Sedaris

Joshua Singh

Dr. Ellis

EN 346D

8 February

Sedaris

One common theme found within Sedaris’ work and recounts of his life helps emphasize his realization or lesson learned at the end of every story: irony. Irony is essentially someone or something that acts unexpectedly because of common assumptions made about said person or thing. The effect is that it better distinguishes the assumption and the actual outcome, and it serves the comedic effect of providing an unexpected and fresh outcome. 

For example, “The Incomplete Quad” is about Sedaris’ life as a college student. Already, Sedaris displays various examples of irony. His father wanted him to go to an Ivy League university and be an exemplary student, but he soon found himself at Kent State University and grew “...accustomed to the sight of a friend’s colostomy bag and came to think of Kent State as something of an I.V. League university” (Sedaris 36). The great disparity that exists between an Ivy League school and the university he ended up at is humorous in the sense that it is unexpected, fresh, and helps the reader relate to Sedaris. Sedaris also rooms with a girl named Peg, who is in a wheelchair but uses that fact to take advantage of people who unsuspectedly assume that she is harmless and docile. Irony, in the manner that he uses it, helps relate to the reader the idea that life is unexpected and will not always go as planned or how one would assume it would. In that sense, life is ironic and humorous at the same time. Because one could find themself in a completely different scenario or with a different group of people than they thought, the irony helps prove a point that there is more to discover about people, events, or life in general than meets the eye.

Similarly, he displays the same sense of irony in “You Can’t Kill the Rooster.” His father always expected at least one of his children to attend an Ivy League school, but Sedaris “...worried about [his] brother, who was seen as the family’s last hope” (Sedaris 49). His brother turns out to be the opposite of the civilized, well-mannered, and intellectually exceptional student that his father wished for. It is ironic and humorous because not only did his brother not meet this assumed expectation, he is quite the opposite. His father is well-mannered and does not curse but the brother is vulgar, blunt, and often “...refers to friends and family, his father included, as either ‘bitch’ or “motherfucker (Sedaris 49). I personally was taken aback by how blunt and open he is and thought that it was humorous but also heart-warming that the family accepts and loves the brother despite not meeting that expectation. Sometimes, it is the unexpected that is the better option and teaches us the lesson that life does not always go as planned. 

Overall, I enjoyed Sedaris’ writing and personal tone that he describes his life events in. The humor and irony coupled with the framework of being a New Yorker writer adds to the relatability to his stories, and his writing allows the reader to better envision life as seen through a younger Sedaris’ eyes.