Post #2

Naked is developing into a ridiculous humor following the path of his life through his child and teen years. In my first reading David Sedaris, the writer, is a princess of a young boy and he thinks the world was made for him. In my second reading David develops into an overly prejudiced boy but, he can see the prejudice in others make and makes a point of showing it. “’…little fudge-colored girl put her hand on my cheek and said, ‘Oh,’ she said, ‘I wish I could be white and pretty like you.’ She paused…though she were posing for a portrait the federal government might use on a stamp commemorating gallantry” (82). In this we see that he sees prejudice and makes a mockery of people who voice prejudice. Davis is developing into a more independent boy though and he is moving away from hiding under his parents’ wing. His family is still depicted as psycho but now he is more a part of the chaos and now not only the women are crazy. “..sent me newspaper clippings detailing the tragic slaying of joggers and vacationing tourists. ‘This could be you!’ he wrote in the margins” (51). This speaks to his father and it shows the chaotic nature of his whole family. The book is also interesting because every chapter starts a different idea and it skips around in his life. The ideas of the chapters are generally controversial topics from being gay to people with mental disorders. These ideas are generally thought of as bad as well. Mr. Sedaris is also able to turn a small event into a catastrophe.
Themes in the novel are interesting. One topic is cats. The theme about them is that cats are negativity and they circle around bad things. “’You killed me,’ the cat said, pointing at mother with its flattened paw” (50). Cats seem to bring problems and slight conflict to help make problems within the family. Another theme is that bad things or things that are associated with bad things are good within his family. One example is smoking. David and his family are all avid smokers but smoking is associated with those in a mental hospital. Cigarettes in the outside world are bad but in his family they are wonderful. Another topic discussed in the novel is women. Women in David’s story represent the mystery and bring the discovery, they are to be respected but also feared. “She’d looked into the face of something horrible, and I wanted to know what that felt like” (74). He sees women develop and he is intrigued by it. Mr. Sedaris also has a wonderful way of developing his own character as he describes and learns about his family.

Quarter 2 outside reading post #1

The book Naked by David Sedaris is and autobiography of his life. The book is basically a joke and Mr. Sedaris is telling us a funny story that we want to hear, designed to make us say, “Well at least I’m better than that.” His book so far revolves around himself growing up. Mr. Sedaris is a natural comedian but he has a very dry humor and that is reflected greatly in his writing. He starts out describing his family and his life and he is strangely in love with himself. His childhood was sheltered as he was the only boy in the family and looking back he describes himself in a horribly ignorant way with a slight twist so we feel he is joking but then again… “…servants, several of whom are extraordinarily claver despite their crooked teeth and lack of breeding” (4). He also paints an interesting family life. With the book starting out with him reflecting on his childhood we see that, as a child, everything was below him. He also paints a disturbing portrait of women in his family, “Rather than improve her social standing, she chose to spit out children, each one filthier than the last” (8). He also says his sisters go missing, an event that never happened, but shows his self-centeredness in a bright light. Even further than that, his family is dysfunctional except his dad and we see his grandmother become a disturbance in the family.
Some interesting themes in the book are that money buys happiness. He believed as a child that with money came his ability to smile. One theme was women. Women were not to be placed on his level but there is an undercurrent that suggests awe towards them, “All I want is to be friends…” (44). This he says after a girl intimidates him. Another is that with perseverance anything can be accomplished. As a teen he had a twitching disorder or OCD and by about page 50 he gets over it with hard work and cigarettes, which interestingly enough are good. We see that good and bad are turned around in this book. “…cigarettes that calm me… giving me something to do with my hands and mouth. It’s as if I was born to smoke” (22). David as the author seems to struggle with the ways his life went as a child though in the child’s perspective he was very happy and we see this ethical dilemma played out as he writes.