Assignment 4: Choices
Sedaris decided to write this story
because he wanted to leave his imprint on the world. And what better way is
there for an author to leave an imprint on the world than to write a story that
will change lives? I think a lot of people want to make a difference in this
world and this was his way of doing it. Additionally, Sedaris decided that an airport
was going to be the stage for his story because an airport is a good
representation of how diverse our society is. Also, the characters he decided
to write about are probably very similar to people we have seen or interacted
with in very similar circumstances. By introducing these characters, he was
able to capture our attention and keep us reading until the end. If he would
have written about characters we in no way could have related to, we probably
would not have been as interested in the story.
Again, Sedaris possibly chose to
write this story because he wanted to entertain, get recognition, he wanted to
make a difference, or he wants us, as the readers to think twice before opening
our mouths. He’s kind of a hypocrite in this story and he probably expected us
as the readers to pick up on that. He probably wanted us to realize that we
ourselves might just be hypocrites too. Not that everyone is. But, maybe he’s
not trying to reach out to those people. Maybe he’s reaching out to the people
who are hypocrites whom judge other people, before judging themselves. That’s
just something to think about.
In conclusion, I think he published
his story in a magazine because younger people read magazines and he expects
the younger people in society to be the voices for tomorrow. And by that, I
mean he expects his readers to promote social change, or at least for his
readers to just be a little less judgmental.
Goodness. I better get writing stories if I want to leave a mark, huh? Do you think your essays for 101 will leave a mark on your readers? (I'm kidding, partially.)
ReplyDeleteExpand more about the characters he includes. Perhaps try to link them to your Assign. 4 idea about social change too.
He's a hypocrite?! Elaborate more! This is a totally great writerly choice to expand! Make sure to find the specific moments in the text that made you think this.
I'm interested in the idea of younger people needing to be less judgmental. I find that older people are the ones that hold on to their values--generational values from say, our grandparents to us, are pretty different.