David Sedaris’ “Remembering my Childhood on the Continent of Africa”

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 David Sedaris’ “Remembering my Childhood on the Continent of Africa”

In reading the story, I encountered a few vocabularies that I was unfamiliar with

including inane and concessions. After looking them up, I found inane to be an adjective that

means something that lacks sense or meaning. On the other hand, concession refers to something

granted due and because of a demand or request for it. Further, in Sedaris’ T.A.P., the topic of

the story is “remembering my childhood on the continent of Africa”. It spoke about his past life

experiences. The story’s audience is the readers interested in the narration of intriguing life

experiences and differences in cultures. Moreover, the story’s purpose is to depict his personal

life experiences growing up as a child in Africa as well as its contrast with the native manner of

conduct. The main characters of the story are the narrator and his childhood friend named Hugh.

Sedaris describes various childhood experiences that had similarities and differences to

those of his native country and Africa. They mostly regarded the intriguing manner of the

experiences of childhood in Africa where those experiences occur in the natural environment

compared to those in Europe which are more artificial and generic. For this reason, children from

different backgrounds perceive experiences of foreign culture more intriguing. For instance, the

speaker is intrigued by the fact that there is a dead man hanging on the streets while Hugh and

the residents are more concerned with the film they had watched. Between the transitions, the

writer explains the contrast of the cultures and depicts the feelings of both individuals in the

different culture. The story concludes with an admission of the writer that he wishes to

experience Hugh’s experiences but acknowledges that people from that culture also think that

way of his culture and that he should be content and appreciate both. This conclusion depicts the

message of the writer and makes a concession to harmonize the contrast by accepting the present

state.
 The story has a thesis statement. It might not be direct but the essay revolves around the

fact that traditions, conditions of living and location can make us different despite being of the

same age, gender or race.

If I were to grade his essay, I would give him a grade of A. This is because it was very

detailed and the story was flowing.