David Sedaris's Essay 'Chipped Beef'

Every child dreams about great things that they believe can magically happen. In David Sedaris's essay “Chipped Beef,” through various rhetorical devices Sedaris recalls downplaying his childhood by having such high, unrealistic aspirations in his fantasy world. Sedaris wishes many things were different in his life. For example, when Sedaris was in his fantasy he mentions “When my sisters were taken, my father crumpled the ransom note and tossed it into the eternal flame... We don’t negotiate with criminals, because it’s not in our character. Every now and then we think about my sisters...” Then later in the story when he’s back in his real life, “Then I want you to run out to the backyard and call your sisters out from that ditch.” In his fantasy world Sedaris, using diction, downplays the kidnapping of his sisters because he wishes to be an only child and have the sole attention of his parents, something he doesn’t have in his real life. The way Sedaris is dreaming about not …show more content…
In his fantasy life he is loved by everyone all the time. Whether it be everyone staring at him during church to everyone wanting to touch him “It’s them! Look, there’s the son! Touch him, grab his tie, a lock of hair, anything!” He wants everything to be all about him. In his real life this isn’t the case, his mother doesn’t even think that his cat loves him “She did it on purpose,’ my mother said. ‘It was her only way out, and you drove her to it with your bullshit...’” David wasn’t even loved by his cat according to his mother when he had these aspirations of being loved by people he didn’t even know. This is a goal many young and even old people have but is just the straw that broke the camel's back for Sedaris’s happiness. All Sedaris thinks about is how he wants everyone to love him closes him off to seeing and realizing the people who truly do love him in his real