TOW #4 - Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls

Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls is a collection of essays written by award winning author David Sedaris. The essays stand independent from one another, with topics meant to explain different aspects of his life, ranging from his experiences with his dentist, to his relationship with his parents. Throughout the essays, Sedaris often uses humor to generate ethos and entertain his audience. When he talks about serious issues such as his relationship with his previous ex-wives and his dynamic with his current boyfriend, he often makes light of the situation by throwing in irony. During his first marriage, he often forgot many important events but remembered other meniscal aspects of his life. He informs the reader that he during the birth of his first child, he, " remembers what I was listening to on my Walkman, but as for the actual kid coming out-nothing. I can't even tell you if it was a boy or a girl, but that's natural for a first marriage. " (Sedaris. 221) By joking about forgetting the birth of his first child not only reveals the Sedaris attitude towards his family, but also helps connect him to the reader on a more personal level. In addition to using humor, he also uses anecdotes to explain his complicated childhood and reveal aspects of his strained relationship between himself and his father. As a child, Sedaris father always compared him to others, and would belittle his accomplishments. As a result, he resented his father. Instead of blatantly explaining their relationship, he tells the audience the story of when he did swim team. Unimpressed with David, his father would go on and on about how amazing his fellow teammate, Greg Sakas, was. He would tell David that, "Greg is magic. Success is written all over his face, and when it happens I'm going to say, "Hey buddy, remember me? I'm the one who first realized how special you are."  (Sedaris. 34) Through this story, he realizes the nature of his relationship as well as the origin of where his anger started. This, along with humor, allows the reader to gain a better understanding of Sedaris all while capturing their attention.