What are the humor devices used in David Sedaris's "Me Talk Pretty One Day"?

Sedaris makes use of malapropism, which is the misuse of words to humorous effect. For example, he writes, describing the dialogue among the students learning French, "That is common for me also, but be more strong, you. Much work, and someday you talk pretty." Many of his sentences contain these types of misuses of language, and it is funny to hear the mistakes that he and his fellow students make in French.

In addition, Sedaris makes use of hyperbole, or exaggeration. For example, he writes, "The first Anna hailed from an industrial town outside of Warsaw and had front teeth the size of tombstones." These types of exaggeration amplify the strangeness of Sedaris's classmates and make these characters funnier to the reader.

Sedaris also uses verbal irony, which typically says the opposite of what the author really means. For example, when his teacher tells him, "You exhaust me with your foolishness and reward my efforts with nothing but pain, do you understand me?" he reacts with great joy because he finally comprehends what she is saying in French. The reader expects him to be insulted, but his joy at understanding his teacher's insults in French creates a sense of irony that results in humor.

As the winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor in 2001, David Sedaris's Me Talk Pretty One Day is widely recognized for its use of humor techniques.

There are four main ways in which Sedaris delivers humor in this book: diffuse disjunction, script opposition, coincidences, and ending with a punch line.

In the seven chapters of Me Talk Pretty One Day, diffuse disjunction is repeatedly used. It can often be categorized as humorous irony, and it serves as a jab line. One such example is within this quote:

When asked "What do we need to learn this for?" any high-school teacher can confidently answer that, regardless of the subject, the knowledge will come in handy once the student hits middle age and starts working crossword puzzles in order to stave off the terrible loneliness.

Sedaris also uses script opposition as a vessel for humor in providing juxtapositions between the expected and the unexpected. This can be seen within the quote,

At the end of a miserable day, instead of grieving my virtual nothing, I can always look at my loaded wastepaper basket and tell myself that if I failed, at least I took a few trees down with me.

Sedaris also more sparingly relies on coincidences and ending chapters and sentences with a punch line. These are usually delivered with irony and best explained as tongue-in-cheek humor.

In Sedaris's essay "Me Talk Pretty One Day," he uses many devices to create humor; here are five to get you started:

In the opening line he ironically describes himself as a "debutante" at the age of forty-one, upon his return to school. Debutantes are typically teen girls, so a forty-one-year-old man thinking of himself in these terms is funny.

Sedaris also has a keen eye for the absurd in his description of the discounted entry fees his student ID will bring him: to "puppet shows and "Festyland," a remote, dubiously-named amusement park that advertises itself with a "cartoon stegosaurus sitting in a canoe and eating what appears to be a ham sandwich."

Sedaris's self-deprecating description of his lack of sophistication contrasted with his fashionable classmates is hilarious: "not unlike Pa Kettle trapped backstage after a fashion show." Pa Kettle is a hillbilly character from a 1950's television show.

The teacher, who is painted as exaggeratedly cruel to her language students, is, according to Sedaris, very hard on them. But he thrives under her despotic rule and using oxymoron to humorous effect, he claims that he came to enjoy "bathing in the subtle beauty of each new curse and insult."

Sedaris uses hyperbole to comic effect in describing one of two women named Anna in his class; she "had front teeth the size of tombstones."

What techniques did David Sedaris use in Me Talk Pretty One Day to engage his audience?

David Sedaris has a particular voice which is unlike any other author, and it is a voice which connects readers to him. He is direct in his language, and he describes both settings and people in a way which makes readers feel each viscerally. Sedaris is funny in a sarcastic, sardonic way, and this allows readers to let their guard down as they are reading, and to let him in.

Sedaris also gets people to connect with his message by appealing to their sensitivities. When he writes about the French teacher who was cruel and bullied Sedaris and his classmates, the reader feels his pain. When he then writes about the teacher's flaws, we, the audience, are rooting for him because we feel as though we, too, have experienced the same injustice.

The structure of the book also allows readers to connect with his writing. Each chapter is an essay, carefully crafted by Sedaris to tell a specific story relating to a wider overall theme. Each essay has a beginning, middle, and end—the payoff. We get the satisfaction of a conclusion over and over again, and each time we do, it comes after putting all of our emotions into what we've been reading. We are rooting for Sedaris, even when we don't agree with what he's doing or saying, and we are rewarded for our loyalty again and again.

David Sedaris draws in his readers so quickly because he makes his life an open book. He is always honest, even when that honesty might reflect poorly on him. In the "Me Talk Pretty One Day" chapter in the book of the same name, Sedaris chooses to tell his readers all about his attempts to learn French in France. First, he lets his readers know that he is terrified of his French teacher:

Her temperament was not based on a series of good and bad days but, rather, good and bad moments. We soon learned to dodge chalk and protect our heads and stomachs whenever she approached us with a question.

Next, he relates how he obsesses over his French homework so as not to incur his teacher's wrath. He plays with each homework question for for too long, hoping to carve some sort of identity out for himself:

David the hard worker, David the cut-up.

It does not work. He and his classmates commiserate during breaks and before class. They try to cheer each other up by saying that soon it will get better. For David, it does get better, in a way. Eventually, he learns enough French that he is able to understand the teacher's insults:

The teacher continued her diatribe and I settled back, bathing in the subtle beauty of each new curse and insult.

The chapter is a triumph of storytelling because Sedaris allows readers to put themselves in his shoes, and so many readers can relate to the fear of trying to appease a scornful teacher. Readers feel pity and fear for Sedaris, and they hang on every word.