Santaland Diaries David Sedaris Analysis

“Memory Laps at the Pool” a person essay written by David Sedaris to show the reader a experience from when he was a child. Sedaris uses first person and multiple forms of writing. The main writing forms were literary and expressive. In his essay, Sedaris makes the reader imagine the story he is telling by using description and emotion throughout his whole story.

The poem “The History Teacher” by Billy Collins has a greater lie than “The Death of Santa Claus”, in its intention to save the innocence of students. It is necessary to tell the truth when the lie is destroying students future and breeding ignorance. To begin, in this poem the history teacher is trying to protect the innocence of his students by simplifying most historic allusions to make them sound friendly and less important. For example Collins writes, “The Spanish Inquisition was nothing more than an outbreak of questions...” (Collins 7-8). This is a lie because the Spanish Inquisition was not a period of questions but a period of religious intolerance and brutality. Not only is this lie preventing students from expanding their overall

1. David Sedaris Titles his essay “Us and Them.” Whom does this title refer to? Whom are we meant to sympathize with- “us” or “them”? How do you know?

The school method of criticism that I will use to analyze the poem "How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is a Marxist critic. It is a theory, the consciousness of a given class at a given historical moment derives from modes of material production that were demonstrated through the relationship between the Grinch and the people of Whoville. The poem is about the Grinch who hates Christmas so he wants to ruin it for people in Whoville, in which he achieved by stealing the presents from them. The Grinch’s hatred towards Christmas was directly shown in the poem, “The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!” This line demonstrates the Marxist critic in this poem as readers will be able to identify the reason for Grinch’s hatred towards Christmas

In ‘A Christmas Carol’, Dickens presents Ignorance and Want in a metaphorical fashion, depicting them as children. This is done in such a manner as to shock and appall the reader, leading to greater emotional investment.

I am the Messenger is a novel written by Markus Zusak and published in 2002, it shows the perspective of Ed Kennedy, the main character, about different events that he goes through after his first encounter of a bank robbery, as the novel is displayed in the form of a first person omniscient narrative. Markus Zusak refers to Ed’s ideology when analyzing an event as he interprets what that character may be thinking of, he shows the role of the other characters through Ed Kennedy as he interacts with them and truthfully describes them as he also did when it comes to the addresses that he had to visit and supposedly help. This book provides many themes for the reader mainly through his creative use of symbolism, the most obvious theme is that of love which is shown in many different methods. This led to the question that will be encountered in this essay: How is the theme of love portrayed in Markus Zusak’s novel I am the Messenger through his use of symbolism?

Peter Weller once stated, “Television is an isolating experience, sadly enough. But as good as it ever gets, it’s still isolating. You sit in your home and visit with no one.” Staring into the television screen, zoned out and mesmerized, our minds are living the life of the characters in the movie or TV show. In today’s society, people obsess over there shows instead of there family, friends, and children. The television has seized our minds, ignoring what’s happening around us. David Sedaris’s story “Us and Them” is an example of a good story because of the humor, theme and conflict, these are elements creating an intensive piece.

Many film and literature characters fail to leave an impact on the reader. This is not the case for Charles Dickens’ character Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol and Frank Capra’s creation of a character, George Bailey from It’s a Wonderful Life. Both protagonists are beloved characters, but have drastic similarities and differences. Ebenezer Scrooge and George Bailey are best compared by their outlook on life, time spent with the spirits, and each character’s transformation in the story.

Music has a powerful impact on people, and can change people in a dramatic way. When people go to concerts, they don’t only listen to the music being played, they also look at what music and songs they are playing or singing, and the order of the songs. The order of the concert has an effect over whether the audience will enjoy the music or not. Above, I listed what I think the order of the songs should be. The concert repertoire should be in this certain order, based on our concert’s intended purpose, what our audience is feeling during the concert, and what Christmas means to each individual in the audience and performing.

The essay “Let It Snow” by David Sedaris is an explanation of how alcohol can have a lasting effect on a family. In this essay, Sedaris writes about his growing up with an alcoholic mother and her mistreatment of her children with this addiction. Sedaris’ writing proves this statement by sharing about one particular day when school was canceled due to a snowstorm. Sedaris is a well-known writer, playwright and radio commentator whose work often has an autobiographical focus (Faigley 89).

Many people around the globe can speak more than one language. In some countries, like Den-mark, it is required by the government that you learn a foreign language at school. Of course not all countries are as privileged as Denmark. Some people have to reach out themselves if they feel the need to learn a new language. One of those people is 41-year old David Sedaris, who wrote an essay called ‘Me Talk Pretty One Day’ in 2005. He tells the story of how he moved out from New York to France to learn French. In his attempt to learn the language he comes across a rather mean teacher who influences the way Sedaris learns French.

“My Papa’s Waltz” and “Those Winter Sundays” describe a character who reflects on their childhood. Although they based on the same theme, the two poems have very different perspectives. “Those Winter Sundays” talks about how the son regrets for not showing his love for his father, when all his actions went unnoticed. “My Papa’s Waltz” reflects on a son 's memory with is father where his danced around the house after the father long day at work. Both poems reflect on how their fathers showed his love for his son, the time spent with their fathers, a maternal conflict, and their relationship with their father.

He shows Scrooge what terrible conditions his employee, Cratchit, is living in, and how his family and he are struggling to make ends meet for the holiday season. He also shows him a homeless community that Scrooge didn't even know existed because he forgot that not everybody can be as wealthy as he is. This scene was cut from the play probably due to its lack of significance to the main plotline of the original story.

In the short story “Powder” by Tobias Wolff, a father and son’s relationship undergoes a shifting dynamic due to the father’s procrastination. Wolff achieves a strengthening relationship between the boy and his father by using literary devices. Wolff illustrates the changing father-son relationship through one pivotal moment during the car ride home. The son undergoes moral development during this moment, and Wolff demonstrates this by using foils, symbolism, and by changing the connotation of the word snow. It is due to these literary devices that Wolff demonstrates the son’s moral development during a memorable moment.

In the short story “Powder” by Tobias Wolff the author writes a story about a father and a son with a troubled relationship as they try to go home on Christmas eve. During this time period it is about the 1920’s around the time of the Great Depression. When the stock market crashed it affected the father, the son and this story.The obvious conflict is between the mother and the father because the son has been brought home late by the father and has been given one last chance to take his son out and bring him home on time. This paper will discuss how the word usage throughout the story helps us to determine that the conflict is growing and beginning to reach its peak. The father had been given a second chance and makes a choice to take advantage of his chance and make his son late yet again.