A Rhetorical Look at Sedaris [TA]

The rhetorical triangle can be a valuable tool when it comes to analyzing literature, such as David Sedaris’ memoir, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.  The three points of the rhetorical triangle (speaker, audience and subject) work together to give the writing an overall purpose.  The speaker (Sedaris, in this case) and his readers are connected by a common interest in comedy and anecdotes, both of which are contained in all of Sedaris’ infamously funny memoirs.  This mutual passion for sarcasm and wit between author and reader gives Sedaris a reason to write his stories down in the first place, not to mention writing them in a flawlessly entertaining fashion.  It is important for a speaker to be conscious of the topic he or she is writing about and have a relatively close connection to it.  In the case of Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, the subject is the actual past of the author, giving it a special meaning to both the author and the reader.  This non-fiction writing draws the final connection of the rhetorical the triangle; the audience and the subject have a lot in common.  Because the stories told by Sedaris are all true, most readers can find many similarities between Sedaris’ life and their own, whether it be related to family, friends, setting or emotion.  The harmonies connection between speaker, audience and subject in Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim gives the memoir a purpose: to entertain readers by telling outrageously funny yet relatable stories from Sedaris’ own life.

                The most prominent elicitation of pathos in Sedaris’ memoir is through humor and wit.  By recalling stories from his childhood and early adulthood in a fashion twisted with sarcasm and hints of melancholy, Sedaris is able to make readers laugh chapter after chapter, even if the laughter is based on pity.  The essay “Blood Work” tells the story of Sedaris being mistaken as an erotic housecleaner and suffering the consequences of the confusion of his “client.”  Though this is arguably the most hilarious anecdote in the entire memoir, certain moments leave the reader feeling disgusted and laughing from discomfort rather than pleasure.  Nevertheless, whether it be through humor, sadness, or discomfort, readers are able to feel the emotions in Sedaris’ stories thanks to his witty writing style and real-life events.

                Like most non-fiction works of literature, ethos is established by the fact that the author experienced the events of the book first-hand.  It is most definitely possible that Sedaris could be making up many of his stories.  However, the common reader has a difficult time imagining how any author could draw such funny stories from his or her imagination.  Such outrageous anecdotes could only be a product of luck and a writer with a taste for humor.  The fact that he draws in real people from his life, such as his family members, old friends, and lovers, gives him credibility, especially because his sisters and current lover are people that can be easily looked up on the internet. Sedaris’ growing reputation has given him credibility over the years that his writing career has prospered.  Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim shows the establishment of Sedaris’ ethos by bearing his very real and witty character as a non-fiction author.

                Non-fiction writing rarely calls for the employment of logos, since much of the reasoning behind events is due to the personalities of the people involved in each story.  Sedaris’ audience members are bound to find themselves wondering why certain people in these anecdotes think and react to situations in the way that they do.  Sedaris provides a reasonable answer to these questions by attempting to accurately portray the personalities of each character in a way that connects directly to their words and actions.  For example, readers can use the information that Sedaris provides about his own father to explain why he kicked his son out of the house for being gay.  The author also shows why his mother is so stressed by telling stories of the trouble that her children regularly got themselves into.  Sedaris uses this descriptive technique to show that characters’ physical and emotional reactions are based on their personalities, effectively employing logos in his memoir.