Me Talk Pretty One Day

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What is the purpose of imagination? How does it develop, and how can it help a person cope with the challenges of daily life?

Teaching Suggestion: This prompt introduces the theme of Imagination and Reality. David Sedaris’s essays include detailed fantasies that allow him to escape from the real world and his own perceived shortcomings. Using his imagination, he envisions himself in situations in which he fulfills his dreams—often with humorous results. Students may be able to relate to and empathize with Sedaris more if they reflect on how they have personally used humor to cope with difficult situations.

• This article from TEDxMileHigh examines three different types of imagination.   
• This article from the University of Kent discusses how imagination changes in people as they age.

2. In what ways could assumptions about a country’s citizens vary from reality, especially when viewed from an outsider’s perspective? How are these assumptions often created?

Teaching Suggestion: This prompt introduces the themes of Language, Class Difference and France’s Perception of America/Americans, and Self-Identity and Sexuality. In his essays, Sedaris considers the relationship between speech and sexuality—which are important parts of self-identity—while also detailing his experiences learning French abroad. Frequent misconceptions and cultural differences occur, creating various conflicts, emotional challenges, and unexpected trails in Sedaris’s life. To encourage personal engagement and understanding, it may be beneficial to have students share their personal experiences traveling abroad in addition to responding to the prompt.

• “Expatriate Mental Health Challenges” from Psychology Today explains how people can face emotional problems when they move to other countries for work. 
• In “Opinion: ‘Work’ Means Something Different in France Than in the US,” a French CNN correspondent explains how a dispute over the retirement age in France illustrates vast cultural differences between the two nations.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the text.

Are you a funny person? Do you make others laugh? How might certain people use humor as a tool to discuss serious or sensitive topics, such as sexuality and societal acceptance?

Teaching Suggestion: This Personal Connection Prompt prepares students for a hilarious book that takes on what Giovanni Sabato refers to as “tabooed scatological and sexual themes and jokes that broach thorny social […] topics.” Much of the humor in Me Talk Pretty One Day could be understood as a comedy of manners, which any fan of Seinfeld will recognize as humor that explores the boundaries of social and physical norms. To prepare students for the prompt, you might ask them what they consider to be humorous and why. Reflecting on the different types of humor and their purposes may lead to interesting and productive conversations between peers.

• “Humor as a Coping Mechanism” from Psych Central gives a survey of humor’s many functions.
• “What’s So Funny? The Science of Why We Laugh” by Giovanni Sabato explores the complex nature of humor from the perspective of psychologists, neuroscientists, and philosophers.