1) Sedaris adds little jokes about his actions, uses sarcasm against the teacher, and pokes fun at the reality of some of the rules of language to turn this into a humorous essay. His inability to speak French correctly and how he makes fun of his misunderstandings of the teacher evokes humor out of the reader. He will only understand parts of a sentence, but also add in the French word that he does not understand. When speaking of the teacher, he makes fun of how serious she is about correctly speaking French. One of the funniest moments of the book was when Sedaris gets the gender wrong for a French word and wonders to himself how some things could have gender, for example, "Lady Crack Pipe" (276).
"Deadpan" humor is showing humor in an expressionless tone. Some examples from the passage are when he talks about Carlos who "loved wine, music, and, in his words, 'making sex with the womens of the world.'" Sedaris sounds serious when one reads this, yet the line is hilarious. Another was when he talks about his teacher, “She hadn’t yet pushed anyone, but it seemed wise to protect ourselves against the inevitable” (276). He sounds serious about protecting themselves against the teacher beating them, but Sedaris intends to make the reader laugh. These statements are true, yet a sense of humor is evoked.
Sedaris reveals parts of himself throughout the story by always giving a reaction to something that is occurring in reality. His teacher may be talking, and he will make fun of her, or someone is answering a question, and he will give his opinion of the answer. This continues throughout the story, and he keeps the reader attentive with his humor. Through each self-evaluation of the situation, the reader is shown some characteristic or view Sedaris has.
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