I believe David Sedaris might have composed this text to show how hateful and judgmental people can be and not even notice it. I think Sedaris wrote in a sarcastic, witty tone so the reader can feel the emotions he was feeling when he was thinking and reacting to certain things because we all tend to feel the same way while annoyed...
I feel that the overall purpose of this text is to show how judgmental and hateful people are and he uses an airport as the setting because of it's diversity.
David Sedaris raised the idea of if airline industries are turning us into monsters or just shows the real us. "But what if this is who we really are, and the airports just a forum that allows us to be our real selves." (Sedaris 277). Sedaris kept mentioning an "Adolf Hitler" being paged over the intercom in the airport. I think he brought this up because people, being so judgmental, would judge that person off of their name and assume things without even knowing him. And his name probably wasn't Adolf Hitler either. That's just what people may have assumed.
I think David Sedaris wanted his readers to reflect on the way they judge people without even knowing them and complain just because they can. I think he used his experiences as examples to put us readers in the mindset of a judgmental person, then he brings up the idea of the airlines creating monsters or exposing and revealing them, which puts us in the mood to reevaluate ourselves.
Works Cited:
Sedaris, David. "Standing By". First Year Composition Reader. Boston: Pearson, 2011. 275-277. Print.
Oh! Will you give an example or two of where you thought he was being sarcastic or witty?
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see you focus more on your reaction as a reader. What did you think the first time you read through this? What surprised you or annoyed you? What made you laugh? What confused you? Those are important moments to include and analyze as well.