“Turning Japanese” by Heidi Julavits and “Remembering My Childhood On the Continent of Africa” by David Sedaris are two narratives that are different yet have some similar aspects as they uncover the characters’ self esteem through the characters’ journeys. The character in Julavits’ narrative moves to Japan to explore new things but she soon realizes she isn’t content in that environment. In Sedaris’ narrative, the main character lives through his friend Hugh’s adventurous life stories. Both characters disregard the negative aspects of their situations and focus instead on the “positive” side. The characters’ personal regrets, demeanor and the desire to belong, communicates to the reader, the similarity in their self-confidence.
In Julavits’ narrative the main character was uncertain about what to do after graduating from Dartmouth College in 1990 during the Recession. She decides to move to Japan to understand Zen Buddhism by eating amazing food like …show more content…
He would have rather spend a day at an Ethiopian slaughter house for a school fieldtrip than visit his grandmother in western New York State, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease for ten days. He regrets that he led a “normal” life as opposed to a more exciting life like Hugh. In the two situations their personal regrets influenced their low self confidence.
In Turning Japanese, the character behaved a if she was full of “bliss” at the end of the narrative. After two months she “turned Japanese” because she no longer craved American food. She was “spiritually annihilated by contentment” and she no longer worried about her uncertain future. The Zen that she acquired from living in Japan made her interpret her situation of having no place too live, running out of money, and no job as a positive thing. She feels bliss because she no longer stresses about the things that used to bother
In Julavits’ narrative the main character was uncertain about what to do after graduating from Dartmouth College in 1990 during the Recession. She decides to move to Japan to understand Zen Buddhism by eating amazing food like …show more content…
He would have rather spend a day at an Ethiopian slaughter house for a school fieldtrip than visit his grandmother in western New York State, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease for ten days. He regrets that he led a “normal” life as opposed to a more exciting life like Hugh. In the two situations their personal regrets influenced their low self confidence.
In Turning Japanese, the character behaved a if she was full of “bliss” at the end of the narrative. After two months she “turned Japanese” because she no longer craved American food. She was “spiritually annihilated by contentment” and she no longer worried about her uncertain future. The Zen that she acquired from living in Japan made her interpret her situation of having no place too live, running out of money, and no job as a positive thing. She feels bliss because she no longer stresses about the things that used to bother