If you’ve ever taken a foreign language, then “Jesus Shaves” by David Sedaris will be much easier to relate with. Throughout the story he takes advantage of the use of broken English to act as the characters speaking French, so it is easier for the reader to understand what they are attempting to say. When you take a foreign language the teacher typically asks the class to speak only in that language, and when It is not your first language it can be hard to communicate and fully get your point across when talking to classmates. Instead of saying a complete sentence, many will attempt to do their best to form a sentence and it comes out broken and fairly understandable, until that language is more comprehendible and the class understands more …show more content…
of the language. This was present throughout the story and the story arguably would have been different had characters been able to speak in their native language and understand each other. Sedaris while in class comes to a small realization that while he understands his own religion, it is hard for him, just like many others, to understand the concepts and fallacies of other cultures and religions. “Jesus Shaves” by David Sedaris most likely takes part in a college French class, with the class discussing the holidays in broken French.
The teacher first talks about Bastille Day, but later moves on to the holiday of Easter. A Moroccan student expresses that she has never heard of the Christian celebration. Throughout the story, the class attempts to describe to the others what Easter is, and means to them. The story primarily narrated in first person by what is most likely a student from an American/ Christian background. “Jesus Shaves” goes on to review several views on shared religious traditions, comical inclusion of characters from many geographical backgrounds, the use of broken English dialogue, and the narrator’s very blunt ideas and thoughts on what he is hearing during his …show more content…
class. It is clear throughout the story the narrator and the French teacher are the two main characters in “Jesus Shaves”, but with the brilliant decision by Sedaris to include several small characters from many different backgrounds also has a major impact in this short story.
To help many readers understand that other cultures do not celebrate or recognize the same religious traditions, the Polish, Italian, and Moroccan classmates are thrown into the classroom and add to the plot. Most readers and Sedaris audience may already have a thorough understanding of what Easter is from a religious perspective already and may be surprised that some people don’t know what Easter is. To many, Easter is one of the most important Christian religious celebrations, which is dedicated to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Knowing the important of easter, when the Moroccan student explains that she has never heard of Easter before, the other classmates try to express what it is by using and sharing their own cultural experiences. The Polish students tries to explain the events that took place and the reasoning for the holiday, while others try to express their ideas about who Jesus was. The Italian student then brought up what traditional foods are eaten on the holiday, sparking a debate between the narrator and the class about the Easter bunny and the flying Easter bell from Rome. The story gradually comes to a conclusion, with Sedaris realizing that Christianity itself has quite a few
fallacies that sound just as ridiculous as a bell delivering presents to kids and that the key part of religion isn’t celebrations and gifts, but faith in the unknown, and the events that led to those holidays. Although a humorous essay, what is the important point Sedaris addresses in relation to religious belief? It is obvious throughout, that Sedaris is trying to express that many people no matter how open of a mind they may have, have trouble understanding other religions and other cultures practices and ways of life. With so many people in the world currently, people aren’t always going to agree with each other and share similar or even the same beliefs and that it is important to understand that and be accepting of others despite your differences. Sedaris ends the story with “… why not give other improbabilities the benefit of the doubt? I accepted the idea that an omniscient god had cast me in his own image and that he watched over me and guided me from one place to the next. The virgin Birth, the resurrection, and the countless miracles—my heart expanded to encompass all the wonders and possibilities of the universe.” (4) For many readers, it is very easy for this story to be interpreted this as him trying to say that no one religion is true or not true, and that there are so many possibilities and explanations for the unknown that its impossible for him to say one person or one idea is correct. He also does a great job at the very end of the story by throwing in a last paragraph that just says, “a bell, though, that’s fucked up.” And it shows that despite his open mind and realization, it is still very hard for him and so many to understand other religions and peoples’ traditions that do not relate to their own ideals. For many, if not all people, everything that happens in their lives, from their actions, to their religious beliefs can all be related back to how they were influenced and raised at a young age. Sedaris uses the characters from different backgrounds like Italy, Poland, and Morocco to show that religious beliefs almost always spur from a person’s background and often-geographical locations as well. It is most noticeable his reasoning for picking these characters when the Moroccan woman shouts, “Excuse me, but what’s an Easter?”