Literary Devices In David Sedaris's Me Talk Pretty One Day

David Sedaris, an American author from New York, in his piece “Me Talk Pretty One Day” uses humor and exaggeration to explore what it means to learn a foreign language. His piece transports us to a French course in France taught by a draconian woman. Sedaris uses many devices, particularly anti-climax and hyperbole to hook the reader to his storyline while also conveying his cardinal message. His carefully chosen literary devices effectively teach us about persistence and challenging our comfort zones through his traumatic and often humorous horror stories of being yelled at, and verbally abused by the “wild animal.” The first example of when he used rhetorical devices to accentuate his writing was with an anti-climax. Sedaris wrote, “‘...and I love…’ my sisters and I leaned forward, waiting to hear our names. ‘Tums,’ our mother said. ‘I love tums.’” Given the overarching sarcastic and salty tone, this sentence served as comedic relief, a

As a reader this hyperbole has two effects. The first is the sheer comedic value of it, as clearly mispronouncing one word is no crime in any country. The second is that it is intensely relatable for anyone who has had a scary/strict teacher or parent or boss. Where anytime you’re wrong the situation is blown out of proportion and you feel like your minor error was somehow a “capital crime.” It also speaks to the fact that as human beings we often internalize critiques and view them as criticism, especially if the person critiquing us is someone we already have negative associations with. This quote reiterates Sedaris’ message about the trials and tribulations that come with learning something new, in this case French from a “wild