Me talk pretty one day ENG 122 PDF

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Summary of Me Talk Pretty One Day. English Composition 122...

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ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY 1 Jada McNeill Professor Anna Morrison English 122 11-30-21 Critical Analysis: Rough Draft “Me Talk Pretty One Day” The article “Me Talk Pretty One Day” explores the experience of a middle-aged man trying to learn the French language. While in pursuit of his goal he had insecurities due to being the oldest in his class, and having a teacher that often belittled and at times became physically violent with her students. Despite him being older you would think being in school again wouldn’t bother him but, he shared how his fears “seasoned and multiplied with age” (Sedaris, 1999). But, the author found a way to find humor in his situation despite the obstacles before him. By David finding humor in his situation he was able to rise above his insecurity of being in classes with younger, more fluent classmates as well as overcome his physically and emotionally abusive teacher. Many people would have given up but, the author shows how strong will and determination can get you through the toughest of times. I believe that to be the main part of the article, Never Give Up No Matter What. David convinces his audience by providing some insight into his insecurities. From the first day of class seeing all of the young, attractive, classmates that were already fluent in French this was the beginning of David’s insecurity. Until, the teacher began questioning different students about their likes and dislikes. David then realized his insecurity of his classmates was nothing compared to the sense of inferiority that his teacher imposed on each of the students regardless of them being fluent in the language. As David listened to her publicly humiliate his

classmates one after the other he “scrambled to think of an answer to what had obviously become a trick question” (Sedaris, 1999). Although he was searching for an answer that wouldn’t result in his public humiliation as well he managed to “mispronounce IBM and afford the wrong gender to both the floor waxer and the typewriter” (Sedaris, 1999). To no avail this upset the teacher extremely and lead to humiliation in front of the class for him as well. To make matters even worse he also had to endure rude encounters with other people from Paris as well due to him being foreign and not completely knowing the language. David compared learning French to “joining a gang that involves a long and intensive period of hazing” (Sedaris, 1999). Tired of being viewed as lazy or uninspired David began studying even harder to prove that he was fully capable of learning French and he would learn it despite what anyone said. Although he still had “fear and discomfort when being asked questions in public” David took comfort in knowing he wasn’t alone in his journey to understanding French (Sedaris, 1999). Then, one day after an insult from the teacher that would normally make him feel powerless it gave him great joy because, he actually understood exactly what she said. This pleased David since now he could finally understand what was being said after such a long, rocky journey to overcoming his obstacles and finally gaining the skill of speaking another language. Although David used humor in telling about his experience in learning a new language in a foreign country he also showed his readers anything is possible as long as you stick with it to the end. So many times people let other people or circumstances get in the way of them achieving their goal for their personal success. But, the lesson to be learned in this article is to Never Give Up No Matter What....