Good morning students. Below are links to two essays written by David Sedaris. The first is titled "Six to Eight Black Men" and the second is titled "Chicken in the Henhouse." Please note that when you go to the cite linked to you will have several options of which version to listen to. With the first essay, listen to the Live at Carnegie Hall version which has three parts. The second essay has five parts, and it is only important that you listen to each segment (the version doesn't matter). Most likely the hyperlinks will not work, and you will need to copy and paste the link into your browser. I am confident that you can figure it out. Once you have listened to the essays, please post a response in the comments section below.
http://grooveshark.com/#!/search?q=six+to+eight+black+men
http://grooveshark.com/#!/search?q=sedaris+chicken+in+the+henhouse
Sedaris uses humor to get the readers attention and so the readers can like him. The first essay "Six to Eight Black Men" shows the difference between cultures, he isn't necessarily being racist, but he adds humor to his story to show the irony that most Americans descend from Europe and their traditions (between US and Netherlands) are extremely different. In the second essay "Chicken in the Henhouse" Sedaris also compares two things, in this case: homosexuals and pedophiles. He fears the people's confusion about homosexuals being the same thing as pedophiles and he worries about others misunderstanding his actions towards the child. Sedaris says, "children are like animals to me..." he jokes about his feelings because he wants to keep the readers interested but he also wants to let them know what he's trying to say.
ReplyDeleteSedaris is comedic when he speaks, mainly to keep his audience engaged into the things he has to say. "Six to Eight Black Men" and "Chicken in the Hen House" are both related to stereotyping. In the first essay he jokes about the common stereotypes most people think of different cultures. Although they are humorous not all are true. In the second essay he is ashamed of himself for being a homosexual because of all the stereotypes that people assume of them. He doesnt like that people assume that he is a pedophile just because he likes a different sex. He often feels guilty for imaging things because he feels that imaging them is just as bad as doing them. The reason he uses humor in his essays to to keep people from taking the information way to seriously,and to give them insight about how he feels about the issue of stereotyping, without persuading them to feel sorry for him.
ReplyDeleteSedaris had me laughing through out his short stories. The reason he used comedy to tell his stories was to get the readers attention. In the "Six to Eight Black Men", he talks about how all of us have certain stereotypes about others especially in different cultures. For example he talked about Christmas in other places and how each celebrated and had a different view about Christmas. The "Chicken in the henhouse", was about himself and he used comedy to be liked by his audience and break down the barrier of prejudices. He is gay and so people believed that he had a pedophilia because he was attracted to the opposite sex. People had so many stereotypes about being gay, that it caused him to feel ashamed and confused about himself. Humor was used in both his stories to allow the audience to open up to him so he can bring up how he feels about the prejudices and stereotypes people have without offending anyone.
ReplyDeleteIn " Six to Eight Black Men", Sedaris sarcastically makes fun of how different cultures are around the world. I understood what he was saying, but at the same time, it wasn't funny to me. In "Chicken in the Henhouse", he was explaining a story he experienced. I didn't find this one funny, it was more serious. He explains how people stereotype gays and it's true. He does a good job bringing up the issues though without having a bad attitude.
ReplyDeleteIn "Six to Eight Black Men", Sedaris uses humor because it catches the audience attention. The audience is more intrigued by what he is saying because of the humor involved when he talks about different cultures. I was entertained for the most part, but I also didn't fully understand it. In "Chicken in the Henhouse", Sedaris talks about himself. He wants the audience to know that he gay and he is okay with that. He also uses humor in this essay. He wants his audience to feel comfortable and not be so judge mental from the very beginning. He wants them to know that he is just the same as everyone else, but chooses the opposite sex.
ReplyDeleteHe points out an issue on society with these two stories. He shows how society treat some people differently because they are different in some aspects. It wasn't that funny to me because i didn't understand some parts, but he certainly used humor to grab his audience attention.
ReplyDeleteSedaris had comedy in "Six To Eight Black Men" he made many stereotypes on different cultures around the world. When you first hear it your entertained and want to keep listening. In "The Chicken In The Hen House" it shows how society views certain people without even knowing the person.
ReplyDelete"Chicken in the Henhouse"(very first one i listened to) caught me by surprise, and i felt like i must have clicked on the wrong link.. But it explores homosexuality, and when an author takes risks, and touches on "touchy" subjects, it always make the read worthwhile. "Six to Eight Black Men", though not fond of the name, was pretty interesting. Sedaris contrasts different countries and their ways of living; mentioning things that most dont take the time to ponder.
ReplyDeleteSelena Martinez
ReplyDeleteThese two essays kind of relate to The Pines and how we view people one way but tend to be a whole different person than what we judge. He explains different cultures around the world that we might have no clue about. The first essay "six to eight black men" wasn't so funny to me though. However, "chicken in the Henhouse" did keep me more entertained.
Veronicka Espinosa
ReplyDeleteI thought both stories were well delivered. Sedaris speaks with a humor that I would probably describe as sarcasm. It wasn't just the tone of his stories that caught my attention, but he used it as a way to get his point across. After listening to both stories one word came to mind and that word is SOCIALIZATION. The different ways that people interpret the same idea/subject is something that stood out to me while listening.
I did not find the first essay humorous. I had to listen to it twice in order to try to understand some jokes, but it did not work. what I did understand was that he was comparing several cultures with their holidays and other things. the second essay, to me it was saying that no matter if a person is labeled or distinguished for a mistake that was committed, they are all human and should not be judged or discriminated for mistakes.
ReplyDeleteThe first essay "six to eight men" had some comedy. Sedaris uses humur to grab the audience attention and talk about the difference of Xmas between America and the Netherlands. On the second, "chicken in the henhouse", he is very descriptive. He fears any act he commits such as touching a boys' head can lead to something "serious" due to society's point of view on homeosexuals.
ReplyDeleteThe six to eight black men is very humorous, but it does point out a few things that are quite interesting and true when thought about deeply. To me "The Six to Eight Black Men" seemed to point out things in society that strangely do not make logical sense in a way.The essay chicken in the hen house was actually quite depressing, but showed negative and depressing sides of how society and life was. Both of the essay show negative aspects of life and society, but they have a different tone to how the reader will feel about the reading.
ReplyDeleteAfter listening to "Six to Eight Black Men", it was pretty humorous. He kept the audience entertained which was good cause no one got distracted. In "Chicken in the Henhouse", it was sad but true. Everything he said happens on a daily still cause people are mistreated for being gay, which isn't right. He explained society perfectly in that short story.
ReplyDeleteIn six to eight black men, Sedaris uses humor to capture the audience. He talks about the Dutch Santa Claus. The issue was that Santa Claus had six to eight black men who were his helpers and if they were naughty that year, Santa would take them. In the Chicken In the Henhouse, Sedaris uses a narrative style to describe his experience. The issue is children molestation. Pedophiles go into the henhouse which is a school to pick their chickens.
ReplyDeleteIn six to eight black men he talks about the "dutch santa claus". He's not being racist he's just using a different kind of humor. In the end he says he's proud to be an american. In the Chicken in the henhouse I was a bit confused about what he was talking about but then caught on when he started talking about child molestation.
ReplyDeleteGabriela Cuevas
ReplyDeleteI found the essay to be quite humerus, despite the author's tone of voice. I did not find the humor in "chicken in the hen house", i thought it was quite disturbing realizing what he was actually talking about in the essay.
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