Analysis Of David Sedaris Coming To An Awareness Of Language

Improved Essays
Language and Education can improve our lives if we're determined enough to learn. Two traits of good writing are purpose and tone. Purpose is the reason behind the text. An author uses purpose to send a message to the reader. Tone is the attitude of the author. You can use tone to convey more meaning to the work. Tone can be figured out by the author's choice of words and imagery. Two essays address the importance of language using tone and purpose very well, "Coming to an Awareness of Language" by the influential leader, Malcolm X and "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris. In "Coming to an Awareness of Language", Malcolm X uses a serious tone in contrast to Sedaris' more humorous tone to convey the same message. In "Coming to an Awareness of Language", Malcolm X's …show more content…
He also believes in using self-determination to educate ourselves."The two polish Anna's surely has clear notions of what they liked and hated but like the rest of us, they were limited in terms of vocabulary and this made them appear less than sophisticated" (paragraph 11) Sedaris' acknowledges that language or rather our lack of proper language, can define us. "I was determined to create some sort of identity for myself: David the hard worker." Determination to better ourselves helps us to evolve into respected individuals. Both David Sedaris and Malcolm X become determined to make themselves better at language. Sedaris' tone is humorous throughout the essay. One example of that is "If you have not meimslsxp or lgpdmurct by this time, then you should not be in this room." (paragraph 4) Sedaris' uses the jumble of letters to be funny. Another example of humor in "Me Talk Pretty One Day" is "Turnoffs: insecurity and guys who come on too strong!!!!" (paragraph 10) He compares his classmate's response to the teacher's question to a girly data sheet to create a memorable, humorous

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