Me Talk Pretty One Day Rhetorical Analysis

Annie Mema

Mr. Felder

AP English Language P.8

November 20, 2016

Rhetorical Analysis

In the essay “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” by David Sedaris, one rhetorical device used is pathos. The forty-one year old author allows all readers to have a glimpse of his life when he was learning French and what it was like having a language barrier. In the beginning of his essay, Sedaris writes, “Have you ever been in a situation where you did not speak the prevalent language - for example, in a foreign country, a language class…?”Asking this rhetorical question makes any reader think back to their own personal experience and makes a personal connection. After describing how his french professor interrogated his classmates, Sedaris states, “My fear and discomfort crept beyond the borders of my classroom and accompanied me out onto the wide boulevards… there was no escaping the feeling of terror I felt whenever anyone asked me a question”(Sedaris, 284). The author shares how daunted he felt whenever people asked him questions in French because of the way his professors tough teaching lessons, and this appeals to emotion because it is something that has happened to someone in their lifetime or eventually will happen.

Another rhetorical device Sedaris uses in his essay is dismissive diction. It was evident that the author’s French professor was demeaning, by the way she treated students and how she spoke to them. When talking about an encounter with a young, optimistic Yugoslavian girl who loved everything, and the professor, Sedaris writes, “The teacher licked her lips, revealing a hint of the sadist we would later come to know. She crouched low for her attack, placed her hands on the young woman’s desk, and said, ‘oh, yeah? And do you love your little war’”(Sedaris, 293). The words ‘sadist’ and ‘attack’ have a negative connotation and give them impression that the professor is an awful woman who sees her students as her prey.

An issue brought up in the essay was with the author having a language barrier and in today’s society, it’s still pretty evident. The author shares his experience of going to France and being able to only understand half of what everyone was saying, and with his sadistic professor, learning the language was even more difficult. People today have the trouble of speaking another language because they fear they will be mocked and made fun of. In New York, a great majority of people are bilingual because of the great diverse place we live in. If a foreigner were to move somewhere less diverse, like Alabama, there’s a greater chance that they will be mocked for having an accent and not speaking English clearly. There’s a reason that schools require learning a foreign language so when traveling or encountering a foreigner, there's a slighter gap in the language barrier. If there’s ever an opportunity to learn another language, everyone should take advantage of it.