for comic purposes, the exaggeration helps to reveal the idea of a dissatisfaction. Although in his alternate reality, Sedaris has all the money in the world, he is not happy with it. He has to clean it, wax it, make it better. This discontent with the purest example of something with extrinsic value, of which this version of Sedaris has a lot of, goes to prove that material and monetarily valued things are not keys to intrinsic happiness. Sedaris even acknowledges this, when he talks about the charitable contributions his pretend family makes, stating “The Inner City Picnic Fund, our Annual Headache Drive, the Polo Injury Wing at the local Memorial Hospital: we give unspeakable amounts to charity, but you’ll never hear us talk about it.” (2) There is an immense amount of irony in this declaration; all of these things associated with which the well off have to deal with, getting hurt while playing polo, and the occasional headache, are used in direct correlation with the ideas of generosity and giving. This helps