Essay/Term paper: Naked

Essay, term paper, research paper:  English Composition

Naked

David Sedaris; Little Brown & co. 1997

" The women"s open"





1. Throughout the essay " The women"s open" David"s father obsession for golf is shown. The power of his obsession leads him to forget what should be important to him.



2. Sedaris expresses the lack of heart his father shows towards people and even his children when it comes down to golf. For example the first day Lisa ever got her period was out on the golf course while her dad was watching a professional tournament, at first while she complained about her back pains he just simply brushed her off. At the moment he realized the problem he asked a women just as devoted to golf as he to accompany her to the ladies room for a sanitary napkin. He kept David with him so he could run after the thin tees that usually flew 20 feet away from the golfers swing, just so he could keep them for good luck. On another occasion Lisa"s mother had recorded a video of movies that they enjoy watching together. After her mother had passed away Lisa searched everywhere for the video her mother had made for her. She found it in her fathers basement along with all his golf videos. As she began to watch the video memories began to arise until a man bending down on a golf course appeared on the screen. Her father had recorded a golf tournament over her mothers memories. Sedaris succeeded in letting the reader know how obsessed his father was with golf and the pain it put the family through.



3. Sedaris begins with a short passage foreshadowing an event that will occur that day. He begins this way to let the reader know that there is importance behind the story. After his foreshadowing he commences with the story.



4. Sedaris uses descriptive sets of paragraphs followed by dialogue to express what is going on. For example, returning from the tournament they find Lisa lying in the back seat of his Porsche. the first word out of Lisa"s mouth were not too pleasant . " My father sighed and shook his head in disappointment. This was the same way he reacted to my mother when anger and frustration caused her to forget herself. Lisa was not a daughter now but just another female unable to control her wildly shifting emotions. " Don"t mind her," he said wiping a thin coat of pollen of the wind shield. " She"s just having lady problems." "



5. I think Sedaris was very effective in his writing. I don"t like golf but the way he expressed how his fathers obsession and how it was a dominant factor in his life was a very effective method to let the reader understand Lisa"s troubles







Naked

David Sedaris; Little Brown & co. 1997

"next of kin"





1. like the book found in the woods people are not what they appear to be.



2. "Next of kin" is about a book called next of kin which was found under a sheet of plywood hidden in the woods. Sedaris is expressing the effect that reading may change the way you look at things. one of David"s little sister Grechen got hold of the misspelled pornographic story about an imbedded family and their open sexual experiences. Her (Grechen) suspicions began to flaunter . she suspected her parents, her great Greek grandmother, and she began to view the world as a steaming pit of bridled sexuality. " Our ancient Greek grandmother was arriving at the breakfast table with suspicious looking circles under her eyes."



3. The essay begins with a short description letting the reader know where the odd book was found. I think the author began this way to let the reader gain suspicion about the origin of the book.



4. Sedaris uses his open vocabulary and sense of humor to relate how the odd book affected everybody in the his household and how it began to bring suspicions towards everyone in the family. "she noted the way our mother applied lipstick at the approach of the potato chip delivery man, whom she addressed by first name and often invited to use our bathroom. Our father referred to the bank tellers as "doll" or "sweetheart," and their responses suggested that he had taken advantage of them one time too many"



5. Although many people may find that there is no point to this essay enjoyed Sedaris satiric expressions and how he made everyone picture his sister Grechen observing on her family and drawing wild conclusions.

Naked

David Sedaris; Little Brown & co. 1997

"I like guys"





1. I like guys is document expressing Sedaris discovery of his homosexuality.



2. The authors purpose is to let the reader understand how it felt once he started thinking and having thought odd homosexuality. He expresses his denial and a point of fear if discovered. There is also a description of his first experiences with a man.



3. Sedaris begins his essay by an introduction of his Spanish teacher telling a story about a little black girl. He finds this hypocritical of her because once she said she did not want her child to turn out "funny", as in gay. most teachers including his gym teacher and his math teacher would use calling students gay as an insult but it made David continuos leading him to ask himself are they talking about me?. but as he meets a gay friend in Greece he finds the insult faggot as funny. Sedaris uses methods of writing incorporating his feelings and his opinion with a touch of humor.



