Aflevering Analytical Essay Obama

Analytical Essay – Obama!!!!!

Anders Hornbæk
Engelsk • Aflevering • Gladsaxe gymnasium • 25. March 2015 The essay “Obama!!!!!” is written by the American author and comedian David Sedaris, and is featured in his essay collection “Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls” from 2013.

David Sedaris is living in a small village in the Normandy, France. It is not a place with a lot going on, and it is therefore not that hard to get written up in the local newspaper, if you just stand out a little. As David Sedaris expresses it: “In fact, it’s hard to stay out of it.”

David Sedaris stands out, since he is an American who lives in a homosexual relation with his boyfriend Hugh. In relation to the 2008 presidential election, there was a big local interest, in the opinion of this American couple. Furthermore had all Frenchmen apparently an opinion about the election and the candidates. Especially about weather or not it was possible to get a black president in the United States.

“Obama!!!!!” alto portrays another issue, about how David experiences a big difference in the openness in the political debate in US and in Europe. In US, it is common to openly proclaim, which political candidate you support, through signs, banners and badges. In France, this is considered a very private matter, and it is almost rude to interfere with others political opinion. Through the essay, David wonders why many Frenchmen gladly spoke about his vote, while their own was of chart.

David Sedaris establishes his ethos and credibility as a writer as he is well spoken, amusing and opinionated. For the reader he seems like he have something on his heart and the means to express it. The language during the essay is very casual and personal, while he tells about his own experiences. The informal tone is expressed, while the author uses terms like “it’s pretty much all you get”, “huge asshole” and “I traveled pretty much nonstop”. Humor and sarcasm is also key elements during the essay. An example of this is when David compare Obama to previous American presidents: ”I liked that he (Obama) could deliver a speech, this as opposed to our previous two Democratic candidates, both of whom spoke as if they were reading the words phonetically in Korean and didn’t know where to put the emphasis.” The big use of humor makes the essay easier for the reader to digest. Another example is when David picturesque describes how Americans proclaim their political views: “Drive through any American city in the month before election, and every other house will have a sign in front of it. So-and-so for president, for country commissioner, for town slut, etc.”

One of the major themes during the essay is the prejudgment about Americans. David Sedaris thinks, that Europeans are convinced about an American stereotype being racist. In the essay David Sedaris are expressing his thoughts on the American election to the Frenchmen, and every time he is claiming that Barack Obama is going to win, the Frenchmen are just shaking their heads. They find is impossible. The headshaking are followed up by comments like: “Being a white American, you wouldn’t vote for a black man, would you?” and “Americans are afraid of anything different”. In David Sedaris opinion, this says more about the European pre-judgmental culture, than it says about American racism. He thinks that is sounds false when white people are talking about how gentle and colorblind they are.

It is evident, that David himself is not that much into politics, as he says: “When it comes to politics, all I can offer is emotion”. Even though he is not a big politician himself, he is not trying to hide his own political views during the essay – he and his boyfriend Hugh are without doubt democrats. He even makes a joke about the conservatives Americans: “I’m more afraid of conservatives than I an of black people. I think a lot of Americans are”. This tells us, that David Sedaris are not giving much for the old-Scholl conservatism, that are common in the US. It is very clear, that he thinks that US is one of the most conservative nations in the world. This is underlined when he ridicules conservatives, who are claiming they will leave the US, if Barack Obama gains precedency: “Oh, right, I’d say. You are going to leave and go where? Right-wing Europe? In the Netherlands now, I imagine it’s legal to marry your own children. Get them pregnant, and you can abort the unborn grandbabies”. Even though David are not that much into politics, one political issue seems to matter: Gay rights, witch leads us to the final point of the essay.

The finishing point of the essay is the big American debate about the gay-rights and the gay marriage. Actually David Sedaris do not want to get married to his boyfriend himself, but still the debate and the fact that it was actually put to a vote in the US, makes him feel sick. He expresses it in these words: “If you don’t want to marry a homosexual, then don’t. But what gives you the right to weigh in on your neighbors options” and continues “It’s like voting on whether or not redheads should be allowed to celebrate Christmas” In many ways I agree with David Sedaris. Why should anyone have the right to decide whether or not a gay people can be married, if they want to? He relates this point to how the entire black community in the US must have felt, when after all these years of oppression; finally they, the blacks, were the ones on top of America with a black president.

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