In the introduction to a reaction essay, the writer will generally lay out what they identify as the most important points the author has made. These reactions will differ widely among the readers. Sedaris's essay has proven to have staying power in part because he goes beyond the narrow limits of a language class to present more widely applicable experiences.
In his title essay, David Sedaris presents his own experiences learning a language in a class setting while living in a foreign country. While he specifically writes about learning French in Paris, it is likely that his experiences will resonate with those of other students in other situations. In addition, Sedaris contextualizes language-learning within the larger situation that motivated him to learn French. Within his committed relationship with Hugh, Sedaris decided to move to another country in which he was a foreigner in every way. Another likely point of connection that the reader is likely to feel is the experience of basing an important personal decision on one’s emotional attachment to another person.
Another way that Sedaris broadens the relevance of his own experience is through the use of humor. Not understanding a language and attending a class in which the teacher apparently enjoys belittling the students does not seem like a pleasant experience. Sedaris manages to convey that, despite the difficulties he experienced, his attitude toward learning enabled him to extract enough benefit from the class to learn what he needed.
David Sedaris's essay "Me Talk Pretty One Day" is part of a larger collection and revolves around the author's experiences as a forty-one-year-old student on a French immersion course.
I can't tell you how to respond to the essay—as you have been asked to lay out your reactions to the author's points, you will need to think for yourself about what your feelings are. Do you agree with the points Sedaris is trying to make? How do you think you might have felt in Sedaris's situation? How did this essay make you feel—did you feel sympathy for Sedaris and the other students? Have you ever been in a similar situation? There are many ways you could approach detailing your personal response to the material.
The key points in Sedaris's essay, in my view, are as follows:
1. It can take us an awfully long time to actually acquire full familiarity with a language (or any other subject) even if we feel we have had some instruction in the past. Sedaris approached this French class feeling adequately prepared, having taken "a monthlong French class" before he left New York and having spent some time in Normandy. However, as soon as he entered the class itself, he soon found that the "sink or swim" nature of it revealed all the things he didn't know, rather than enabling him to make use of, and display to the teacher, the things he did. Do you feel this to be true? How do you feel about the assertion that we sometimes don't know how little we know until our knowledge is put to the test?
2. Sedaris's French teacher and the "abuse" she doles out to her students has the opposite effect to what she perhaps intends. Although Sedaris goes out of his way to try and impress this teacher, her behavior discourages not only him, but all the other students in the class, with the result that they become afraid to speak French at all and fear that they will never improve. Have you ever had a teacher like this? Do you feel a teacher can be inspirational if he or she is harsh? Is there a difference between strictness and abuse, and if so, what is that distinction?
3. Sometimes, regardless of the learning environment in which we find ourselves, knowledge can crash over us like a wave at the most unexpected moment—almost to spite the teacher, in Sedaris's case. Have you ever had an experience like Sedaris's, where knowledge suddenly becomes its own "intoxicating and deceptive" reward? Do you think it's possible to learn without a supportive teacher?
Your reactions to these points will vary depending on your personal experience, but hopefully, if you think about Sedaris's described experiences in the light of your own, you will be able to provide a nuanced response to this question.
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