4. Words like faggot or Niger may be inappropriate for some authors to use but Sedaris writes just as things are told. He often used such words to ridicule things but just as they were often used to ridicule him. "...referring to each other as "faggots" and then a "stinking faggots". we were "lazy faggots" and "sunburned faggots" before we eventually became "faggoty faggots." We couldn"t protest the word, as that would have meant acknowledging the truth of it. the most we could do was embrace it as a joke"



5. I thought this essay was great there were a few things that left me in confession like Did they have sex? . Other than that I was greatly amused by many of his statements like when he began to experience homosexual thoughts an he said he needed to win a contest so he could go and visit a psychiatrist to cure him of his thoughts.





Naked

David Sedaris; Little Brown & co. 1997

" the incomplete quad"



1. This essay is a detailed experience of some of David Sedaris college life. He incorporates his experiences in the handicap dormitory and the way it changed the way he looked at the handicap.



2. Throughout the essay the "incomplete quad", Sedaris relates his excursions with Peg to give the reader an understanding on how people treat the disabled.



3. Sedaris begins with a brief description about how he wanted to go to an I.V. league school like Harvard but how he did not have the grades. " I discovered it took more than a C average to attend Harvard. Average, that was the word that got to me. C and average, the two went hand in hand." then he continued on how instead he went to a state college which he described to be perverse. Then he tells about how he left and went to Ken State because he had heard people had died there. Later he begins about how he had to live with handicap room mates, mind you whenever he saw people in wheel chairs before he just looked the other way. Sedaris structures his essay so you get a understanding about the way he felt, He describes his first college with a sort of discontent and then he leads you into his life at Ken state giving you the picture that even though he had to work harder taking care of his roommate that it was a better experience.



4. The author incorporates phrases and reactions that people would have at the sight or even the sound of Peg, his cheerful disabled room mate. He tells about how Operators and pizza delivery services would just hang up on the sound of her slurred voice because they thought she was drunk. Because of her sight her professors would just agree with everything she had to say. "good Question" they would shout and "that very perspective of you". People in dinners would take care of her check because they felt bad. Sedaris slides the point across by his methods of ridiculing the way people reacted because it was fake.



5. I really enjoyed this essay it got to my heart because it made me think. Most people, including me, at the sight of the handicap just turn there heads or will try to help so it looks they are doing a good deed. his purpose is expressed very well throughout the entire essay making it extremely enjoyable.

Naked

David Sedaris; Little Brown & co. 1997

"chipped beef"



Not much is known about Sedaris but these are a few little facts. David Sedaris is known to be one of National Public Radios most popular and humorous commentators. He is 41 years old and primarily grew up in North Carolina. Sedaris is also the author of the best sellers Barrel Fever and Holiday on Ice.



1. Sedaris wants the reader to believe that he is unimaginably rich. He gives his audience the impression he is a snob but on the contrary he is far from being one.



2. I think Sedaris purpose is to give the reader a little information about himself. He exaggerates his life to what I believe he wished it was. But when it comes down it, his family has as many money problems as an average family.



3. Beginning his first line of his first essay in his book with a command he would like to give one of his servants is misleading. Sedaris structures his essay in a way that makes the reader believe that he is rich. But he expresses how he was far from being rich.



4. Sedaris language is beyond effective, his sentences are full of considedness and snobby comments. "When asked most people say my greatest asset is my skin, which glows it really does! I have to tie a sock over my eyes in order to sleep at night. Other"s like my eyes or my perfect ,gleaming teeth my thick head of hair or my imposing stature, but if you want my opinion, I think my most outstanding feature is my ability to accept a compliment." His conclusion to the story makes up for all the nonsense he had mentioned before.



5. I thought Sedaris"s first essay "chipped beef" was a hilarious arrangement of considedness and make believe. Although this essay is not arranged with the perverted humor featured in some of his other essays, he had a very effective way in making the readers laugh