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What elements in the first two paragraphs of Me Talk Pretty One Day establish a humorous tone?
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David Sedaris establishes a humorous tone in the opening paragraphs by portraying himself as a "fish out of water" at a French language school. He humorously likens himself to a debutante, highlighting the absurdity of his middle-aged status. Sedaris also describes his student privileges, like discounts at "Festyland," a children's amusement park, and contrasts himself with young, stylish classmates, using the comical analogy of feeling like "Pa Kettle" at a Paris fashion show.
American humor writer David Sedaris opens his essay collection Me Talk Pretty One Day with his first day returning to school as a forty-one-year old student at a French language immersion school in Paris. Right away, he establishes a humorous tone by emphasizing that he truly is a fish out of water.
In the first paragraph, Sedaris notes that according to the French textbook, he is “a true debutant.” In order to get into the spirit of that label, he wryly notes that he’s trying to think of himself as a debutante. Of course, he definitely is not one; instead of being an aristocratic young lady donning a long white gown to enter high society, he’s a middle-aged man brandishing a student ID to enter an urban school. His student ID affords him privileges, like discounted entry into the movies; unfortunately, most of his privileges seem wildly inappropriate for a...
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grown man and designed for a kid, like the discounts to see puppet shows and frolic at an amusement park appropriately named “Festyland.” Indeed, this amusement park is real—known asLe Parc Festyland—and geared towards families, not single middle-aged men. Even the amusement park’s advertising is targeted to little kids with a personified “cartoon stegosaurus sitting in a canoe and eating what appears to be a ham sandwich.” The absurdity of a dinosaur even fitting in a canoe, much less eating a sandwich, is comical. Sedaris's noting the sandwich looking like it contains ham makes the scenario seem even more ridiculous yet weirdly relatable.
In the second paragraph, Sedaris further emphasizes that he is a fish out of water when he describes his fellow students. First, they all already seem to know each other and greet one another with camaraderie and familiarity that certainly eludes and excludes him. They chatter in French with “ease and confidence.” Second, instead of hearing romantic French-sounding names as they chat, Sedaris hears–rather anticlimactically–decidedly non-French names like Kang and Vlatnya. Third, he notices that all the other students are “young, attractive, and well-dressed” making him feels like “Pa Kettle trapped backstage at a fashion show.” Comparing the setting to a fashion show is particularly fitting because the school is in Paris. Sedaris’ comparison of himself to Pa Kettle is appropriate and drives home his fish-out-of-water theme. The character Pa Kettle was one half of the hill-billy couple Ma and Pa Kettle of a 1940s/1950s comedy film series. The premise of these films is that Pa Kettle won a contest for writing a slogan (nothing high-brow or or literary) and was awarded a new, futuristic (for that time) house. Pa and Ma Kettle, with their 15 kids, move from their farm to this model home and bumble as they adjust to their new, wildly different lifestyle.
Although Sedaris contrasts himself to his more youthful, stylish, and socially assimilated classmate, he creates a humorous tone that keeps the reader from feeling sorry for him. Instead, he emphasizes the incongruity and absurdity of his return to school.
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