Part I: Course Reflection

Before this course, I had not done much digging into literature. I noticed that many of my fellow

classmates had done past readings from various authors and writers. I had the opportunity to learn about

what each genre brings to the table. From fiction, poetry, drama, and non-fiction, I specifically enjoyed

fiction. I personally used to believe that fiction was merely fantasy and a majority of imaginary

characters. From this course I understood that even fiction carries many themes and characters that us as

individuals can relate to. Learning about drama was enjoyable as well. I did not think much about how a

writer can help guide the reader of how the layout in the story is through text. How there needs to be

specified information of what is taking place on stage, how the lights are reflected and the overall layout.

This only adds understanding and guidance to the reader.

Another important aspect that I have gained knowledge of is reading and critiquing pieces. When

first coming into this course I would read to read. Not thinking about the different ways I can approach a

text. When I learned this from this class, I soon understood how much information we can get out of each

text. The questions we can ask are truly uncountable. Having the opportunity to discuss pisces alongside

the classmates was also rewarding and brought many different perspectives that I am sure we all enjoyed.

I enjoyed using both literary criticism, evaluating and interpreting texts and literary theory,

looking into specific lenses for the text. Ultimately my favorite cristims lens was the psychoanalytic

criticism because this had even more realtivness to all text. I was able to understand the writer, character

and overall theme of the text from an individualized perspective with even more meaning.
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Part II: Essay Response

Eportfolio Signature Assignment

Essay Response

Mireya Ahumada Teran

English, SLCC

ENGL 2600; English 2600

Stephanie Dowdle Maenhardt

August, 7th, 2021

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Me Talk Pretty by David Sedaris

I had the opportunity to read the piece above from David Sedaris. This piece is about a 41

year old male that is learning French. He has actually moved to a village far away from home

where the locals speak French and where he attends school. He does this for the sole purpose of

integrating himself in the language of French. Not only is he faced with learning a new language

but he must also experience the culture.

Throughout this piece, the writer seems to demonstrate out of the many themes around

the reality of becoming an adult. As taken per the piece, “At my age, a reasonable person should

have completed his sentence in the prison of the nervous and the insecure--isn't that the great

promise of adulthood? I can't help but think that, somewhere along the way, I made a wrong

turn.”(Sedaris Online). Oftentimes, when we are younger we tend to believe that once we reach

a certain point of age we can start having freedom. Make our own choices, do what we want and

not have to answer to no one. The writer goes on in the story explaining how being an adult

conveys having responsibilities. Dealing with difficult tasks at hand. Challenges that come out

from nowhere and it seems to never end. As mentioned, “...have completed his sentence in the

prison of the nervous and the insecure”. I feel that this specific phrase denotes how we as adults

feel when phased with a difficult situation. From a psychoanalytic lens, this can tell the reader

that the writer may have had a hard childhood. And coming to age this person may have thought

that they were going to have an easier time being an adult. Being far away from all the problems

and difficulties. But then he realized that freedome does come with a price tag.
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“I can't help but think that, somewhere along the way, I made a wrong turn. My fears

have not vanished. Rather, they have seasoned and multiplied with age.”(Sedaris Online)

Even though there are many connections I can make from the text, I can’t help but have

the snippet above resonate with me. I once read during one of my adolescence growth courses

that, much of our personalities stay the same from when we are from a young age to adults. Our

ways of being raised from childhood to our overall experiences make us who we are. Just as this

adult male described that even though he is older, has gone through many difficulties, challenges

and maybe even traumas, he is still the same. With the same personality, likes, and fears. Some

may say that people change. And they do, but who they are tends to stay on the same path.

Oftentimes when we become older we all face experiences that we love, learn from,

enjoy and hurt from. We often hear the aphorism, “What doesn't kill you makes you

stronger”(Wohns, 2020). Originally stated by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

Which denotes resilience and not backing down from a challenge. But this does not mean that it

takes our fears away. Rather, we have the courage to take a leap of faith and let our resilience

take the lead. This makes me think about how sincere and open to vulnerability this piece is.

Oftentimes we tend to see the end result, the success. But we do not talk about what it took to get

there. The good, the bad and the ugly. And as adults I feel that oftentimes we take our problems

and simply hide them under the mat. Forced to keep moving forward and disregard the pain as

much as we can. Because at the end of the day it's called “adulting”.

Overall this was a great read. I found myself relating to this person. Learning a new

language is challenging. Then being phased with people who only bring you down and not

support you is discouraging. But this character of the story was able to move past the challenges.
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Learn what it means to learn a language and give himself what he is worth. Standing up for

himself.
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References

Sedaris, D. (2020, August 21). Me talk pretty one day. Esquire.

https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a1419/talk-pretty-0399/.

Wohns, R. N. W. (2020, November 1). Editorial. what doesn't kill you makes you

stronger. focus. https://thejns.org/focus/view/journals/neurosurg-focus/49/5/article-pE4.xml.