Reflective Essay Outside Reading: November 15

Reflective Essay Outside Reading

“Guy Walks into a Bar Car” by David Sedaris

The New Yorker April 20, 2009

In his essay, “Guy Walks into a Bar Car,” David Sedaris describes his attempts to start a relationship with the various men he has encountered while traveling.  He limits his discussion to train travel, and as he employs different techniques, he is able to effectively communicate and craft a humorous story that is easy to read.

            Sedaris makes a series of rhetoric choices that keep the reader engaged and allow him to effectively communicate.  He uses several short sentences when recounting the discussions he’s had with the different people he has met, which help to create a suspenseful, fast-paced story.  These sentences often also act as interrupters, which quicken Sedaris’ pace even more.

As his goal is to find a new boyfriend, Sedaris often is very suggestive and flirtatious.  The use of this type of diction allows the reader to connect with Sedaris, because everyone understands what it is like to pursue a relationship. Another way Sedaris is able to connect with his reader is through his sense of humor.  He puts many jokes into his writing, and is thus able to capture the reader’s attention and create a suspenseful atmosphere.  These jokes, in addition to the prevalent slang used throughout the essay, also create a common and informal tone that ultimately is a big strength of Sedaris’s.  This informality allows Sedaris to keep his reader laughing.  However, this common, everyday tone is one that would be inappropriate for an AP essay.

            Sedaris’s use of sarcasm also helps to create an informal tone.  He ends his essay by referring to the jokes that he began with, and is very contradictory when he does.  He spends his entire essay moving quickly from attempted relationship to attempted relationship, and then ends by essentially condemning himself.  “I’d never really trusted people who went directly from one relationship to the next, so after my train pulled into Penn Station, and after I’d taken the subway home, I’d wait a few hours, or maybe even a full day, before dialing his number and asking if he’d like to hear a joke.”  By employing this sarcasm, Sedaris essentially gives the reader permission to laugh at him, rather than laugh with him.  As a result, Sedaris’ sarcasm and the informal, everyday tone that he adopts allow him to craft a well-structured, easy-to-read essay that keeps the reader laughing and entertained.