(2). Showing that not everyone celebrates the same holidays, and traditions are largely based on where you are from. From an outside religious perspective, many of the different cultural traditions associated with Easter may seem strange. Sedaris uses his characters to share a wide array of the traditions. Even though the Moroccan women in the short story has never heard of Easter, there are several traditions that the students explain that are not practiced everywhere. Some families may not eat lamb on Easter, and most prominently in this story is the bell vs. bunny argument between Sedaris and the teacher. (3) This is one of his biggest reasons on why it is important to be acceptant of the people that may be a little different from us, and be acceptant and their beliefs even If they are different from your own, because they are often chosen for them at a young age when they don’t fully understand is going on. This is extremely key to keep in mind when studying religions and different cultures, because it is important to understand and to be accepting other ideas as the true and go in with a negative mindset, otherwise, you will not learn them. If people could come to an understanding that everyone has different beliefs and ideas there would be much less arguments, and agendas towards people of a different culture, but that way of seems to become increasingly farfetched every day. The use of broken English acting as French is meant to help and to understand the points he was trying to get across much easier and I love the way he used it throughout the story. Many would agree, that the biggest argument that David Sedaris is trying to make in "Jesus Shaves" is that it can be difficult to explain why people believe in the things that they believe in, because it is hard to explain faith to people. It is most difficult to explain why you have certain beliefs without proof, especially when they believe in something else, shown by Sedaris with the Moroccan student who does not understand why people celebrate Easter. Religion is an important part of many people’s lives and daily routines, and helps people prepare for the unknown and understand the unknown and it is important for us to keep and open mind not only in religion but as you go throughout your life as well.
where the author wants to become proficient in speaking French. He studies language instructions only to end up being embarrassed by the teacher. This results to him being more culturally confused. David Sedaris finds humor in situations that are humiliating.
In this analysis includes a summary of the characters and the issues they are dealing with, as well as concepts that are seen that we have discussed in class. Such as stereotyping and the lack of discrimination and prejudice, then finally I suggest a few actions that can be taken to help solve the issues at hand, allowing the involved parties to explain their positions and give them a few immersion opportunities to experience their individual cultures.
Uncertainty and perplexity are major characteristics of life. The ideal of not knowing or not knowing how to do a certain task that others can do burdens one’s mind every single day. In chapters “See You Again Yesterday” and “Me Talk Pretty One Day”, David Sedaris implements hyperboles and connotative diction to convey his frustration and confusion of learning and grasping the French culture and language.
The conflict was the language barrier, which the students were trying to explain the Moroccan woman what Easter is. They all celebrated the same holiday but each describe Easter differently and their French grammar was very bad when they explained. One student with his bad grammar in French try to explain what Easter is by saying, “He weared the long hair, and after he died the first day he came here to say hello to the peoples” (473 Sedaris). Each student had a different point of view on what Easter symbolizes and how it is celebrated. . The teacher explain how Easter is celebrated in France by saying, “here in France the chocolate is brought by the big bell that flies in from Rome” (473 Sedaris). A student argued that a bunny is the one that distributes the food and not the bell. The tone of the short story was sarcastic, humorous, and witty tone because the Sedaris is well known for it and he incorporates it in Jesus Shaves. The main character explains why the rabbit is the symbol of Easter and not the bell in a humor way. The main character said “a rabbit has eyes, rabbits move from place to place, while most bells can only go back and forth” (473
“Se Habla Español,” is written by a Latin author, Tanya Barrientos; and Amy Tan, a Chinese author, wrote “Mother Tongue”. In both literate narratives the authors write about their experiences with language and how it impacted their lives. In This essay we will be discussing the similarities as well as the differences in the stories and the authors of “Se Habla Español” and “Mother Tongue”. We will discuss how both authors use a play on words in their titles, how language has impacted their lives, how struggling with language has made them feel emotionally, and how both authors dealt with these issues.
In conclusion, this book gave me a whole new view on life and how we can interact better with different people. The book emphasized that culture is key to understanding people. Sometimes it is hard to connect with others because they are indicated as different but in due time we can adjust. Every culture has their own traditions when it comes to what they eat, what to wear, dating, various ceremonies, holidays and more. Reading this book helped me become more accepting of who I am and where I come from.
Just because all of your friends traditionally egg your math teacher’s house on Halloween night, doesn’t mean that you should too. Both Shirley Jackson and Ernest Hemingway do not believe in the practice of old traditions that don’t make sense. It is just like Gracie McGarvie said, “Tradition is an explanation for acting without thinking.”
