3rd Quarter Blogs: Blog #4

In his piece, "Go Carolina," David Sedaris talks about the constant need for schools to mold children into an accepted model, and the lengths they will go to in order to do so. Sedaris relates an amusing childhood anecdote, makes use of hyperbole, and employs humor throughout his writing in order to convey the important message of individuality and quirks, and the fact that they if they don't fit the perception of a "perfect child," they will try to be mended, often to the detriment of the student. His tone is self-deprecating, but very observant, and it shows the clear reflection he is having on an event that occurred in the past. His audience is really directed at everyone, but more to the educators and parents of our school systems, as he places the perspective in the hands of the child, and tries to send a message to those above him.

1. The story is really reflective of society as a whole, but it shows how children view what are supposed to be "helpful methods" as really trying to separate them and highlight their flaws. Sedaris shows this when speaks of his teacher saying, in his absence, that "David's not here today but if he were, he'd have a speech therapy session at two-thirty." Sometimes there is a disconnect between the eagerness of the school to try and help the child struggling, and how the child perceives it. Parts of  growing up include trying to fit in and when you're shown that you're somehow different than everyone else, it can hurt. Sedaris speaks of desperately trying to find someone "cool" undergoing speech therapy because then he would change his mind about it, which shows that kids really just want to fit in. It's hard to navigate the world, and when you're different, it becomes even more challenging. This story is very easy to identify with, especially as a teenager because it always rings true.

2. What Sedaris writes about is not an easy topic. His message is extremely raw and difficult to internalize, and it's a problem that we have all encountered. However, by decorating his story with humor, he highlights the problem even more. He makes it understandable and also more comfortable for people to read, thus getting the message across. It's a hard topic to think about, but with humor involved, it makes it easier to read and therefore he conveys the importance of his message even more.

3. Sedaris's tone is marked by the following lines:
"The woman spoke with a heavy western North Carolina accent, which I used to discredit her authority."
"At the beginning of the school year, while we were congratulating ourselves on successfully passing for normal..."
"Whereas those around me might grow up to be lawyers or movie stars, my only option was to take a vow of silence and become a monk."
"I agreed but, because none of my speech classes ever made a difference, I still prefer to use the word chump."

All of these lines contribute to the humorous and comical tone that Sedaris employs. He is trying to bolster the underlying message with humor. He's highlighting a pertinent problem, but he does so by being amusing. He conveys the difficulty of being different in a way that anyone can read and enjoy, but also think about and ponder what he's really saying.