Narrative Essays
Understanding the true beauty of perspective through storytelling is the greatest gift a reader can bestow upon themselves. When we read a narrative, we should stop to analyze the author’s purpose and intent. The strategies to do this are endless. In this section, we will dive into two powerful narratives that have countless similarities despite the vast differences in the author’s craft. By analyzing narratives, an author will broaden our own writer’s toolbox of techniques, strategies, and ultimately stories to tell in our own strategic manner.
Learning Objectives
- Identify and explain key differences in narrative perspective, structure, and purpose between the two essays.
- Analyze the narrative strategies used in David Sedaris’s “Us and Them” and Anjali Enjeti’s “Drinking Chai to Savannah,” including structure, voice, and use of imagery.
- Evaluate how each author’s narrative style and structural choices contribute to their themes and overall impact.
Author’s Craft and Strategy
An author’s craft is unique to their own style and intent. For example, the comedic genre within narrative writing can be presented in a sarcastic manner or it can be lighthearted. An author determines this by the application of tone to evoke an expected mood from the reader. Tone is the combination of diction (word choice), imagery, and figurative language which creates the mood the reader is left with after the reading.
Figurative language is the use of words in a non-literal way to create a specific effect (like a vivid image, an emotional impact, or a humorous twist).
| Simile | Comparisons using “like” or “as” | He is as brave as a lion. |
| Metaphor | Comparisons that say one thing is another without using “like” or “as” | The world is a stage. |
| Personification | Giving human qualities to inanimate objects or animals | The wind whispered secrets. |
| Hyperbole | Exaggeration for emphasis | I’m so hungry that I could eat an entire horse! |
| Alliteration | a literary device that involves two or more words that appear close together and have the same initial stressed consonant syllable | The perfectly positioned and pink chairs lined the room. |
| Onomatopeia | a literary device where words mimic the sounds they describe | The buzzing of bees filled the air. |
| Idiom | Phrases with figurative meanings | I’m going to “hit the sack.” This means: go to bed |
Imagery, in a simple sense, is using descriptive language to create pictures in the reader’s mind, engaging their senses. It’s like painting a picture, yet with words, allowing the reader to visualize, hear, smell, taste, or touch what the writer is describing.
“Us and Them” by David Sedaris
Sedaris is an American humorist, essayist, and radio contributor. He often writes autobiographical essays that mix personal stories with larger social commentary. In “Us and Them,” Sedaris weaves together observations of a neighbor’s family with humor, irony, and subtle social critique which forces him to reevaluate himself under the same microscope.
“Us and Them” by David Sedaris
Exercises:
| Plot Elements | Elements as per Story | Identifier |
|---|---|---|
| Exposition | Sedaris recounts his childhood after moving to a new neighborhood. | A |
| Inciting Incident | The Tomkey family do not own a television. | B |
| Rising Action | Sedaris becomes increasingly obsessed with the Tomkeys’ strangeness, spying on them and mocking their unusual behaviors. | C |
| Climax | In a moment of selfishness, he hoards the best candy, offering only the least desirable pieces, and even tries to hide the good stuff. | D |
| Falling Action | The situation becomes a moment of moral reckoning—he sees himself as justified, but there’s an undercurrent of guilt and embarrassment. | E |
| Resolution | The essay ends with a sense of ironic self-awareness, highlighting the theme of how we define ourselves by who we consider different or “other.” | F |
“Drinking Chai to Savannah” by Anjali Enjeti
As an American writer, activist, and journalist, Enjeti’s work often focuses on identity, culture, and race. Her essays blend memoir and social analysis. She is particularly interested in writing about themes of belonging and exclusion. “Drinking Chai to Savannah” reflects on personal and cultural identity, using vivid imagery and storytelling techniques.
“Drinking Chai to Savannah” by Anjali Enjeti
Guided Narrative Analysis: How Do These Authors Tell Their Stories?
This section will help you break down the narrative strategies used by David Sedaris and Anjali Enjeti.
- Narrative Perspective and Voice: How does each author’s choice of tone and voice (humorous vs. reflective) shape how we perceive their experiences?
- Structure and Chronology: How does each author organize their essay—nonlinear vs. linear—and how does this affect the way their themes unfold?
- Use of Detail, Imagery, and Literary Devices: How do Sedaris and Enjeti use specific images (like the sloth) to reinforce their themes and create meaning?
- Purpose and Reader Engagement: How does the intended purpose of each essay (entertainment vs. reflection) influence the way they are structured and written?
Questions for Discussion
Think about a time you’ve told a story to a friend—did you tell it in order, or did you jump around? Why? Which structure (linear or nonlinear) do you think is more effective in making a lasting impression on the reader? Why?
If Sedaris and Enjeti had switched styles (Sedaris writing reflectively, Enjeti using humor), how do you think their essays would have changed? Which approach—humor or reflection—do you think is more powerful for engaging readers? Why?
Attribution
- “Us and Them” is from Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris. Copyright 2014. Available at National Public Radio.
- “Drinking Chai to Savannah: Reflections on Identity, Inclusion and Power in the South” by Anjali Enjeti. Copyright 2017. Available at Longreads.