Even though the Christmas play was directly against her Jewish faith, Shirley did not pay much attention to that fact. She was more concerned about perfecting her role so that everyone watching her would be proud of her. However, Shirley’s mother was very concerned about her daughter’s performance in the play. Shirley’s mother had quickly noticed that the school was trying to encroach upon the non-Christian students with these Christian beliefs. She felt the students were being deceived, and she was very frustrated about the situation. Shirley’s mother stated, “Very funny, Misha. What is becoming of you? If we came to a new country a long time ago to run away from tyrants, and instead we fall into a creeping pogrom, that our children learn a lot of lies, so what’s the joke.” (171) The mother was rather fearful and furious that Shirley was playing a role in a play that would directly be against her own Jewish faith. Shirley’s mother felt that they had come to America so they could practice their own Jewish faith freely, which was something they could do not do back home. Yet, here in the American schools, her daughter and other children were presently being forced to learn about Christianity. Shirley’s mother used the term “creeping pogrom” as a way of referring the American schools to the organized massacres of Jews in czarist Russia. She felt that the children were being massacred of their Jewish faith because they were learning lies against their own Jewish religion. Shirley’s mother was further enraged because the children were young and did not know that they were doing something against their own religion.
When I first came to this country, I wasn’t thinking about the language, how to learn it, use it, write, how I’m going to speak with people who are next to you and you want to talk to them. My first experience was in Veterans School, it was my first year in school here in United States, and I was in eight grades. The first day of school you were suppose to go with your parent, especially if you were new in the school, like me. What happened was that I didn’t bring my dad whit me, a woman was asking me a lot of questions and I was completely loss, I didn’t have any idea of what she was telling me and I was scare. One funny thing, I started cry because I fell like frustrate, I didn’t know no one from there. Someone seat next to me, and ask me in Spanish what was wrong and I just say in my mind thanks God for send me this person, then I answered her that I didn’t know Engl...
A language barrier is a major disadvantage to those who are foreign to a particular place or culture. The variances of languages can make it even more difficult for people to adapt to new cultures and environments. The girls raised by wolves in this story face this obstacle as soon as they move from an environment of wild animals to an environment of civilized human beings. In “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”, the girls are forced to learn the human language since they only know how to speak “the Wolf”. The narrator, whose English name is Claudette, describes how “we [the girls] were all uncomfortable and between languages.” (Russell 229). According to the narrator, “it took me [her] a long time to say anything; first I [she] had to translate it in my [her] head from...
In Ways with Words by Shirley Brice Heath we read about the author’s ethnographic study in the South during desegregation. The purpose of Heath’s study is to examine the ways people from different communities in the textile region raise their children. The way the children are raised according to Heath, affects the language development and the way these children learn to read and write in the school setting. In my paper I want to examine the way the church relates to the cultural differences in Roadville and Trackton. Cultural differences have ultimately created two separate learning styles. Reading Heath’s study creates curiosity as to how one book, the Bible, can be translated by two cultures in such differing ways that, “In short, for Roadville, Trackton’s stories would be lies; for Trackton, Roadville stories would not even count as stories” (Heath, 189).
People who support the teaching of religions in public schools argue that it is essential for the students to learn the background of many religions in order to understand the cultural issues that materialize in the world today. Samuel Ayers and Shelly Reid are two educators at schools in Texas and they agree with this statement. They argue constant...
In “English Composition for International Students University of Cincinnati”, Scott Esposito shares his experience of reading a book that is written in another language. Esposito was reading a book that is written in Spanish language. He used a dictionary during reading this book. However, Esposito took a long time to read the book, as he is not a native speaker of Spanish. His Spanish improved while reading this book. So he became able to read faster and understood the grammar easier. Esposito faced several challenges during reading the book. Frist challenge, he was unable to understand new vocabulary so he had to look them up every time. Also it was hard to him to guess what do words mean, since his knowledge in Spanish was still poor. Second
4.3 : Understands that there are multiple perspectives and interpretations of historical events. Multiperspectivity can alter how the past is remembered. At times there may be more bias towards groups of people. By discussing how the Thanksgiving holiday is remembered by some as a tragic event for the Native Americans and by others as a holiday solely celebrating family and friends, it would demonstrate how people interpret historical events differently here in the northwest.[1]
These issues are also raised in "Death and the King's Horseman", but more with showing how important and determinant our culture is for our personal identity. Thus, living in an era where this one is changing, because of the rough imposition of a new one, can torn one's personality, making them doubt all of their beliefs.