Me Talk Pretty One Day

by

David Sedaris

Sedaris’s Mother Character Analysis

Sedaris’s mother is a heavy-drinking woman with a sense of humor that Sedaris himself seems to have inherited. This is evident when she attends a museum to see one of Sedaris’s conceptual art pieces. Turning to the curator, she drunkenly tells a joke about the art, saying that she told a woman in the bathroom, “Honey, why flush it? Carry it into the next room and they’ll put it on a goddamn pedestal.” Although many of the essays in Me Talk Pretty One Day mention Sedaris’s mother, very few of them reveal any details about her, instead simply noting her presence. All readers know is that she has a sense of humor, drinks heavily, and dies at some point when Sedaris is a young man, thereby leaving Lou Sedaris on his own.

Sedaris’s Mother Quotes in Me Talk Pretty One Day

The Me Talk Pretty One Day quotes below are all either spoken by Sedaris’s Mother or refer to Sedaris’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Identity and Insecurity Theme Icon
).
You Can’t Kill the Rooster Quotes

Our parents discouraged us from using the titles “ma’am” or “sir” when addressing a teacher or shopkeeper. Tobacco was acceptable in the form of a cigarette, but should any of us experiment with plug or snuff, we would automatically be disinherited. Mountain Dew was forbidden, and our speech was monitored for the slightest hint of a Raleigh accent. Use the word “y’all,” and before you knew it, you'd find yourself in a haystack French-kissing an underage goat. […]

We might not have been the wealthiest people in town, but at least we weren’t one of them.

Related Characters: David Sedaris (speaker), Lou Sedaris (Sedaris’s Father), Sedaris’s Mother
Page Number: 60
Explanation and Analysis:

There was no electricity for close to a week. The yard was practically cleared of trees, and rain fell through the dozens of holes punched into the roof. It was a difficult time, but the two of them stuck it out, my brother placing his small, scarred hand on my father's shoulder to say, “Bitch, I'm here to tell you that it's going to be all right. We'll get through this shit, motherfucker, just you wait.”

Related Characters: David Sedaris (speaker), Lou Sedaris (Sedaris’s Father), The Rooster (Paul Sedaris), Sedaris’s Mother
Page Number: 68
Explanation and Analysis:
The Great Leap Forward Quotes

In the evenings, lacking anything better to do, I used to head east and stare into the windows of the handsome, single-family town houses, wondering what went on in those well-appointed rooms. What would it be like to have not only your own apartment but an entire building in which you could do whatever you wanted? I’d watch a white-haired man slipping out of his back brace and ask myself what he'd done to deserve such a privileged life. Had I been able to swap places with him, I would have done so immediately.

Related Characters: David Sedaris (speaker), Lou Sedaris (Sedaris’s Father), Sedaris’s Mother
Page Number: 100
Explanation and Analysis:
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Sedaris’s Mother Quotes in Me Talk Pretty One Day

The Me Talk Pretty One Day quotes below are all either spoken by Sedaris’s Mother or refer to Sedaris’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Identity and Insecurity Theme Icon
).
You Can’t Kill the Rooster Quotes

Our parents discouraged us from using the titles “ma’am” or “sir” when addressing a teacher or shopkeeper. Tobacco was acceptable in the form of a cigarette, but should any of us experiment with plug or snuff, we would automatically be disinherited. Mountain Dew was forbidden, and our speech was monitored for the slightest hint of a Raleigh accent. Use the word “y’all,” and before you knew it, you'd find yourself in a haystack French-kissing an underage goat. […]

We might not have been the wealthiest people in town, but at least we weren’t one of them.

Related Characters: David Sedaris (speaker), Lou Sedaris (Sedaris’s Father), Sedaris’s Mother
Page Number: 60
Explanation and Analysis:

There was no electricity for close to a week. The yard was practically cleared of trees, and rain fell through the dozens of holes punched into the roof. It was a difficult time, but the two of them stuck it out, my brother placing his small, scarred hand on my father's shoulder to say, “Bitch, I'm here to tell you that it's going to be all right. We'll get through this shit, motherfucker, just you wait.”

Related Characters: David Sedaris (speaker), Lou Sedaris (Sedaris’s Father), The Rooster (Paul Sedaris), Sedaris’s Mother
Page Number: 68
Explanation and Analysis:
The Great Leap Forward Quotes

In the evenings, lacking anything better to do, I used to head east and stare into the windows of the handsome, single-family town houses, wondering what went on in those well-appointed rooms. What would it be like to have not only your own apartment but an entire building in which you could do whatever you wanted? I’d watch a white-haired man slipping out of his back brace and ask myself what he'd done to deserve such a privileged life. Had I been able to swap places with him, I would have done so immediately.

Related Characters: David Sedaris (speaker), Lou Sedaris (Sedaris’s Father), Sedaris’s Mother
Page Number: 100
Explanation and Analysis: