Today, along with continuing our study of Sedaris’s “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” we will begin to examine “The Day Language Came into My Life,” the first pages of Chapter Four of Helen Keller’s autobiography, The Story of My Life.
One of the aspects of Sedaris’s essay that you examined last Wednesday was his movement from summary to scene. The first of those occurs with these words of his teacher’s: “If you have not meimslsxp or lpgpdmurct by this time, then you should not be in this room” (167).
You also identified Sedaris’s hyperbole “front teeth the size of tombstones” (168), and his use of metaphors and similes, including these:
- “not unlike Pa Kettle trapped backstage at a fashion show” (167).
- “everybody into the language pool, sink or swim” (167).
- “like a translation of one of those Playmate of the Month data sheets” (168).
Today in class you will closley examine the final paragraphs of David Sedaris’s “Me Talk Pretty One Day” and Helen Keller’s “The Day Language Came into My Life,” and collaboratively compose a paragraph that addresses what the last paragraph of each narrative conveys about the significance of the writer’s learning experience. In your examination of Keller’s essay/chapter excerpt, address the quotation “‘like Aaron’s rod with, with flowers’” (par. 9). If you do not recognize that allusion, simply show how the quotation connects to the clause that precedes it.
Together, these two essays by David Sedaris and Hellen Keller demonstrate two vastly different ways to present a literacy narrative. “Me Talk Pretty One Day” offers a quirky look at the challenges of learning French from a sarcastic, soul-crushing instructor. Keller’s story poignantly recounts learning to make meaning through the sign language of her teacher, Annie Sullivan, learning that certain finger positions mean “water” for those who cannot hear it, and for others, like her, who can neither see nor hear it.
Works Cited
Keller, Helen. “The Day that Language Came into My Life.” The Story of My Life. https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/keller/life/life.html.
Sedaris, David. “Me Talk Pretty One Day.” Me Talk Pretty One Day. Little Brown, 2000. pp. 166-73.
Next Up
On Wednesday you will begin work on your own literacy narratives. At the beginning of class, after I collect your second Check, Please! worksheets, I will distribute the copies of the assignment, and you will have the remainder of the class period to plan and draft longhand. Next Wednesday I will return your handwritten drafts, and you will have the class period revise on your laptops. You will have an additional week to continue revising before you post your revision to Blackboard and to your WordPress blog. The due date is Wednesday, February 7; the hard deadline is the morning of Friday, February 9.
Jane Lucas 